Standard Tuning for Violin

Standard runs G3, D4, A4, E5, in playing order. The lowest-pitched string is G3 (196.00 Hz) and the highest is E5 (659.26 Hz), measured against A4 = 440 Hz. Those are the exact target frequencies the tuner on this page listens for.

Nothing to change — this is the reference tuning for Violin. If your instrument is already in tune, you're there.

Perfect fifths from the G string up. Orchestras tune to the A at 440 Hz and the rest are set by ear against it, listening for the beatless interval rather than checking each string against a meter.

G3 is 196.00 Hz at concert pitch (A4 = 440 Hz). That's the fundamental — the string also produces harmonics above it, which is why a tuner reading the wrong octave usually means it locked onto a harmonic rather than the fundamental. This is the lowest string in this violin tuning.

Perfect fifths from G upward, tuned by ear against a reference A rather than string by string against a meter. Players listen for the beating between two adjacent strings bowed together and adjust until it disappears, which produces genuinely pure fifths rather than the slightly narrowed equal-tempered ones a chromatic tuner targets. That difference is small but audible in exposed double stops. Because there are no frets, the tuning of the open strings sets the reference the entire left hand calibrates against, which is why an out-of-tune open string degrades intonation everywhere rather than just where it is played.

Fine tuners move the pitch a little; pegs move it a lot. Use the pegs to get close and the fine tuners to land it.