Free Online Open G Guitar Tuner
Strum the open strings, hear a G chord. This tuner gets you there.
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Left to right: 6th string, the thickest, to 1st, the thinnest. Tune one string at a time.
Allow microphone access to begin
How to use this tuner
Click Start Tuning and allow microphone access. Play one open string at a time, and the tuner shows how sharp or flat you are from that string’s target in cents. Tap a string button to hear the note and lock the tuner to it.
The bar spans −50 to +50 cents. Zero is perfectly in tune. In string mode the value is the distance to the target string, not to the nearest chromatic note, so a string that is a long way off pins the needle at the edge until you get close.
The tuner reads against the nearest open string of Open G tuning (D2, G2, D3, G3, B3, D4), so the cents value is the distance to that string, not to the nearest chromatic note. Tap a string to hear its reference pitch and lock the tuner to it; tap again to release.
Guitar is already selected and no transposition is applied: guitar is written an octave above where it sounds, and the tuner shows the sounding octave. Changing the dropdown to another instrument turns string mode off; tapping a string turns it back on.
Default is A440. Tap + / − to match a recording or another instrument that cannot be adjusted.
Open G tuning is D2, G2, D3, G3, B3, D4. From standard, the sixth string drops a whole step from E to D, the fifth drops a whole step from A to G, and the first drops a whole step from E to D; the fourth, third, and second strings are unchanged. Strummed open, the strings sound a G major chord, and a straight barre at any fret gives another major chord, which is why open G is the home tuning of slide guitar, Delta blues, and Keith Richards, who removes the sixth string altogether and plays it as a five-string GDGBD.
Three whole-step drops means three strings that pass through a wrong note name on the way down. This page reads the sixth string against D2, the fifth against G2, and the first against D4 throughout, so each needle moves smoothly from the right edge to centre rather than flicking between E♭ and D. The buttons light as each string comes within range of its target; tap one to hear the reference or to lock the tuner to that string while you turn. Tune down past the note and back up so the string seats on the nut and holds.
Open G has three G strings and two D strings, which gives you easy ear checks: G2 against G3, G3 against the fifth fret of the second string, D2 against D3, D3 against D4. Any slow beating means one of the pair is off. For slide, intonation across the whole neck matters more than in fretted playing because the slide is the fret: if the open strings are at zero but chords at the twelfth fret read sharp, the action is high enough that the slide is pressing the strings down, and a lighter touch or a heavier string set will fix more than retuning will.
The looser sixth and fifth strings are the usual source of buzz in open G; a heavier set, or a wound third string, gives the low end back some tension. Open A is open G raised a whole step on every string (E A E A C♯ E) and is tuned the same way from the chromatic tuner. Open D is the other common slide tuning, with the same shape one string over. If the fifth string reads unsteady when tuned to G2, pluck it more gently: it is now the loosest string on the instrument and a hard pick stroke pushes it sharp for the first half second.
Frequently asked questions
What are the notes in open G tuning?
D2, G2, D3, G3, B3, D4 from the lowest string to the highest. The sixth, fifth, and first strings each drop a whole step from standard; the other three stay the same. Strummed open they sound a G major chord.
Is open G the same as the Keith Richards tuning?
Almost. Richards uses open G with the sixth string removed, so the lowest string is the G2 on the fifth string. On a six-string, tune to this page and either ignore or mute the low D.
Is open G good for slide guitar?
Yes, it is one of the two standard slide tunings along with open D. A straight slide across all strings gives a major chord at every fret. Slide players often use a heavier string set and higher action so the slide does not touch the frets.
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