Online chromatic tuner for guitar, bass and ukulele
Our free online chromatic tuner is the perfect tool to tune your guitar, bass or ukulele with professional precision. Works with popular and specialised alternative tunings.
🎸 Choose your instrument
- Guitar tuner — standard plus alternative tunings: Drop D, DADGAD, Open D, Open C, Open E or half step down.
- Bass tuner — 4, 5 and 6 strings, Drop D, Drop C, Drop B and Drop A, and fifths tuning.
- Ukulele tuner — standard re-entrant GCEA, linear Low G, baritone DGBE and D tuning.
✨ Tuner Features
- Automatic detection of the string you're playing
- Precise visual indicator with tolerance margin
- Works with your device's microphone
- Free, no installation or registration required
- Compatible with mobile phones, tablets and computers
Whether you're a beginner or professional musician, our online tuner for alternative tunings will help you achieve the perfect sound for any musical style: rock, metal, jazz, blues, folk, Celtic music or modern experimentation.
What is a chromatic tuner
A chromatic tuner recognises all twelve notes of the scale, not just the six strings of a guitar in standard tuning. That is the difference from simpler tuners, which can only tell you whether you are close to E, A, D, G, B or E.
It matters as soon as you step outside the expected. If you drop the sixth string to D to play in Drop D, an ordinary guitar tuner does not know what to make of that note; a chromatic one recognises it without trouble. The same goes for half a step down, for open tunings, and for anything that is not standard.
This tuner works like this: you pick the instrument and the tuning, and it knows which note each string should be and how far off it is. That is how it supports more than thirty different tunings without you having to remember any frequencies.
How it works
Your browser listens through the microphone and measures the frequency of the sound coming in. That frequency is compared with the one the string you are tuning should have, and the needle tells you whether you are sharp or flat.
The sound never leaves your device. The whole analysis happens inside the browser: nothing is recorded, nothing is sent to a server and nothing is stored. When you close the tab, nothing is left behind.
There is nothing to install and no account to create either. It is a web page: you open it, you allow the microphone and you are tuning.
How to use it
- Choose your instrument — guitar, bass or ukulele.
- Choose the tuning. If you are not sure which, it is the standard one.
- Press “Start tuner” and allow microphone access. The browser will ask you once.
- Play an open string and turn the peg until the needle centres.
One tip that saves a lot of frustration: pluck the string firmly, but do not yank it. A very hard attack makes the note start slightly sharp and fall while it rings, and you will see the needle move even though the string is fine.
If you are somewhere noisy, bring the instrument closer to the microphone. On a phone, the microphone is usually on the bottom edge.
440, 432 or 442 Hz
The reference frequency is the A used as the yardstick from which every other note is calculated. You can change it in the tuner itself.
440 Hz is the international standard and what almost everyone uses. If you are going to play along with a recording, with someone else or with a factory-tuned instrument, this is the one you want.
442 Hz is genuinely used by many European orchestras, which tune slightly higher for a brighter sound. If you play with an ensemble like that, they will tell you.
432 Hz has followers who prefer it for personal reasons. It is not a standard and it does not work for playing along with material recorded at 440, but if that is what you are after, it is here.
What matters is not which one you pick, but that everyone playing together uses the same one.
Frequently asked questions
What is a chromatic tuner?
It is a tuner that recognises all twelve notes of the scale, not just the strings of one particular tuning. That lets it handle any alternate tuning, such as Drop D or half a step down, and not only standard.
Is this tuner free?
Yes, entirely and without limits. There is no sign-up, no paid tier and no cap on how many times you can use it.
Do I need to install anything?
No. It runs in the browser, on phones and on computers. All it needs is permission to use the microphone.
Is my audio recorded?
No. The sound is analysed inside your browser and never leaves your device: nothing is recorded, nothing is sent to a server and nothing is stored. When you close the tab, nothing is left behind.
Is it as good as a clip-on or pedal tuner?
For tuning at home, yes. The practical difference shows up on stage or in a noisy room: a clip-on tuner reads the vibration of the wood and is unaffected by the noise around it, while a microphone tuner needs to hear the instrument clearly. That applies equally to electric, steel-string and nylon-string instruments.
Can I tune with my phone's microphone?
Yes, and it is the most common way to use it. Hold the instrument near the phone and play an open string. On most phones the microphone is on the bottom edge.
What is A4 reference frequency and which should I use?
It is the pitch of the A that every other note is calculated from. Use 440 Hz unless you have a specific reason not to: it is the international standard and what recordings and other instruments use.
Why does the needle move even when the string is in tune?
Because the sound of a string changes while it rings: it starts a little sharp and then settles. Pluck firmly but without overdoing it, and watch where the needle comes to rest rather than where it starts.
Updated