Crysfel Villa Feb 15, 2024tune,beginner

How to tune a violin?

Tuning a violin is challenging, specially as a beginner! I still remember the first time I had to tune my violin by myself, I was terrified and to make things worse one of the strings broke and the bridge moved. This was my first experience and I had to wait for my teacher to fix it. In this tutorial I’ll show you how to avoid my mistakes so you can tune your violin easily as a beginner!

Find a tuner

As a beginner is hard to tune by ear, eventually you will get there, but as a beginner I’d highly recommend using an online tuner or an app for this. There are hundred of apps that will help you tremendously to tune your violin.

I’ve used GuitarTuna, mainly because this is the one I’ve used before for my guitar, but the app also supports violin and other instruments. Additionally is free! There are some annoying ads, but other than that is great.

Just as a reminder, the standard tuning for a violin is G-D-A-E, starting from the lowest pitch string G to the highest pitch string E.

Start with A

The fist string you should start tuning are the ones in the middle, this will help with the pressure on the bridge, preventing from moving it or getting out of place. Remember that the bridge is only there because of the pressure the strings apply.

Start with the A string, make sure to gently turn the peg to make small changes, this will prevent breaking the strings and it will help you get to the right pitch. Once you are getting close to the right pitch, you might want to use the fine tuner instead of the pegs. This will make things easier!

Continue with D

As mentioned before, I’d recommend tuning the ones in the middle first. Try to tune the D string. Again, make sure you are slowly turning the peg to prevent breaking the string. Use the fine tuner if necessary.

Every time you tune a string, make sure to check the bridge, it should stay in the same position and should not bend in any way, other wise it will collapse, it it’s bending a little try to strengthen it. If is moving a little you can use a pensil to pull it to the right place.

Continue with G

Now move to the sides, I’d recommend you to continue with the G string. Don’t forget to be gentle and patience to prevent breaking the strings. You can use the fine tuner once approaching to the right pitch.

Again, check your bridge, you don’t want to start over gain because it collapsed with the tension. Worth mentioning that the bridge should be positioned at the small mark on n the Fs.

Finally the E

The last string to tune should be the E string. This will ensure the pressure is even in all strings and your bridge will be happy about it. This is is trickier than the others in my opinion, it requires to use the fine tuner to make sure you get the right pitch.

Check all strings again

Once you are done tuning all strings, you need to check again all others, they will be slightly out of tune. Use your fine tuner to make sure you bring them in check.

Remember to tune your violin regularly, as changes in temperature and humidity can affect the tension of the strings. I noticed that whenever I take my violin to a different location it goes out of tune, sometimes just a little bit or if I’m traveling countries…. well… things can go really bad.

There you have it! How to tune your violin as a beginner without braking the strings or messing up your bridge.

Happy practicing