Sitar Tuner — Raga Tuning with a Chromatic Tuner

A sitar is a plucked bowl-lute from the Indian subcontinent with three families of strings: melody and drone strings played over the frets, and sympathetic taraf strings beneath them. Its tuning follows the Sa of the raga rather than one fixed absolute set, so this page tunes chromatically, string by string.

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. Decide the Sa first. Sa is the tonic of the raga you are about to play. Sitars are usually tuned to C, C♯ or D, and the chosen pitch is a musical decision, not a fixed standard.
3. Set the reference. A4 = 440 Hz is the default on this tuner; the chips cover A415 to A444. Whatever Sa you choose, the reference should match the ensemble or recording you are playing with.
4. Tune the playing strings before the taraf. The melody and chikari strings are what you hear and play; the sympathetic strings follow the scale, so they come after.
5. Pluck one string at a time, with the others muted. A sitar rings sympathetically very easily; damp the neighbours with the side of your hand and read one note at a time.
6. Work from the jod (Sa) string outward. Set Sa first, then its fourth (the main playing string), then the low kharaj strings, then the chikari.
7. Finish the last few cents with the beads. The main playing strings can be fine-tuned by sliding the small bead threaded on each string just below the bridge, without turning a peg.
8. Tune the taraf to the raga’s scale last. Each taraf string follows the scale of the rag, so a tuning you set yesterday will not necessarily be right for today’s piece.

Playing strings and sympathetic strings

The instrument’s strings are not one set but three, and each is tuned for a different job:

Group	Typical count	What it does
Melody strings (baaj and jod)	2 main playing strings	Carry the melodic line; the main string is tuned a fourth above Sa
Kharaj (bass) strings	2	Sound below the melody strings, tuned to Sa and Pa
Chikari (drone/punctuation)	3	Rhythmic punctuation, tuned to Sa and Pa in higher octaves
Taraf (sympathetic)	11–13	Not plucked; resonate to the scale of the raga

• The counts come from credible sources, and they vary. Britannica describes a typical sitar as having “6–7 main strings, which include melody and drone strings … above the frets and 11–13 sympathetic strings (tarab or taraf) beneath the frets”. Grinnell College’s measured instrument has seven played strings — three chikari and four melody strings — plus eleven taraf, eighteen strings in all.
• Only the strings over the large bridge are plucked. Grinnell: the three top strings are chikari, not stopped by the left hand and used for rhythmic punctuation; the four lower strings are the melodic set, stopped against the frets.
• The taraf strings run under the frets to their own small pegs. They pass over the small bridge beneath the main one, and they are never plucked directly; they respond to the energy of the played strings.

Tuning to the raga’s Sa

This is the part that makes a sitar page different, and it is why no preset ships.

• The main playing string is tuned a fourth above the tonic. Wikipedia’s sitar article states that the main playing string “is almost invariably tuned a perfect fourth above the tonic, the second string being tuned to the tonic”, and gives the common Kharaj Pancham arrangement as chikari strings Sa (high), Sa (middle) and Pa; kharaj (bass) strings Sa (low) and Pa (low); and the jod and baaj strings Sa and Ma.
• The tuning is relative, not absolute. Grinnell uses C4 as the tonal centre in its documented example and notes in the same sentence that “the frequency of ‘sa’ is not standardized”. Courtney’s guide adds that sitars are usually tuned to C, C♯ or D, and that a higher pitch is generally preferred.
• The taraf follows the raga’s scale. Grinnell: “The taraf strings are tuned to the scale of the particular rag being performed, mostly in the C4 - C5 octave.” Courtney’s beginner guidance is to set the taraf to the Bilawal (major) scale, and to raise the Ma strings to F♯ for Kalyan instead of F.
• The frets move too. Britannica describes the sitar’s twenty-odd movable metal frets as “positioned in accordance with the notes of a particular raga”, so changing raga is not only a retuning job.
• Do not expect a fixed chart to fit every raga. Because both the Sa and the taraf scale are musical choices, a page that printed one absolute set of frequencies would teach something false for most players.

A relative tuning chart

The intervals below follow Wikipedia’s description of the common Kharaj Pancham arrangement. Read them as relationships to your chosen Sa, then find each note on the chromatic display as a concert pitch.

Group	String role	Tuned to
Melody	Main playing string (baaj)	Ma — a perfect fourth above Sa
Melody	Second string (jod)	Sa
Kharaj	Low Sa	Sa, an octave below the jod
Kharaj	Low Pa	Pa, a fifth below the low Sa
Chikari	High Sa	Sa, an octave above the jod
Chikari	Middle Sa	Sa
Chikari	Pa	Pa

For one concrete, documented example: Grinnell College’s measured sitar is described with Sa = C4 as the tonal centre, with the melody strings given as C2 – G2 – C3 – F3 and the chikari as C5 – C4 – G3 (top to bottom). Treat those absolute octaves as that instrument’s documented tuning, not as a universal standard — the relative shape is the part that travels.

Working string by string with the chromatic display

This page has no string cards, so the display names whatever note you play. That makes a clear order more important, not less:

1. Set the reference (A4 = 440 Hz by default).
2. Establish Sa. Play the jod string and set it to your chosen tonic; if Sa is C, the display should read C in the register you have chosen for the instrument.
3. Tune the main playing string to Ma, a fourth above Sa.
4. Tune the two kharaj strings — Sa and Pa below the melody set — reading the octave numbers carefully, because Sa appears on several strings.
5. Tune the three chikari strings to Sa, Sa and Pa in their own octaves.
6. Then the taraf, one string at a time, to the scale of the raga. This is slow work on a first instrument; the small pegs are close together and each string is fine wire.
7. Re-check the playing strings after the taraf. Adding tension on eleven or thirteen fine strings can move the instrument a little, and the played set is what matters most.

Tuning the instrument’s hardware

• The pegs are friction pegs. Grinnell’s record for the sitar lists its string tension control as “friction peg”, and Courtney describes the kunti tuning pegs as “simple friction pegs”. They are turned by hand and held by friction, so small, patient movements are the rule.
• The main playing strings have fine-tuning beads. Wikipedia notes that the main playing strings can be fine-tuned “by sliding a bead threaded on each string just below the bridge”, and Courtney describes the tuning beads as allowing minor pitch adjustments without turning the large pegs. Use the beads for the last few cents.
• The bridge is a shaped, delicate component. The sitar’s distinctive tone comes from the way the strings meet the wide, rounded bridge, and the shaping of that contact — jawari — is a specialist job. Do not file or move the bridge yourself.
• The frets are tied on with silk. They are movable by design, repositioned for the raga, but mishandling the ties or the fret rods is a repair; treat fret adjustment as a teacher or repairer task until you have been shown.

Accuracy and limits

• The tuner hears the whole instrument. A sitar’s taraf and chikari ring in sympathy with whatever you play, so the display can follow a resonance rather than the string you plucked. Mute the others and pluck one string.
• The taraf is tuned to the scale, not to the tuner’s convenience. Expect to check many fine strings, and expect the reading to move as the instrument settles.
• Friction pegs drift with temperature and humidity. A sitar moved between rooms will need touching up; that is normal, not a fault.
• The frets limit what a string can play in tune. If a note is correct open but wrong when stopped, the fret position rather than the tuning is the place to look.
• Bending reads sharp — and that is the point. Techniques such as khic and mir deliberately pull the string sideways, raising the pitch by large intervals; a display that climbs while you bend is reporting the music, not a tuning error.
• Fine wire strings break easily. The taraf strings are much thinner than the playing strings; approach their target from below and stop at it.
• The configured range is 25 Hz to 2200 Hz. A sitar’s playing range sits comfortably inside it.

Safety

• Turn friction pegs gently. They hold by fit; forcing a tight peg can split the wood or snap a string.
• Watch the fine strings. Taraf wire is sharp and under tension; bringing one up quickly breaks it and can flick the end.
• Check the bridge before assuming a fault. A bridge that has shifted or a jawari that has gone rough changes the sound and the pitch response; have it looked at rather than adjusting it yourself.
• Move the instrument in its case, and support the neck. The gourd and the long neck joint are the vulnerable points.
• Protect the instrument from dryness and heat. Gourd and wood move with humidity; a dry room or a hot car is hard on a sitar.
• Take breaks when tuning the taraf. It is fiddly, close work with fine wire; eye strain and frustration are the usual reasons strings get broken.