Oud Tuner — Arabic C–F–A–D–G–C Tuning

The oud is a fretless Middle Eastern short-neck lute, usually with 11 strings grouped in six courses. Arabic players most often tune it C2–F2–A2–D3–G3–C4 from the lowest course upward, and that is the tuning this page’s preset follows.

How to use it

1. Start the tuner. Press Start Tuner (Microphone) and allow microphone access. The audio is analysed in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
2. Read the cards from the 6th course down to the 1st. The board runs course 6 (the lowest, C2) at the top to course 1 (C4) at the bottom. That is the low-to-high order of the tuning, so the top card is the deepest note.
3. Tune one course at a time with the risha. Pluck the course normally and let it ring. For a doubled course you are hearing two strings; if they disagree you will hear a slow beating even when the display looks steady.
4. Turn the peg while plucking the string. Oud maker Sala Muzik’s tuning guide describes the folk method: keep sounding the string with the pick and listen as the pitch rises or falls, rather than turning blind and checking afterwards.
5. Approach from below. If a course is sharp, loosen it slightly past the note and bring it back up. Sala Muzik’s guide gives the same advice — slacken a little rather than pulling a tight string straight to pitch.
6. Mute the courses you are not tuning. The doubled courses ring into each other, and a neighbouring course tuned a fourth away will respond sympathetically. Rest the edge of your hand across the other strings.
7. Check the reference. Every frequency on this page assumes A4 = 440 Hz. If your ensemble tunes to another standard, select it in the reference chips; the Arabic tuning’s fourths stay the same and the whole instrument moves together.
8. Do a second pass. With six courses and friction pegs, the strings you set first will drift slightly as the others come up. Work around the instrument twice.

Arabic oud tuning (the shipped preset)

The preset follows the tuning that MaqamWorld gives as “the most common tuning (low to high) … C, F, A, D, G, C, which makes all intervals (except F to A) perfect fourths”, and that Wikipedia’s oud article records as the tuning many current Arab players use. The Turkish Bolahenk tuning is deliberately not the preset; it is described below as the alternative.

Card order	Course	Note	Frequency (A4 = 440 Hz)
1	6th (lowest, single string)	C2	65.41 Hz
2	5th	F2	87.31 Hz
3	4th	A2	110.00 Hz
4	3rd	D3	146.83 Hz
5	2nd	G3	196.00 Hz
6	1st	C4	261.63 Hz

The intervals are the shape to listen for: C to F is a fourth, F to A is a major third, and A–D, D–G and G–C are all fourths. Because the courses are tuned in fourths, a course that is out of tune usually shows up most clearly against its neighbour rather than against the display alone.

The Turkish alternative: Bolahenk

The Arabic tuning is not the only one, and it is not the highest:

• Bolahenk, the common Turkish tuning. Wikipedia gives it as C♯2–F♯2–B2–E3–A3–D4 low to high, with the same fourth-based shape a step higher.
• The Turkish instrument sits higher overall. Wikipedia notes that the Turkish oud is usually — and only partly — tuned a whole step higher than the Arabian, and that Turkish ouds tend to be lighter-built with a brighter, more “taut” sound.
• What that means for tuning. If you play a Turkish oud, this page’s Arabic preset will read a whole step low on every course. Tune from the chromatic display using the Bolahenk targets above, checking each course’s letter and octave. The chromatic setting reports concert pitch with no string targets, so it will simply name what you play.

Strings, pegs and the fretless neck

• Six courses, usually 11 strings. Wikipedia: the oud is “usually with 11 strings grouped in six courses, but some models have five or seven courses, with 10 or 13 strings respectively”. In the Arabic setup the lowest course is a single bass string and the other five are pairs.
• The neck has no frets. Wikipedia says plainly that the oud “has no frets and a smaller neck”, in contrast to the Western lute. That is why the instrument can play the microtonal intervals of the maqamat — and it is also why an in-tune open string matters so much: every pitch after that is placed by the finger, not by a fret.
• The pegs sit in a pegbox set almost at a right angle to the neck. That is how oud specialist David Parfitt’s “Parts of the oud” describes it, and his stringing guide notes that each string is attached to its corresponding tuning peg, which is then turned to tighten it.
• Tuning is done peg by peg, sounding the string as you turn. Sala Muzik’s guide describes turning the peg in the required direction while sounding the string with the pick, keeping the peg seated without forcing it, and warns against wetting a peg — practical consequences of a peg-held instrument.
• Tuning a course means tuning two strings to agree. Pluck the pair together, bring the course to the card’s note, then listen for the beating between the two strings and bring them together. A pair that is a few cents apart will sound out of tune even when the display is centred.
• The risha is part of the sound path. The plectrum’s attack is bright and percussive, which is the oud’s character but also gives the detector a sharp transient to work through. A normal stroke is better than a hard one for a stable reading.

Accuracy and limits

• The low C is the hard one. The 6th course at C2 = 65.41 Hz is the lowest note on the instrument and the one small microphones reproduce least well. Pluck it firmly and let it ring; the reading is easier to trust a moment after the attack than at the instant of the pluck.
• Check the octave, not just the letter. The tuning has C in the bass and C an octave above it, and two fourths that repeat a letter from elsewhere on the neck. A reading of C with the wrong octave number is still the letter C; compare against the card for the course in your hand.
• A course that beats is a course that is not finished. The display follows the strongest pitch, which can be one of the two strings rather than the pair. Use the last few cents by ear: the beating slows and stops as the pair agrees.
• The instrument moves with the weather. Wood and strings both respond to humidity and temperature, and an oud carried into a cold room will arrive flat. Let the instrument settle in the room before a full tuning pass.
• A weak fundamental can produce an octave error. When the plucked string’s fundamental is quiet and its harmonics dominate, the reading can jump an octave. If that happens, mute the other courses and pluck the string again with a clean stroke.
• Room noise competes directly at the low end. Traffic, ventilation and footsteps live in the same region as the lowest courses. Tune the bass away from a window or a fan if the reading will not settle.

Safety

• Do not force a stiff peg. Sala Muzik’s guide warns that a peg forced too firmly into its seat will not move when you next need it, and that great force can separate it from where it is stuck. Ease a tight peg free instead of pushing.
• Do not wet a peg to hold tuning. The same guide notes that a wetted peg swells in its seat, after which the instrument cannot be tuned. Keep moisture away from the pegbox.
• Ease the string down before pulling it up when it is sharp. Slackening first and then bringing the pitch up is gentler on the string than pulling a tight string straight to the note.
• Take strings up in small steps and stop at the target. Oud strings are thin and under light tension compared with a guitar’s; the top course is the most fragile and the one to approach most slowly.
• Watch the bridge and soundboard. A bridge that has shifted or a crack near the bridge is a repair, not a tuning problem; stop and have it looked at rather than tuning around it.
• Protect the instrument from heat and sudden dryness. A wooden bowl and soundboard move with their environment; a hot car or a dry room is harder on an oud than on a laminated instrument.