Free Guitar Tuner: How to Tune Your Guitar Online

An out-of-tune guitar makes everything sound wrong, even if you're playing the right notes. OpenFret has a free chromatic tuner that runs in your browser. No app download, no account needed. Just open it and play.

Standard tuning

From the thickest string to the thinnest: E-A-D-G-B-E. The mnemonic I learned was “Eddie Ate Dynamite Good Bye Eddie,” though I've heard plenty of others. This tuning has been the default since the 1800s because it balances playable chord shapes with reasonable melodic range. Most guitar music assumes standard tuning unless stated otherwise.

Using the OpenFret tuner

Open the tuner page and give it microphone access. Pluck an open string and watch the indicator. Green means you're in tune. If it reads sharp, loosen the peg a little. If it reads flat, tighten. That's it. The tuner is chromatic, so it detects whatever note you play.

Common tuning mistakes

Always tune up to the note, not down to it. If you overshoot, go below the target and tune back up. This keeps the string tension consistent and prevents it from slipping flat mid-song. Also: new strings go flat constantly for the first day or two. Retune after every few songs until they settle in. And tune in a quiet room. Background noise confuses microphone-based tuners.

Alternate tunings worth knowing

Drop D (D-A-D-G-B-E) is everywhere in rock and metal - you just detune your lowest string by a whole step. Open G (D-G-D-G-B-D) is what Keith Richards uses on half of the Rolling Stones catalog. DADGAD shows up in folk and Celtic music. The OpenFret tuner handles all of these since it's chromatic - it doesn't care what note you're aiming for.