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A viola tuner built around the scroll, not just a note name
If you have ever stared at a clip-on tuner while turning a peg and still wondered whether you were on the right string, you already know the problem. Viola pegs come in mirrored pairs—D and C on the left, G and A on the right—and in a noisy practice room the meter might say "G" while your hand is still on D. This page is a browser-based viola tuner for that exact friction: bow or pluck one open string, watch the cents gauge move, and see which peg on the scroll you are actually adjusting. Standard orchestral C-G-D-A at A=440. No account, no app store, no tuning mode to pick wrong.
Visual layout so you are not guessing which peg is which
Generic chromatic tuners assume you already know the instrument. They flash a letter in the center and leave the peg map in your head. Here the headstock graphic mirrors what you see on a real viola: tap D or C on the left, G or A on the right. Want a reference pitch before you turn? Each button plays that open string. Enable loop playback if you prefer to tune a viola by ear against a sustained tone while the meter confirms you landed.
Above the scroll, a semicircular gauge tracks pitch in real time—note name, frequency, and cents offset. Negative cents means flat; positive means sharp. Drift far enough off target and a plain hint appears at the bottom of the scroll: tighten or loosen. That sounds small until you are halfway through a peg rotation and cannot remember which direction you last went. When a string settles inside a practical window, its peg button turns green and stays green until you switch the microphone off, so you can walk around the case, grab a mute, or help a stand partner without losing your place.
See the string, not only hear it
Amber highlights the peg you are working toward; green means that string has locked in. Progress is visible on the scroll instead of kept in your head while three other strings ring sympathetically.
Accurate readouts in viola range
Detection is scoped to the instrument, including the low C where phone mics often waver. Cents resolution is fine enough that small peg moves show up—you are not stuck with a vague "close enough" needle.
Simple enough for a first tuning session
Turn the mic on, play one open string, read the gauge, turn the peg a little, repeat. Flat and sharp hints remove the most common beginner mistake: tightening when you should loosen.
Why players bookmark this instead of another free tuner
Plenty of apps measure pitch. Fewer tie that measurement to the peg in your hand, tell you which way to turn, and let you check off strings visually.
Gauge and scroll designed as one workflow
The meter answers how far off you are; the scroll answers which string you are on. Reference tones sit on the same peg buttons, so ear tuning and meter tuning share one map. After a string change, loop the C reference while you make quarter-turns—the wire stops slipping before the reading says you are home.
- Live cents display you can read during a sustained bow, not only after a hard pizzicato.
- Flat and sharp hints in plain language—less overshoot on synthetic-core strings.
- Green peg latch: a quick checklist before rehearsal without re-plucking everything.
- Fixed C-G-D-A orchestral layout; nothing to misconfigure.
- Pitch analysis runs in the browser; your playing is not uploaded.
- Works on a phone or laptop when the clip-on is still in your locker.
How to tune a viola with this page
Five minutes before sectional
The woodwinds are warming up and the concertmaster tunes to an A. Run through C-G-D-A once; the green pegs are a memory aid so you are not fixing the same D string twice because you lost track.
Teaching peg names to a new student
They know the note letters but not which peg belongs to which string. Point at the scroll buttons while they turn—far less confusion than a tuner that only says "G" with no context.
After swapping the C string
Stretch, tune, play open strings, tune again. Loop the reference on the C peg while you turn slowly; the gauge shows when pitch has actually arrived, not merely when the string stopped protesting.
Where a browser tuner actually gets used
Not paid endorsements—just the kinds of moments that come up in lessons and community orchestras.
Our school hall piano is never quite right. I bookmark this tab, use cheap earbuds to hear myself over the brass, and go peg by peg. The green lights are stupidly helpful when I cannot hear my own open C.
Nina P.
Community orchestra · section viola
"I have students trust the cents number while they are still learning to hear beats between fifths. The scroll picture saves me from sketching peg diagrams every Tuesday."
David K.
Private viola teacher / Middle school studio
"I use a physical clip at home. On tour I only carry a phone. This holds low C more steadily than the last free app I tried, and I like that flat and sharp are spelled out instead of squinting at a jittery needle."
Rachel M.
Chamber musician / Summer festival circuit