Picker’s Guide Tools
Online Tuner
How to use it
Tap the power button on the tuner above and allow microphone access. Pick your instrument from the dropdown, then play a string. The note name and a meter showing how flat or sharp you are appear on the screen. When you’re within a few cents of the target, the note turns green — you’re in tune.
Supported instruments and standard tunings
- Guitar: E A D G B E (low to high)
- Mandolin: G D A E
- Banjo: open G — g D G B D (5th string first, banjo style)
- Dobro: open G — G B D G B D
- Fiddle: G D A E
- Bass: E A D G
Alternate tunings — Drop D, Double C, sawmill
Guitar and banjo have a Tuning picker above the string display. Guitar offers Standard and Drop D (D A D G B E); banjo offers Open G, Double C (g C G C D), and G modal — the “sawmill” tuning (g D G C D) behind Clinch Mountain Backstep and Shady Grove. Pick one and the string display switches to those notes.
Beyond those, the tuner reads the actual note you play (chromatic detection), so any tuning works without picking a mode. Drop your low E to D and it’ll show D, in tune. The string display is a reference — your tuning doesn’t have to match it.
Tuning with a capo (guitar, banjo, dobro)
A capo pulls the strings a little sharp — unevenly, string to string — so a guitar that’s dead-on open is usually a few cents off at the capo. That matters in bluegrass, where you’re capoing all the time to follow the singer’s key. Pick Guitar, Banjo, or Dobro and a Capo control appears: set it to your capo fret, then fret each string at the capo and tune it in right there. The strings keep their open-string names — your low string still reads “E,” just capoed — so there’s no mental math. You’re simply tuning where you’re actually playing.
Questions about tuning online
What instruments does this tuner support?
Guitar, mandolin, banjo, dobro, fiddle, and bass. Each has its own preset of strings with the correct standard tuning highlighted on the tuner display. Guitar and banjo also offer alternate tunings — Drop D for guitar; Double C and G modal (“sawmill”) for banjo.
How does the tuner work?
Tap the power button to grant microphone access, then play a single open string. The tuner detects the pitch with YIN pitch detection and shows you how many cents flat or sharp you are. When you are within a few cents, the readout turns green.
Does it support alternate tunings like Drop D or Double C?
Yes. Guitar mode has a Tuning picker with Standard and Drop D; banjo mode has Open G, Double C, and G modal (“sawmill”). And because detection is chromatic — the tuner names whatever note it hears — you can tune to any other tuning, like DADGAD or open D, in any mode.
Can I tune with a capo?
Yes. In Guitar, Banjo, or Dobro mode a Capo control appears — set it to your capo fret, then tune each string at the capo. That corrects the slight sharpness a capo introduces. The strings keep their open-string names, so you tune your E string as usual, just capoed.
Do I need an account to use it?
Not for the tuner — open it and play. An account is for the rest of Picker’s Guide: practicing any song at your own tempo and in your own key, chord charts and lyrics, playlists, and the whole catalog on your phone.
Why does the tuner need microphone access?
The tuner has to listen to your instrument to detect pitch. The audio stays in your browser — nothing is uploaded or recorded. Closing the tuner releases the microphone.
