Tap a string to hear its reference tone and tune to it by ear. The microphone pauses while a tone sounds.
Listens through your microphone. Nothing is recorded and nothing leaves your browser.
Press a string to hear it. The microphone pauses while it sounds.
Irish tenor banjo tuning is G2, D3, A3, E4, from the thickest string to the thinnest. It sounds one octave below a mandolin. Select GDAE in the tuner above for these pitches.
Choose a set labelled for Irish GDAE and your banjo’s scale length. One example is D’Addario EJ63i, .012 to .036 inches. Check the maker’s gauge recommendation for your model before choosing a set.
Measure scale length from nut to bridge. A 17-fret and a 19-fret instrument may need different gauges or setup. Deering recommends strings made for Irish tuning when changing from CGDA.
A free online tuner for Irish tenor banjo. It listens through your microphone, works in the browser with nothing to install, and covers GDAE, CGDA and GDAD.
Worth knowing: the Irish tenor banjo sounds an octave below the fiddle but is written at fiddle pitch. It is a transposing instrument, and it is why the tab on this site, and in many Irish banjo books, is calculated from the written pitch rather than the sounding one.
The tuning you choose decides what the instrument is good at. This is the part that is rarely written down.
Melody playing, which is what Irish tenor banjo is for. Matches fiddle and mandolin fingering exactly, so every tutor, tab book and session assumes it. Use this unless you have a specific reason not to.
Jazz, trad jazz and dance band repertoire, which is what the instrument was originally built for. Chord shapes and written music for the tenor banjo before the 1960s assume CGDA.
Accompaniment. Dropping the top string to D gives you an open drone that sits under tunes in D and G without deciding between major and minor. You lose the top E, so melody playing above the second position gets awkward.
Measure the distance from nut to bridge and choose an Irish GDAE set recommended for that scale and model. Lowering standard CGDA strings to GDAE reduces their tension, which can leave them too loose. Follow the maker’s string guidance and have the setup checked if the nut slots or bridge need adjustment.
The GDAE and CGDA guide shows every pitch change. The mandolin comparison explains the octave difference.
Everything people ask before they tune up.
Yes, completely. There is no account, no trial, no limit on how often you use it and no advertising. It covers GDAE, CGDA and GDAD, and it will stay free.
No. It runs in your browser and uses your microphone directly. There is no app to download and nothing to sign up for. Your browser will ask permission for the microphone the first time.
No. The audio is analysed in your browser frame by frame and thrown away. Nothing is recorded, nothing is stored and nothing is sent to a server. You can disconnect from the internet after the page loads and it still works.
GDAE. It is fiddle tuning an octave lower, so the tunes fall under your fingers the way every Irish tutor and tab book assumes. CGDA is the original tenor banjo tuning and is still right for jazz.
Accompaniment rather than melody. Dropping the top string from E to D gives a droning open D under tunes in D and G, which suits backing. It costs you the top E, so melody playing gets awkward higher up the neck.
Accurate enough to tune by. This one uses autocorrelation rather than an FFT peak, which means it locks onto the fundamental instead of a louder harmonic, and that is exactly the failure mode on a banjo's bright top end. It reads in cents, and anything within five cents is in tune by any practical standard.
A low G on a tenor banjo is 98 Hz, and phone and laptop microphones roll off badly down there. Play the string harder, get closer to the microphone, and mute the others so the tuner is not hearing sympathetic ringing.
GDAE, low to high: G2, D3, A3, E4. It has the same note names and fret pattern as a mandolin, sounding one octave lower. Standard tenor tuning is CGDA: C3, G3, D4, A4.
Down a perfect fourth on every string: C3 to G2, G3 to D3, D4 to A3, and A4 to E4. That is five semitones lower. Lowering a CGDA set reduces tension, so use an Irish GDAE set suited to your banjo. See the pitch comparison and changeover guide.
Choose an Irish tenor GDAE set recommended for your model and scale length, measured from nut to bridge. Gauges vary between makers. A repairer can check nut slots, bridge position and action when changing to a heavier set.
Irish tenor GDAE is an octave below mandolin pitch. Use G2, D3, A3 and E4, and check the octave as well as the letter. Raising the usual Irish tenor strings an octave can break them or damage the instrument.
Start with a reliable reference note. In GDAE, fret the G at 7 to match open D, D at 7 to match open A, and A at 7 to match open E. These are unison comparisons. They check the strings against one another; an external reference establishes the overall pitch.
Yes. Keep your usual tuning and use the ABC transposer to change the tune’s key and regenerate the tab. Choose the instrument and tuning that match your setup.