Have you ever wondered if you could tune your own piano?
While hiring an experienced piano tuner should be your first option, this simple method can fix a sour note and create an enjoyable way to learn more about this fascinating instrument.
How to Properly Tune a Piano
Step 1: Obtain the Proper Tools
It’s impossible to tune a piano without a few basic, specialized tools. At minimum, you will need to purchase three things:
- Tuning lever
- Electronic chromatic tuner
- Several tuning mutes
Step 2: Remove Cover to Access Tuning Pins
Once you gather the basic piano tuning tools, you’ll want to remove the cover to access the strings and tuning pins.
On grand pianos, the tuning pins can be accessed by sliding off the music stand above the keyboard.
Upright pianos typically have a hinge that allows the top of the piano to open up.
Step 3: Practice Tuning Single Notes
First, use rubber wedges to silence the strings you’re not working on. Place your tuning lever on the top of the pin and gently turn.
If you need to raise the pitch, turn the pin clockwise. If you need to lower the pitch, turn the pin counterclockwise.
Your electronic tuner will ensure that you avoid tuning the note too sharp or too flat.
Remember to always tune in octaves relative to the first note tuned. For example, once you’ve tuned middle A, use middle A to tune lower A. Plus, pianos are designed to sound their best when tuned to A-440, which means that the A4 is tuned so that sound waves vibrate at 440Hz.
Piano Tuning Software
Thanks to advances in technology, it’s easier than ever to ensure each note is tuned correctly. There are a variety of professional piano tuning software that offer more control than a chromatic tuner.
Perhaps our favorite piano tuning app is Entropy. This free and open-source application will record how the keys sound on your piano and automatically figure out the best tuning. You can then adjust your piano using the application’s electronic tuner.
Contact Ogden Piano Gallery for Piano Tuning Specials
By properly maintaining your piano, you create long-term tuning stability and ensure proper ear training. We recommend tuning a new piano four times in the first year and twice a year thereafter. So if your piano is rusty, it’s time to give it some love.
While you may be able to do so with proper tools and guidance, an experienced piano tuner can provide a first-class piano tuning. In fact, professional tuners spend a career perfecting their skills.
The professional piano tuners at Ogden Piano Gallery can service any piano, acoustic or digital. We’ll help keep your piano in tip-top shape and playing beautifully.
While the average price for piano tuning in Northern Utah can reach up to $140 per tuning, we do it for less. In fact, our basic tuning services start at $80. Contact us today to schedule your appointment!
2 comments
Greta James
Wow, thank you so much for your suggestions on how to tune a piano properly by turning the pin to the right to raise the pitch! I recently inherited a beautiful grand piano from my late uncle. I am super excited to start learning how to play but I think it went out of tune as it was moved. I will have to look for local tuners in my area to help me because, though I appreciate your advice, I am not sure what an ‘in tune’ piano sounds like.
Lynn Magnuson
I’m in a similar situation. I live in Florida, but I’m in Seattle for a while clearing out a bunch of stuff my mother left behind when she died. The house itself is in a trust … but the items in it are mine outright. NOT in the trust. Among those items is a forty or so year old Kimball Artist Console upright piano. You know, the old instrument that’s about four feet long with a couple of legs on the front under the keyboard. I’m taking it with me when I leave her because it was the first instrument I started to learn to play when I was in my teens. I’m 68 now. Anyhow, been roaming the Internet looking for info on tuning it because I KNOW after THAT long trip it will need it bad. This article provides some very useful information and it will be fun trying to tune it myself. I have a pretty good sense of pitch since I’ve been a musician since age 17. Learning to tune it will be very interesting. I sing and play guitar …. and dabble a bit on piano and keyboards. I would love to learn more. Now I can with my old instrument. I’m going to download that software it mentions and give it a try. Now … to find a piano tuner’s wrench somewhere!