Guitar string frequency chart

Guitar: standard tuning

The same notes apply to acoustic and electric guitars. String 6 is the thickest string and the lowest note.

Each string is five semitones above the one below it, except strings 3 and 2 (G to B), which are four apart. The two E strings are exactly two octaves apart, so the frequency of string 1 is four times that of string 6. For drop, open and lowered tunings, each page under guitar tunings has its own table.

Bass guitar: 4-string and 5-string

A 4-string bass is tuned E A D G, the same note names as the guitar’s lowest four strings, one octave lower.

A 5-string bass adds a low B below the E. That B0 is the lowest open string in this guide. Small speakers and phone microphones reproduce its fundamental only weakly, and its slow vibration needs a long analysis window in a tuner (see how the tuner works).

Ukulele: standard, low G and baritone

Standard ukulele tuning is re-entrant: string 4, the G nearest your chin, is higher than string 3. The tables list the strings in the order they sit on the neck, from string 4 to string 1, so the G comes first even though it is not the lowest note.

Low-G tuning replaces the high G with one an octave lower, usually with a thicker or wound string. The notes then rise steadily from string 4 to string 1, which gives a fuller bass line. It is common on concert and tenor ukuleles.

The baritone ukulele is tuned D G B E, the same notes as a guitar’s top four strings. Guitar chord shapes work on it unchanged and keep their guitar names.

Every note from A0 to C6

This table covers every chromatic note from A0, the lowest key on a standard piano, up to C6. That range includes the open strings and most fretted notes of every instrument above, so you can look up any note you play.

Two patterns run through the whole table:

• Each octave doubles the frequency. A3 is half of A4, and A5 is twice A4.
• Each semitone multiplies the frequency by the twelfth root of 2, about 6%. Twelve of those steps make the doubling of an octave. This equal spacing is what equal temperament means, and it is how guitar frets are laid out.

Because the steps are ratios, the gap between neighboring notes in hertz grows as you go up. Low notes are crowded together and high notes are spread apart. That has practical effects, as the section on cents below explains.

Reading the note names: scientific pitch notation

Every note name on this site has two parts: a letter with an optional ♯ or ♭, and an octave number. That system is scientific pitch notation.

• The octave number changes at C, not at A. The notes run A3, A♯3, B3, then C4. A4 is the A just above middle C, and C4 is middle C itself.
• Sharps and flats share a pitch. F♯3 and G♭3 are the same note in equal temperament. The tables follow the spelling a tuning normally uses, so half-step-down tuning reads E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B♭ E♭ rather than D♯ G♯ C♯ F♯ A♯ D♯.
• A4 is the reference note. Tuning standards are defined by the frequency of A4, and every other note is calculated from it.

Why the low E is E2

Count down from middle C (C4). The C below it is C3, and the C below that is C2. The guitar’s low E sits just above C2, so it is E2. The high E sits above middle C, in octave 4, so it is E4.

Guitarists sometimes see the low E called E3, for two reasons:

• Guitar music is written an octave higher than it sounds. The open low E is written on the third ledger line below the treble staff, which looks like E3 on paper. It sounds as E2. Bass music is written an octave higher than it sounds too.
• Some software uses a different octave label. Some keyboards and recording programs call middle C “C3”. In that system the low E is labeled E1, while the sound is unchanged.

When a tuner, a chart and a piece of software disagree about an octave number, check which convention each one uses before you suspect the tuner.

How A4 calibration shifts every value

Every frequency in these tables comes from one formula. Give each note a number n, counting semitones, with A4 as 69 and E2 as 40 (the MIDI note numbers). Then the note’s frequency is A4 × 2^((n − 69) ÷ 12).

That means a single setting, the frequency of A4, fixes every other value. Change A4 and every note in the chart moves by the same ratio, so in musical terms every note moves by the same number of cents. The tables here use the default A4 of standard concert pitch.

HeyTuner’s A4 setting lets you move the reference in fine steps, with presets for common orchestral references and for tuning to a lower A4. Change it and the tuner’s targets, its By Ear reference tones and the readings all follow. Use it when you need to match a piano or a recording that is not at standard pitch: measure that instrument’s A with the chromatic tuner, then set A4 to match.

Cents: why tuners don’t read in hertz

A cent is one hundredth of a semitone, so an octave is 1,200 cents. The distance in cents between a measured pitch and its target is:

cents = 1200 × log2(measured ÷ target)

Cents measure ratios, so they mean the same thing on every string. A low E that is 5 cents flat is off by the same musical amount as a high E that is 5 cents flat, though in hertz the high E is off by four times as much. That is why a tuner shows cents. A tolerance stated in hertz would be strict on high strings and loose on low ones.

HeyTuner treats a string as in tune when it holds within ±2 cents for 300 milliseconds. You can widen or narrow that window to ±1, ±3 or ±5 cents in the settings. Use ±1 for careful studio work and ±5 if you are tuning quickly in a loud room.

Using the chart

• Check a reading. If the tuner shows a note you do not expect, find it in the A0 to C6 table to see how far it is from your target.
• Build a custom tuning. The custom tuner takes note names, so the octave numbers here tell you exactly what to enter.
• Compare instruments. Line up the guitar, bass and ukulele tables to see where the instruments overlap, which helps when you arrange parts for a group.