Standard Tuning Explained

Ask any guitar teacher what to do before the first lesson, and they will all say the same thing: tune your guitar to standard tuning. It is the universal starting point for every beginner, the tuning assumed by nearly all tablature websites, chord charts, and instructional videos, and the foundation upon which virtually all guitar technique is built.

But why this particular combination of notes? And why has it remained essentially unchanged for nearly two centuries? The answer lies in a beautiful intersection of physics, ergonomics, and musical history.

The Notes of Standard Tuning

Standard tuning defines the pitches of the six open strings (strings played without pressing any fret). From the thickest, lowest-pitched string to the thinnest, highest-pitched string, the notes are:

The numbers refer to scientific pitch notation octave designations. Middle C on a piano is C4, so E4 (the highest guitar string) sits just above middle C. The low E2 sits two octaves below E4 — a span that gives the guitar its remarkable range of more than three octaves just on the open strings.

In terms of actual frequencies (using A440 equal temperament as the reference standard):

• E2: 82.41 Hz
• A2: 110.00 Hz
• D3: 146.83 Hz
• G3: 196.00 Hz
• B3: 246.94 Hz
• E4: 329.63 Hz

The Intervals Between Strings

Understanding the musical distance between each pair of adjacent strings reveals why standard tuning is so cleverly designed:

• E to A: Perfect Fourth (5 semitones)
• A to D: Perfect Fourth (5 semitones)
• D to G: Perfect Fourth (5 semitones)
• G to B: Major Third (4 semitones) — the exception
• B to E: Perfect Fourth (5 semitones)

Four of the five string-to-string intervals are perfect fourths. Only the interval between G and B breaks the pattern — it's a major third, one semitone narrower than the fourths. This seemingly small anomaly has profound consequences for how the guitar works.

Why the Major Third Between G and B?

This is the most interesting question in guitar theory, and the answer is entirely practical. If the guitar were tuned in all perfect fourths — E, A, D, G, C, F — the highest string would be F4, not E4.

The outer two strings would be different notes, destroying the elegant symmetry of starting and ending on E.

But there's a deeper structural reason. The major third interval between G and B creates the exact chord voicings that make barre chords and open chords ergonomically practical:

Barre Chord Shapes

In an all-fourths tuning, playing a major chord requires a very awkward stretch across four or five strings. With the G-B major third built into the tuning, the standard E-shape barre chord and A-shape barre chord fall neatly under the fingers with minimal stretching.

You can move these same two shapes to any fret and have a perfectly voiced major chord in any key.

Open Chord Voicings

The classic beginner open chords — Em, Am, C, G, D — all benefit from the major third. The G major open chord, for instance, uses all six strings and produces a rich, full sound precisely because of how the intervals align across the fretboard with the G-B third in the middle.

Scale Positions

The break in the symmetry also creates more compact scale patterns. In all-fourths tuning, scale patterns shift by two frets at every string crossing. With the G-B major third, scale patterns shift by one fret less at that string crossing, allowing most pentatonic and major scale patterns to be played with fewer fret-position shifts.

A Brief History of Standard Tuning

The six-string guitar as we know it today descended from the baroque guitar and the lute, which used different numbers of strings and various tunings. By the late 18th century, instrument makers in Spain, France, and Italy were experimenting with five and six-string guitars.

The six-string guitar with E-A-D-G-B-E tuning rose to prominence largely through the influence of classical guitarists like Fernando Sor and Mauro Giuliani in the early 19th century.

Their published methods, études, and concert pieces set the standard that subsequent generations followed.

This tuning became so dominant in classical and folk guitar traditions that by the time the electric guitar emerged in the 1930s and 1940s, E-A-D-G-B-E was simply the accepted default. Manufacturers, publishers, and educators all standardized around it.

Today, any guitar you pick up in a music store — from a $100 starter guitar to a $5,000 boutique instrument — will be set up and labeled for standard E-A-D-G-B-E tuning.

Standard Tuning and Its Practical Advantages

Universal Resources

Every chord chart, tablature website, instructional book, and YouTube tutorial on the internet assumes standard tuning unless explicitly stated otherwise. Learning in standard tuning means you have access to the entire universe of guitar learning resources.

Instrument Design

The scale length, nut width, and string gauges of most commercial guitars are optimized specifically for standard tuning. The string tension at standard pitch provides the right balance of tone, playability, and durability for most string gauges.

Communication With Other Musicians

When you're in a band, jamming with friends, or watching someone play online, standard tuning provides a shared reference point. If someone says "play a G chord," the shape and sound is universally understood.

When to Move Beyond Standard Tuning

Standard tuning is the foundation, not the ceiling. Once you're comfortable with chords and scales in standard tuning, exploring alternate tunings like Drop D, Open G, Open D, DADGAD, or Half-Step Down opens up entirely new sonic textures, chord voicings, and playing possibilities.

Many legendary guitarists — Keith Richards, Joni Mitchell, Robert Johnson, John Fahey — built distinctive sounds largely by departing from standard tuning.

But even those artists return to standard tuning for large portions of their repertoire. It remains the home base of the guitar, the starting point from which every other tuning is defined and referenced. Learn it thoroughly, and all other tunings will make much more sense. Get your guitar in standard tuning right now with our free online chromatic guitar tuner— no download required, works on any device. When you're ready to go further, our dedicated Drop D tuner, Open G tuner, and half step down tuner each pre-load the correct target notes automatically.