Charango tuner

Charango tuning in Hz

Standard, temple natural: G C E A E, 10 strings in 5 pairs

Temple bajo, one tone lower

Equal temperament at A4 = 440 Hz; the reference switch above moves them. Temple bajo is not on the tuner: use the chromatic tuner for it.

How to tune a charango, pair by pair

Tap start and allow the microphone. The tuner asks for the courses in the order they sit, from the fifth, nearest your chin, to the first: G, C, E, A, E. Play one string and let it ring; the needle and the cents show how far off it is. Tighten when it reads low, loosen when it reads high, a small turn at a time: on a scale this short a quarter turn moves nylon a long way. A tick comes when it holds within five cents, and the next pair is suggested. Tap a note to pick a pair yourself; with the microphone off, the tap plays it.

The charango is re-entrant: the pitch climbs from G to the middle E, drops to A and climbs to E again, so a tuner that expects low to high sends you the wrong way. The middle course is an octave pair: one string is E5, the same note as the first course, the other is E4, the lowest note on the instrument. The tuner folds octaves, so both read against the same E. Tune each string alone, then play the pair together and turn until the wobble between them stops.

How to tune a charango with a guitar tuner, or a guitar

Can you tune a charango like a guitar? Not to E A D G B E: its strings would snap or flop. But its 5th to 2nd courses, G C E A, are the note names of a guitar's 4th to 1st strings at the 5th fret (D G B E, each a fourth up). The G and C sound an octave higher on the charango, the A at the same pitch, so the guitar's chord shapes from the 5th fret, and the ukulele's, carry over.

Any chromatic tuner works, a guitar tuner app included, as long as it is in chromatic mode: it names whatever it hears. A guitar mode that expects E A D G B E does not. With a guitar in tune, every charango note is on its first string: open is E4 (the low string of the middle pair), the 3rd fret G4, the 5th fret A4, the 8th fret C5 and the 12th fret E5. Play the guitar note, then the charango string, and turn until the two stop beating.

Tuning by ear, from one pair

• Tune the 2nd course to A4 from a reference: the tone generator, a tuning fork, or a tap on the A chip in the tuner (microphone off).
• The 1st course and the high string of the 3rd: open, they match the A course at the 7th fret.
• The low string of the 3rd course: an octave below that E.
• The 4th course: turn until its 4th fret matches the open E.
• The 5th course: turn until its 5th fret matches the open C.

Then strum all ten strings open. In tune they ring A minor 7 (A C E G), which is also C6: an open, soft chord with nothing clashing in it. A sour note in it is one string of a pair.

How many strings does a charango have?

Ten, in five pairs, on the standard charango, with a scale of about 37 cm (Wikipedia, "Charango", as of 2026). Variants run from four to twenty strings. Its relatives keep the pattern and move it: the small walaycho sits a fifth (sometimes a fourth) higher, the charangón a fourth lower (Argentina) or a fifth lower (Bolivia), the ronroco a fourth, a fifth or an octave lower. This tuner holds the standard G C E A E; for the others, use the chromatic tuner.

Why a charango won't stay in tune

Nylon stretches for days, and on a short scale a small stretch is a big change in pitch: tune, play ten minutes, tune again, for the first week. The pairs: two strings that each read in tune can still beat against each other if one sits a few cents off, so finish every course by ear. Friction pegs on old charangos slip; push the peg in as you turn. Most charangos today have geared tuners like a classical guitar. Wrong octave labels: some charts and string packets call the 659 Hz string E4. At A4 = 440 Hz it is E5. Tune to the Hz, not the label: a string forced toward the octave above snaps.

Charango chords to check the tuning

Frets from the 5th course to the 1st, 0 is open. Courses 5 to 2 are G C E A, the same note names as a ukulele's, so the shapes are the ukulele's; the 1st course can always take the same fret as the 3rd.

A minor, D minor and E7 are the minor-key set that huaynos and most first Andean songs move between.

Is the charango hard to play?

The chords come quickly, especially from the ukulele. The long part is the right hand: the fast strumming of Andean music and the close, ringing runs across neighbouring strings. And five pairs have to agree with each other, which is why most players tune before every session.

The notes you tuned go into Brumm as a short melody over a beat.