Viola tuner

Standard viola tuning, from the 4th string to the 1st: C G D A. Frequencies are for A4 = 440 Hz.

The viola's strings are C, G, D and A, from the lowest to the highest: C3, G3, D4 and A4. The top three are exactly the violin's G, D and A, the same pitches rather than octaves. Instead of the violin's E, the viola has a low C, so its whole range sits a fifth lower.

Violists read mostly in the alto clef, where the middle line is middle C (C4). The open C string is the C one octave below it. For high passages the part switches to the treble clef.

Violas are measured by the length of the body in inches, roughly 15 to 17 for adults, rather than in fractions like violins. Whatever the size, the four strings are tuned to the same notes.

Begin with the A, the string you share with the violins when an orchestra tunes. Then tune the D, G and C strings, each a perfect fifth below the one before. The C string is thick and responds slowly: bow it with more weight and a slower stroke, and give the needle a second before you read it.

Many violas have a single fine tuner on the A string, while student instruments often have four. Use the pegs for large changes, pushing them in slightly as you turn so they hold, and the fine tuners for the last few cents.

In a string quartet the viola's C and G strings are exactly one octave above the cello's C and G. Once both of you are tuned, play the open strings together: a clean octave, without beating, confirms it.

If your orchestra tunes above 440, often to 442 Hz, set A4 once in the settings. All four viola targets move with it, and the setting stays for the next visit and for every other tuner on this site.

A violin tuner is not enough for a viola: it expects an E string and doesn't listen for the low C. This viola tuner knows all four strings, picks the nearest one by itself, and each string button plays a sustained bowed-like tone, so you can also tune by ear without the microphone.

The same four notes, C3 G3 D4 A4, are used by the tenor banjo and the mandola. A mandola player can tune on this page as it is; the banjo tuner has the tenor tuning too, with a plucked reference sound.

Size alone can mislead: a small 14-inch viola has about the same body length as a full-size violin. The strings tell the difference. Bow the lowest string on the chromatic tuner: tuned correctly, a viola's reads C3 and a violin's G3. The viola's lowest string is also clearly thicker than its neighbor, while a violin's highest string is a thin steel E.

Tuning by ear, work down in fifths from the A: tap the A button and match the A string, then play A and D together and turn until the fifth sounds smooth, then D with G, and G with C. Confirm the C string on the tuner at the end, since small errors in each fifth add up by the time you reach it.