How do I tune my/ my kid’s violin?

Congratulations! You’re about to learn how to make the violin sound beautiful!

Yes. Tuning is THAT important. For most beginners, tuning is 70% of the battle. An out of tune violin won’t sound good no matter how wonderful of a player you are. Likewise, a student just beginning NEEDS a well tuned violin Every Day to be able to learn. Otherwise you’re just going to torture yourself (and everyone within earshot!)

But you knew that I’m sure! You need to know HOW to tune it, and maybe you’ve tried and it didn’t go well. It’s not as straightforward as it looks, but once you get the hang of it you can learn to do it quickly and easily. Once you get your violin well in tune, if you check it every day it usually only needs small adjustments because of the temperature or humidity changes. The trouble happens when you put the violin in the case for a few weeks, or even worse stick it in a basement or attic storage and then pull it out to play. Ooof. (Please don’t.) Or maybe you bumped it, or spontaneously some of the strings went loose. In any case, I’ll walk you though the basics of how to tune here with a basic daily tune video, and a more in depth tuning video to help if your strings are WAY off.