Tuning Panel

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Welcome!

This site is a game for learning how to tune a piano aurally by listening to beat rates between notes. The keys on the keyboard can be played using the computer keyboard. The lowest note (F3) is mapped to the 'A' key and the highest note (A4) is mapped to the ';' key. The notes in between are mapped to the adjacent keys on the keyboard. The sliders below the keyboard can be used to adjust the pitch of each note. By clicking on the "Play" tab, you can start a game where every note will be detuned except A4. Using that as a reference pitch, your goal is to tune the other notes back to equal temperament by ear. You can set the difficulty level which controls how precisely you need to tune each note. Once you finished tuning, a score will be displayed showing how far off each note is from standard equal temperament in cents.

Tuning Sequence

The following is sequence of steps to follow to tune an equal temperament based off the one used by Bill Bremmer. The essence of the approach can be summarized as up major thirds, down a fifth.

  1. Tune A4 to a reference pitch (already done for you).
  2. Tune A3 to A4 (4:2 8ve). To test, F3 and A3 (5:4 M3) should beat at the same rate as F3 and A4 (5:2 M10).
  3. Tune F3 to A3 (5:4 M3) wide so that the coincident partial beats at ~7 Hz.
  4. Tune F4 to F3 (4:2 8ve).
  5. Tune Db4 to A3 (5:4 M3) wide so that the coincident partial beats faster than F3 and A3 but slower than Db4 and F4. To test, tune Gb3 to Db4 (3:2 P5) to that it is beatless and make sure that Gb3 and A3 (6:4 m3) beats at the same rate as A3 and Db4 (5:4 M3). If Gb3 and A3 beats too fast, raise Db4 and Gb3. If Gb3 and A3 beats too slow, lower Db4 and Gb3. If you play all three notes together, you should hear the same beating as A3 and Db4 alone.
  6. Tune Gb3 to Db4 (3:2 P5) narrow so that it beats slowly (~0.5 Hz).
  7. Tune Bb3 to F3 (4:3 P4) wide so that the coincident partial beats slower than 1 Hz (~0.7 Hz). F3 to A3 and Gb3 to Bb3 now form continuous chromatic major thirds. Gb3 to Bb3 should beat just a little faster than F3 to A3 (roughly 16:15). If Gb3 to Bb3 beats too fast, lower Bb3 and F3 which will both speed up F3 to A3 and slow down Gb3 to Bb3. If Gb3 to Bb3 beats too slow, raise Bb3 and F3. If you can't lock in the beating at this step, go back to adjust Gb3, Db4, and F3. Make sure that by the end of this step that the major thirds tuned thus far all increase in beat rate as you go up the keyboard.
  8. Tune D4 to A3 (4:3 P4) wide so that the coincident partial beats faster than Bb3 to F3 and check that Bb3 to D4 (5:4 M3) beats only slightly faster than A3 to Db4.
  9. Tune Gb4 to Db4 (4:3 P4) wide so that the coincident partial beats faster than D4 to A3 and check that D4 to Gb4 (5:4 M3) beats only slightly faster than Db4 to F4. Also make sure that Gb3 to Gb4 (4:2 8ve) sounds pure, same as F3 to F4 and A3 to A4.
  10. Repeat the process of tuning down a fifth (this time from D4), up fourths using major thirds to check. Beat rates for the same intervals should all increase as you go up the keyboard and decrease as you go down.
  11. Now you should have tuned G3, B3, Eb4, and G4. Repeat the process again to tune Ab3, C4, E4, and Ab4.