Violin Standard GDAE Tuner — Tune to Standard GDAE in Your Browser
Mic-based chromatic tuner pre-set to Standard GDAE. No download, no sign-up, works in your browser.
Tuning summary
- Notes (low to high)
- G3 · D4 · A4 · E5
- Instrument
- Violin
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- About this tuning
- Standard violin tuning, GDAE in perfect fifths — shared by most classical and folk fiddle styles.
Start tuning
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About Standard GDAE on violin
Standard violin tuning is GDAE, low to high — G3, D4, A4, E5. The four strings are tuned in perfect fifths, giving the violin a wider open-string range than any guitar tuning despite having only four strings. The total range from open G to open E spans two octaves and a major second. The A string at A4 (440 Hz) is the reference pitch the entire instrument tunes around, and by extension the orchestral tuning standard for nearly all Western music.
Tuning in fifths produces a fingering logic radically different from a guitar's fourths-based layout. Scales played across two strings repeat the same fingering pattern up by a fifth each time, and the open strings sit on every fifth scale degree, which is why violinists develop strong harmonic intuition: the open strings imply a chord progression on their own. Double stops on adjacent strings form natural fifths, fourths, thirds and sixths depending on fingering, which is the foundation of fiddle and folk-style chordal accompaniment.
GDAE is the universal tuning of classical violin and the default of most folk fiddle styles — Irish, Scottish, Appalachian old-time, bluegrass, Cajun, Scandinavian fiddle, jazz violin, Western swing, and modern singer-songwriter. The same physical instrument moves between all these contexts because the tuning is genuinely universal. Mandolin (also in GDAE) shares the same intervallic logic, which is why fiddlers and mandolin players often double on each other's instruments.
If you are starting on violin, GDAE in fifths takes time to internalise after any guitar background. The first thing to practice is open-string bowing on each of the four strings to learn how each open pitch feels under the bow. After that, a one-octave G major scale on the G and D strings teaches the basic finger-placement geometry. Tune carefully — fifths are unforgiving; even a few cents off makes adjacent open strings clash audibly when bowed together.
Frequently asked questions
- Why is the violin tuned in fifths instead of fourths?
- Fifths give the violin a wider open-string range and put the open strings on every fifth scale degree, which suits the instrument's role as a melodic and harmonic voice. Fourths-based tuning would limit the open-string range.
- What pitch is the violin's A string?
- A4 at 440 Hz, the international concert pitch reference. Most violinists tune the A string first to a tuning fork, piano, or oboe, then tune the other strings by listening to fifths.
- Will I need different strings for standard tuning?
- No — every violin string set is built for GDAE. Common brands include Dominant, Evah Pirazzi, and Pirastro Tonica, each with their own tonal character at the same standard tuning.
- Can I tune a violin without a tuner?
- Yes — tune the A string to a fixed reference (tuning fork, piano, or oboe), then tune each adjacent string by listening to a perfect fifth between the two open strings. This is how orchestral violinists tune for centuries.
- How do I quickly switch back to standard from a scordatura tuning?
- Bring each string back to its standard pitch: G3, D4, A4, E5. Verify each open-string fifth by ear or with a chromatic tuner. New string positions can take a moment to settle after retuning.