Free Online Banjo Tuner

How to tune a 5-string banjo

Standard bluegrass banjo uses open G tuning: strum the open strings and you're already playing a G chord. From the 5th string to the 1st, the notes are g D G B D — note that the short 5th string is a high g, not a low one.

1. Open the tuner and choose the banjo preset.
2. Pluck one string at a time. The tuner hears the pitch and shows whether you're sharp or flat.
3. Turn the peg until the needle sits dead center on the target note.
4. Prefer to tune by ear? Play the drone on the target note and match it — the same skill you'll use to stay in tune at a jam.

Why tune with a drone?

A drone holds a steady reference pitch so you can hear the "beats" between two notes slow down and disappear as you come into tune. Because that's exactly how you'll check your tuning against a fiddle or another banjo in a jam, practicing with a drone trains your ear as well as your instrument.

Other tunings

The tuner is fully chromatic, so it handles the common alternates too — double C (g C G C D), sawmill / mountain minor (g D G C D), and D tuning (f# D F# A D). Just tune each string to the note you want; the needle doesn't care which tuning you're aiming for.