How to tune a guitar with your microphone
- Sit close to your computer or phone and keep the room quiet. A built-in laptop or phone microphone works fine; with an electric guitar, play it unplugged near the mic or through an amp at low volume.
- Click Start tuner and allow microphone access. Nothing is recorded — the sound is only analysed on your device.
- Pluck the low E (thickest) string and let it ring. The big letter shows the note you're playing and the needle shows how far off it is in cents (hundredths of a semitone).
- If it says flat — tune up, tighten the string slowly; if it says sharp — tune down, loosen it. Stop when the display turns green (within ±5 cents).
- Repeat for A, D, G, B and high E, then check all strings once more — tuning one string slightly changes the tension on the others.
Tip: it's easier to tune up to a note. If you're sharp, go a little below the note and come back up; the string then holds its pitch better.
Alternate tunings
Pick a tuning from the list and the string targets change:
- Drop D (D A D G B E): lower only the low E by a whole step for heavy riffs and easy power chords.
- Half step down (Eâ™ Aâ™ Dâ™ Gâ™ Bâ™ Eâ™): used by many rock bands; easier on the voice and the fingers.
- D standard / Drop C: everything a whole step lower, or Drop D moved down a further step.
- DADGAD: an open, droning tuning popular in folk and Celtic music.
- Open G, Open D, Open E: strum the open strings to get a major chord — great for slide guitar.
For bass, choose 4-string (E A D G), 5-string (B E A D G) or Drop D. For ukulele, standard GCEA uses a high G (re-entrant) string; pick Low G if yours has a low fourth string. For any other instrument — violin, mandolin, voice — use Chromatic mode. You can also keep time for practice with the metronome.