Courses, not strings
An oud is usually strung with eleven or twelve strings arranged in six courses— five or six doubled pairs, with the lowest course often left as a single bass string. Each pair is tuned in unison, so tuning an oud is really two jobs: getting each course onto its target pitch, and getting the two strings of a pair to agree with each other.
The second job is where a tuner earns its keep. A pair only a few cents apart produces an audible warble, and because both strings are sounding the same note the dial will hunt between them rather than settle. Damp one string of the pair with a finger, tune the other, then swap — never try to read a pair as a unit.
- C26th course · lowest, often a single string65.41 Hz
- F25th course87.31 Hz
- A24th course110.00 Hz
- D33rd course146.83 Hz
- G32nd course196.00 Hz
- C41st course · highest261.63 Hz
Tap a tone to hear the target, or play each course into the tuner above and centre the needle. Mute one string of each pair while you tune the other.
Arabic and Turkish tuning
The standard Arabic tuning runs C–F–A–D–G–C from the lowest course to the highest — in Arabic solfège, دو–فا–لا–ري–صول–دو. It is by far the most common arrangement across Egypt, the Levant and the Gulf, and it is what most method books and recordings assume.
Turkish ouds sit higher and tighter, tuned C♯–F♯–B–E–A–D. The instrument itself is built differently — a shorter string length and a brighter voice — so the two tunings are not interchangeable preferences so much as properties of the instrument in your hands. Fitting Turkish tuning to an oud built for Arabic pitch puts real extra tension on the soundboard.
A five-course oud simply drops the lowest string and keeps the rest: F–A–D–G–C. Iraqi players often add a seventh course below, and plenty of soloists retune the bass course to suit a particular maqam — the tuner handles any of it, because it names whatever note it hears rather than checking against a fixed list.
Quarter tones and why the tuner still works
Arabic maqam uses intervals that fall between the twelve notes of the piano — the half-flat of sikah or rastbeing the familiar example. That sometimes leads people to assume a chromatic tuner is the wrong tool for an oud. It isn’t: those intervals are produced by where you stop the string, not by how the open strings are tuned. The open courses themselves are ordinary twelve-tone pitches, and getting them exactly right is precisely what makes fingered quarter tones land consistently.
If you do want to check a fingered note, the cents readout tells you exactly how far between two notes you are sitting — a half-flat should read close to 50 cents below the natural. Our guide to cents covers the measurement side.
Frequently asked questions
What are the frequencies of oud strings?
In standard Arabic tuning, from the lowest course upward: C2 = 65.41 Hz, F2 = 87.31 Hz, A2 = 110.00 Hz, D3 = 146.83 Hz, G3 = 196.00 Hz, C4 = 261.63 Hz. Turkish tuning runs C♯2 = 69.30, F♯2 = 92.50, B2 = 123.47, E3 = 164.81, A3 = 220.00 and D4 = 293.66 Hz. All of these assume the usual reference of A4 = 440 Hz — tap any tone above to hear it.
How do I tune a 5-string (5-course) oud?
Drop the lowest course and keep everything else: F–A–D–G–C, low to high. Nothing else changes, and any material written for a six-course oud still applies — you simply have no bass C. Select the five-course set in the reference tones above for the exact pitches.
Why won't the tuner settle on one of my courses?
Because the two strings of that pair are not in unison, so the tuner is hearing two close pitches at once and cannot choose. Mute one with a fingertip and the reading will lock immediately — then tune that string, mute the other, and repeat. It is also the fastest way to find which pair is causing a warble you can hear but not locate.
Do I need to install an app?
No. The tuner runs on this page through your browser’s microphone — no install, no account, no ads, and the audio is analysed on your device and never sent anywhere. This page is also available in Arabic.