How to Tune a Violin

Before you even consider playing your new instrument, you need to find out how to tune a violin. One of the easiest ways to do this is to find someone to do it for you but it will cost you a lot of money. You other option is to look for ways to do it yourself.

During Violin Lessons

If you have a teacher, he or she will generally tune your violin for you at the start of your lesson to ensure that it is done properly. However, you will need to learn how to tune a violin yourself. You will either need a very good ear to listen to the notes or you will need to buy a pitcher to help you.

Tuning Yourself by Ear

If you have another instrument where you practice, such as a piano, you can do the tuning yourself. You can listen to the sounds between the string that you are plucking and the sound of the note on the piano. You will need to adjust the pegs on your violin to change the sound of the strings. This can take a lot of time, especially if you do not have such a good ear for toning.

Tuning with a Pitcher

It will be much quicker to buy a pitcher to find out whether your violin is in tune or not. This also means that you will be able to tune your violin without the need of another instrument around so will be able to do it whenever you want to practice. The pitcher will be able to tell you whether your strings are sharp (too high) or flat (too low) by the lights on the device. You will need to move the pegs accordingly to get the violin in tune.

Tuning Tips

When tuning, you should always be careful turning the pegs. If you do it too much, you could snap the string, which will mean that you need to buy extras. You should always have extra strings in your violin case just in case something like that happens to you – especially during lessons or before examinations.

Learning how to tune a violin does not need to take long but actually doing it may prove to be a little more time consuming. It all depends on the way that you choose to tune and how good you are at determining whether a note is slightly out or not. Even slightly can make all the difference in your melody sounding wrong.