Online Tuner and Pitch Detector

Online Tuner listens through your microphone and shows the note being played or sung, and how far it is from being in tune, in cents — hundredths of a semitone. Choose Guitar, Bass, Ukulele or Violin, and it shows the string you are nearest to and whether to tune up (flat, the needle left of centre) or down (sharp, to the right); within 5 cents, about as close as a trained ear can tell, the note is marked in tune. In Chromatic mode it names any note, from a low bass E at 41 Hz to about 2 kHz, so it works for singing, wind instruments and anything else with a pitch. The frequency in hertz is shown too. The reference A4 is 440 Hz, the modern standard; change it if your group tunes to 442, or to 432. Pitch is found by the McLeod Pitch Method, which compares the sound with itself a little later to find how often it repeats; it reads the fundamental of a string reliably even when the harmonics are louder, which is where simple tuners read an octave wrong.

1. Choose the instrument, or Chromatic.
2. Press Start tuner and allow the microphone.
3. Play one string or note at a time, close to the microphone, and let it ring.
4. Tune until the needle sits in the centre band and the note is marked in tune.

• One note at a time: a chord confuses any pitch detector.
• Background noise and other instruments make the reading jump; tune in a quiet spot, close to the microphone.
• Laptop and phone microphones pick up low bass notes weakly; play firmly or use a headset microphone for a bass guitar.
• Phone browsers may lower the microphone’s volume during calls or when another app uses it.
• The sound is analysed in this browser tab while the tuner is on. Nothing is recorded, uploaded or kept.

From the thickest string: E2, A2, D3, G3, B3, E4 — at 82.4, 110, 146.8, 196, 246.9 and 329.6 Hz with A4 at 440.

A cent is a hundredth of a semitone. 10 cents off is noticeable to most players; within 5 is in tune for most purposes.

440 Hz is the international standard and what other instruments and recordings use. Use another reference only if you are playing with others who tune to it.

Usually noise, a note that is fading, or two strings ringing together. Mute the other strings and pluck firmly.