Cello tuner with microphone and reference tones
The tuner here listens through your microphone and shows how far off each string is. Below it: what order to tune in, when a peg is the right tool instead of a fine tuner, and what the needle is telling you.
How to tune your cello
Start low and go around twice
Tune C, G, D, A, working up from the lowest string. Draw the bow across the open string slowly and evenly until the needle settles: a rushed stroke wavers in pitch and the reading wavers with it. Once all four have been set, go around again, because every string you tighten presses harder on the bridge and top, which pulls the others slightly flat.
Pegs for coarse, fine tuners for fine
If a string is well off, that is a job for the peg; the fine tuners at the tailpiece handle the last few cents, and most cellos have one on each string. Push the peg into the pegbox while you turn it, or it slips back the moment you let go, and move it in small steps rather than full turns. If a fine tuner is screwed all the way in, back it out and take the pitch up at the peg again.
Reading the needle
The needle sits left when the string is flat and right when it is sharp, and the scale counts cents, hundredths of a half step. The reference is A 440 Hz; the open A string on a cello sounds an octave below that. Under about five cents nobody hears the difference, so forcing the needle to a perfect zero chases the display rather than the sound.
Frequently asked questions
What order should I tune a cello in?
Both directions are common: up from the low C string, or down from A. What matters more than the direction is the second pass, because every correction detunes the neighboring strings a little. If you are unsure, start at the bottom and then check all four again.
Why does my cello go out of tune again so quickly?
New strings keep stretching for weeks, and wood reacts to temperature and humidity, fastest of all in a heated room. A peg that does not sit firmly gives way slowly as well. A quick touch-up before you practice is normal and not a sign of damage.
Can I tune a cello with a phone or laptop microphone?
For open strings, yes. The low C is the hard case, since small microphones pick up little that far down: bow a bit louder, keep the device near the instrument, and tune in a quiet room. Background noise throws the detection off more than a cheap microphone does.
Related pages
Once the strings are in tune
The tuner stays free and needs no account. When you want to play, Notegleam rolls the notes toward the fingerboard as dots with the finger number inside: 0 means an open string.