Tenor guitar tuner

Tenor guitar tuning: C G D A in Hz

Other tenor guitar tunings

At A4 = 440 Hz; the reference switch above moves them all. Chicago is on the switch; Irish G D A E is the octave mandola switch of the mandola tuner, G D A D the Irish switch of the bouzouki tuner.

How to tune a tenor guitar

Pick the tuning on the switch: C G D A for the standard in fifths, Chicago for D G B E. Tap start, play the 4th string, the thick one, and let it ring. The needle shows how far off it is and the tuner says tighten or loosen; once it holds within five cents a tick comes and it asks for the 3rd string, then the 2nd and the 1st. In C G D A the 1st string, A4, is thin and tuned high on a short neck: bring it up slowly, from below, and stop at the tick.

Which tuning is yours? C G D A is where the tenor guitar began: it was built in the 1920s so tenor banjo players could double on guitar, and it kept their tuning, the same four notes as a viola. Fifths spread wide, so one hand position covers a lot of notes. Chicago tuning, D G B E, is the top four strings of a six-string guitar and the tuning of a baritone ukulele: guitarists play their shapes as they are. The name always means D G B E, borrowed from the plectrum banjo's Chicago tuning; G D A E is Irish tuning, not Chicago. Irish tuning, G D A E, sits an octave below a fiddle, for session tunes.

Irish tuning: G D A E on a tenor guitar

G D A E is G2 D3 A3 E4, the fiddle's and the mandolin's notes an octave down, so fiddle tunes lie under the fingers the way they do on a mandolin. Every string sits a fourth below C G D A (the low G is a fourth below the C), and on C G D A strings it flaps: G D A E wants a set made for it. This page's switch doesn't have it; the octave mandola switch on the mandola tuner asks for exactly these four notes. G D A D, with the top string a step lower, is the Irish bouzouki's tuning and on the bouzouki tuner. Players also use C G D G (C3 G3 D4 G4, 130.8 · 196.0 · 293.7 · 392.0 Hz) for chords, and open G D G B or A E A C♯ on a G D A E set; the any-note tuner on the tuner page names those notes.

Any chromatic tuner works on a tenor guitar, clip-on or app, set to chromatic mode; a guitar-mode tuner expects E A D G B E and won't follow C G D A. This one runs in the phone's browser, no app.

Tuning a tenor guitar without a tuner

In fifths the reference fret is the 7th. Get the C from a reference, a piano's C below middle C or the tone generator at 130.81 Hz; then the 7th fret of each string is the next open string: C to G, G to D, D to A. In Chicago tuning it works like a guitar: the 5th fret of the D string is the open G, the 4th fret of the G string is the open B, the 5th fret of the B string is the open E. Play both notes together and turn until the wobble stops.

Strings and scale length

Tenor guitars have short necks, around 21 to 23 inches, and each tuning has its own set: a C G D A set is too light for G D A E and the wrong balance for Chicago. A string pulled far above the note it was made for breaks, and on a tenor in fifths that is the A. After changing tuning, compare each open string with its 12th fret; if the fretted note is sharp or flat, the saddle needs moving, which a tuner can't fix.

Tenor guitar, tenor banjo, tenor ukulele

A tenor banjo is tuned C G D A too, so the two share every chord shape; the banjo tuner has it on its Tenor switch. A tenor ukulele is a different instrument, tuned G C E A like any ukulele: the ukulele tuner is for that one.

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