How to Tune a Fiddle

When you're beginning to play the fiddle, one skill you need to develop is tuning your instrument. The strings lose their tension with practice and age, and you need to tighten them to maintain the proper tones. Here's how you can tune the strings.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Fiddle
• Piano

1. Learn the name of each string. As you hold the fiddle under your chin and look down toward the pegs, the first string on the right is the E string. The second string is the A string, next is the D string and last is the G string.

2. Use a piano, if you have one, when beginning to tune. The A string on the fiddle is the same A that is above middle C on the piano and vibrates at 440 hertz per second. Tighten or loosen the peg until the fiddle matches the piano tone.

3. Work on tuning the D string on the fiddle. This is the D on the piano above middle C. You also can tighten or loosen the peg, as needed, to harmonize with the A string on your fiddle.

4. Tune the G string to the G below middle C on the piano. You also can loosen or tighten the G string peg to harmonize with the D string on the fiddle.

5. Go back to the first string, the E string. Tuning it to the piano key in the octave above middle C will give you the correct tone. You also can harmonize it to your A string.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don't have a piano, you can purchase an electronic tuner or a pitch pipe for violin.
• When you're tuning, usually the A string is first because students learn many beginning tunes on the A string of the fiddle.