Guitar Standard Tuner — Tune to Standard in Your Browser
Mic-based chromatic tuner pre-set to Standard. No download, no sign-up, works in your browser.
Tuning summary
- Notes (low to high)
- E2 · A2 · D3 · G3 · B3 · E4
- Instrument
- Guitar
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- About this tuning
- Standard six-string guitar tuning. EADGBE, low to high — the default for almost every guitar method, song book, and chord chart.
Start tuning
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About Standard on guitar
Standard guitar tuning is EADGBE, low to high. Each string is a perfect fourth above the previous one, except for the gap between G and B, which is a major third. That single shift is the reason chord shapes like the open C and open D look the way they do, and why barre chords can be moved up the neck without changing fingering. It is the tuning every method book, chord chart, and tablature site assumes by default.
Because the intervals are mostly fourths, scale shapes repeat in predictable patterns across strings. The CAGED system, the three-notes-per-string scale boxes, and the entire pentatonic vocabulary are all built around standard tuning. Almost every genre — rock, country, jazz, blues, classical, pop — defaults to it. If you only learn one tuning, this is the one.
The pitches were not chosen arbitrarily. EADGBE balances chord playability with single-line voicing. A pure-fourths tuning (EADGCF) makes scales easier but kills open chords; standard splits the difference. The open strings spell an Em11 chord, which is the warm ringing sound a guitar makes when you strum without fretting anything.
If you are a beginner, stay in standard for at least the first six months. Every song you want to learn and every teacher you watch will use it. Once you can play comfortably you can experiment with drop and open tunings, but they all assume you know how standard feels first. The ear-training value of internalising EADGBE is worth more than any alternate tuning.
Frequently asked questions
- Why is the B string tuned a major third instead of a perfect fourth?
- Pure fourths would push chord shapes out of reach. The major third on the B string keeps the open C, D, G, and E chords playable with one hand.
- What pitch should the low E be?
- E2, which vibrates at 82.41 Hz when A is calibrated to 440 Hz.
- Can I tune the guitar without a tuner?
- Yes — match each string to a known pitch (a piano, another guitar, or a tuning fork) and use the 5th-fret method to tune the rest. A tuner is faster and more accurate.
- Do nylon-string and electric guitars use the same tuning?
- Yes. Standard EADGBE applies to acoustic, electric, classical, and most steel-string guitars.
- How often should I retune?
- Every time you sit down to play. New strings settle for several days; temperature and humidity also drift the tuning.