Instrument Tuning Reference

Also: russian balalaika, балалайка

The prima is the solo instrument of the family: two strings tuned in unison to E and a third a fourth above. The larger secunda, alto, bass and contrabass are tuned in fourths and fifths below it.

Also: 5 string banjo, bluegrass banjo

The 5th string is a high re-entrant drone, so it sits above the 4th.

Also: electric bass, 4 string bass, 5 string bass

Also: violoncello

Also: andean charango, charango boliviano, quirquincho

A small Andean lute with five double courses, historically built on an armadillo shell. All ten strings live inside a single octave: the middle course is an octave pair strung E5 then E4, so E4 — the instrument's lowest note — sits in the middle of the courses rather than at the edge.

Also: cbg, 3 string guitar, diddley bow

Usually three or four strings tuned to an open chord, so a single slide barre gives you the whole chord.

Also: puerto rican cuatro, cuatro puertorriqueno, cuatro puertorriqueño, cuatro moderno

The national instrument of Puerto Rico: ten steel strings in five courses tuned in fourths. The two lowest courses are octave pairs with the octave string on the bass side, as on a 12-string guitar; the top three courses are unisons.

Also: cuatro venezolano, venezuelan cuatro

Four strings, re-entrant — the fourth string drops an octave, which is why it looks out of pitch order. Other Latin American cuatros (Puerto Rican, Colombian) tune differently.

Also: chinese flute, bamboo flute, 笛子

A transverse bamboo flute with a buzzing dimo membrane. Dizi are made in fixed keys and you change key by changing flute; makers label the key differently by region, so check your own instrument. A D dizi's home scale is shown.

Also: resophonic guitar, square neck dobro, lap slide

Square-neck resonators are played lap-style with a steel bar, so they live in open tunings — open G is the bluegrass default. Round-neck resonators are often just tuned to guitar standard.

Also: russian domra, домра

The three-string domra is the Russian standard; the four-string domra matches violin and mandolin tuning, so players cross over easily.

Also: upright bass, contrabass, string bass

Solo tuning raises every string a whole step so the instrument projects over an orchestra; the part is then written a tone lower.

Also: chinese violin, 二胡

A two-stringed bowed musical instrument, sometimes known as the Chinese violin.

Also: bagpipes, highland pipes, piob mhor

Pipers call the chanter's home note 'A', but modern chanters sound roughly a semitone sharp of concert A — commonly 470–480 Hz, closer to a B♭. The nominal notes are shown; set your tuner's reference pitch to your band's chanter pitch rather than 440.

Also: trichordo, tetrachordo

A fretted, plucked string instrument with a pear-shaped body, central to traditional Greek music.

Also: guitarlele, guilele, travel guitar

A six-string guitar the size of a tenor ukulele, tuned a fourth above standard — the same intervals as a guitar capoed at the 5th fret.

Also: acoustic guitar, electric guitar, 6 string, classical guitar, nylon string guitar, spanish guitar, flamenco guitar

Standard is listed first; the rest are alphabetical. Notes run low (6th string) to high (1st). Classical, flamenco and nylon-string guitars use these exact pitches — nylon changes the tone and the tension, not the tuning.

Also: twelve string guitar

Also: seven string guitar

Also: chinese zither, qin, 古琴

A plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. Most common tuning is zhèng diào (5 6 1 2 3 5 6); other modes retune individual strings.

Also: chinese zither, zheng, 古筝

A Chinese plucked zither. 21 strings tuned to a D-major pentatonic scale across ~4 octaves. One base octave shown; the scale repeats. Tuning shifts by piece and mode.

Also: hang drum, pantam, steel handpan

Built to one fixed scale — you choose the scale when you buy it, you cannot retune it. D Kurd is the most common. The first note is the centre 'ding'; the rest are the surrounding tone fields, listed low to high. Note counts vary by maker.

Also: hardingfele, hardangerfele, norwegian fiddle, hardanger violin

A Norwegian folk fiddle with four bowed strings running above four or five sympathetic understrings, which pass beneath the fingerboard, are never bowed, and ring in response to the melody — commonly tuned D E F♯ A or D E G A. Around 25 named tunings (felestille) are documented; oppstemt bass covers more than half the repertoire. Many instruments are built to sound up to a minor third above a violin, so a given hardingfele may sit above concert pitch.

Also: chromatic harp, slide harmonica, 12 hole chromatic

A 12-hole chromatic in C, spanning three octaves. Pressing the slide raises every note a semitone, which is how one instrument covers all twelve keys — unlike the diatonic harmonica, where you change key by changing harmonica.

Also: blues harp, mouth organ, harp

Standard Richter tuning, key of C, holes 1–10. Every other key is this exact pattern transposed. For blues you usually play 'cross harp' — a C harmonica over a song in G, a fourth above the harmonica's key.

Also: bouzouki, celtic bouzouki

A fretted, plucked string instrument adapted from the Greek bouzouki for traditional Irish music.

Also: mbira, thumb piano, sansula

The 17-key kalimba is tuned to C major across C4–E6. Listed in pitch order here, but the tines physically alternate around the longest centre tine — low notes in the middle, high notes at both edges — which is why the instrument looks out of order.

Also: steel guitar, hawaiian guitar, resonator

Played with a steel bar, so every tuning is an open chord. C6 is the most common six-string tuning; string gauges vary by player, which shifts the practical octave.

Also: celtic harp, folk harp, irish harp, clarsach

Diatonic, not chromatic — levers raise individual strings a semitone. Larger harps are commonly tuned to E♭ major so the levers can reach the sharper keys; smaller ones are often tuned to C. One octave shown; the pattern repeats across the instrument.

Also: chinese mandolin, 柳琴

A small plucked string instrument that looks like a miniature pipa.

Also: mando cello

One octave below the mandola — the cello of the mandolin family.

Also: mando

Also: pianica, blow organ, melodion

Fully chromatic and non-transposing — a keyboard you blow into, so it has no tuning to set. A 32-key runs F3–C6 and a 37-key F3–F6. The C major scale is shown for reference.

Also: appalachian dulcimer, lap dulcimer, dulcimer

Three or four strings, listed bass to melody. The tuning sets the mode you play in: DAD is Mixolydian, DAA is Ionian, DAC is Aeolian.

Also: octave mandola, 8 string

Tuned one octave below a mandolin. Fingering is identical, so mandolin players can switch without relearning.

Also: ud, arabic lute

A fretless, plucked string instrument. Regional tunings differ; the lowest course is often a single string. Arabic (C–C, common for beginners) and Turkish shown.

Also: chinese lute, 琵琶

A four-stringed plucked lute with a pear-shaped wooden body.

Also: descant recorder, treble recorder, blockflute

Made in alternating C and F sizes. Each row below is that size's home scale from its lowest note, so you can hear where the instrument starts.

Also: baritone charango, charango baritono, ronrroco

The baritone of the charango family, popularised by Gustavo Santaolalla. It keeps the re-entrant layout — the third course is still an octave pair, B4 then B3 — transposed down a fourth. Fifth-below and octave-below stringings also exist, and the regional labels for them are applied inconsistently between sources.

Also: japanese flute, 尺八

A Japanese end-blown bamboo flute. Length sets the key — the standard 1.8 shaku sounds D. The five basic finger positions give the scale below.

Also: tank drum, tongue drum, hank drum

Cut tongues rather than hammered fields, and like the handpan the scale is fixed at manufacture. Tongue counts and exact scales vary widely by maker; two common 8-note layouts are shown.

Also: tambura, drone lute, तानपूरा

A drone instrument, not a melodic one. Sa is chosen to suit the singer, so there is no fixed concert pitch — the C shown is a common male-voice setting. The interval pattern (Pa, Sa, Sa, low Sa) is what stays constant.

Also: 4 string banjo, irish banjo

Also: 4 string guitar

Four strings. Chicago tuning matches the top four guitar strings; Irish tuning matches an octave mandolin.

Also: penny whistle, irish whistle, feadóg

Whistles are made in fixed keys — you change key by changing whistle. Each row is the home scale with all six holes covered upward. D is the standard for Irish traditional music.

Also: tres, tres cubano, cuban tres, tres guitar

Six strings in three double courses, the lead voice of Cuban son. Traditionally the outer courses are octave pairs and the middle C course is a plain unison, which puts the lowest-sounding string inside the top course. Many treseros string that top course in unison instead, and the octave string can sit on either side of its partner.

Also: uke, soprano ukulele, concert ukulele, tenor ukulele

Also: fiddle

Standard is universal; the cross tunings below are old-time fiddle scordatura. Nicknames for them vary by region, so each is named by its notes first.

Also: five string violin, 5 string fiddle

A violin with a viola's low C added below the standard four.

Also: flute, piccolo, oboe, bassoon, contrabassoon, bass flute, alto flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, a clarinet, eb clarinet, trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn, french horn, english horn, cor anglais, trombone, euphonium, baritone horn, tuba, sousaphone, soprano sax, alto sax, tenor sax, baritone sax, saxophone, transposing instruments, concert pitch chart

Every one of them tunes to the same two notes — concert B♭ in band, concert A in orchestra. Only the note you read changes: C · flute, oboe, bassoon, trombone, euphonium, tuba — read B♭ / A B♭ · trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn, clarinet, soprano & tenor sax — read C / B E♭ · alto & baritone sax, E♭ clarinet — read G / F♯ F · French horn, English horn — read F / E A clarinet — read C♯ / C · Alto flute — read E♭ / D Piccolo sounds an octave up, bass flute and contrabassoon an octave down, but all three read at concert pitch. Euphonium goes both ways: concert pitch in bass clef, B♭ in treble.

Also: chinese vertical flute, 洞箫, 箫

An end-blown vertical bamboo flute, quieter and lower than the dizi. Commonly made in G or F; the G instrument's home scale is shown.

Also: ruan, chinese moon guitar, 阮

A traditional Chinese plucked string instrument with a circular body.