Tuning Your Violin

Learning how to tune your violin takes time and training. Some people tend to think that they are tone deaf, which may not be true. Some of us just need a little more time to learn and develop our ears to hear correctly. Tuning the violin is very hard at first, but with time, it becomes easier. If you are a beginner violinist, you'll have to determine the best way for you to tune the violin (pitch pipe, tuning fork, piano, or electronic tuner). If you have all four fine tuners on your violin, tuning will be easier. If you don't you'll need to learn the technique for adjusting the pegs. The pegs are slightly slanted so that when you push them in the peg hole, the wood becomes tighter in the hole and creates friction so the peg doesn't move. You don't want to force the peg too much into the hole, because the wood expands and contracts with temperature and humidity, so when you go to tune your violin the peg may be stuck. If the peg is not pushed in while turning it, the peg will be too loose and will go out of tune right away.

The video below explains all this again and then goes into detail about the pitches of the string and how to tell when it's in tune. It may be a little hard to hear the pitches of the strings as they are out of tune and then come together and are in tune. Play this on your violin following this video to really hear what she means. You should always tune your violin before playing. If you tune your violin, and it seems to stay in tune, don't change the string just to change it. If it's correct leave it. In this video, it may look like you must loosen each string when you go to tune your violin. She is correct in that you need to bring the pitch down before bringing it up to the correct pitch. You could bring the pitch up and then bring it back down if you are having trouble hearing it from the other way.

If you have an electric tuner, try tuning it by ear first, then check it with the electronic tuner. That way you're still training your ear. By checking the pitches again with the electronic tuner, you can see where you were off and try harder to get it correct the next time. 

Again, this may take some time to learn. I hope this information is helpful.