Updated October 5, 2026
Guitar (instrument) tuner
A guitar tuner knows the strings of your tuning. Play any string and it works out which one you played, shows how far off it is, and keeps track of which strings are done. In urTuner’s guitar tuner you can also lock one string in Manual mode. This helps when a string is so far off that the tuner guesses the wrong one.
It is the quickest choice for everyday tuning, for beginners, and for any alternate tuning in the menu, from drop D to DADGAD.
Chromatic tuner
A chromatic tuner recognises all 12 notes in every octave. It doesn’t know what you are tuning, so you need to know which note you want. But it works for anything: wind and brass instruments, voice, piano, or a tuning that isn’t in any list.
When to use which
- Standard or alternate guitar tunings: guitar tuner.
- Bass, ukulele, violin, banjo, mandolin: their own instrument tuners.
- Trumpet, saxophone, clarinet: chromatic, with the B♭ or E♭ setting so the tuner shows the note written in your music.
- Setting intonation (comparing the 12th-fret note with the open string): chromatic, because it shows any note.
- An unusual tuning: chromatic, or build it in the custom tuner.
Common pitfalls
In guitar mode, a string that is several semitones off may be mistaken for the string next to it. Switch to Manual and pick the string. In chromatic mode, the tuner will happily show a perfectly tuned wrong note, such as F instead of E. So check the letter as well as the needle.