The Lute Society: Lute Tuning

Lute Tuning

The lute has had many tunings over its life. Below is a table containing common tuning schemes.

There were also a number of transitional tunings between the classical renaissance and baroque tunings.

Tuning Table

The following table is provided as an aid for students of the lute and is based on a table originally assembled by Matthew Leigh Embleton. Any corrections or additions are welcomed and can be sent to the webmaster.

Please note that this list it is not entirely comprehensive, as there were so very many experimental and variant tunings. Lutes in other keys would transpose the whole scheme as necessary. Don't try to tune a lute strung in G into an 'A' tuning or the strings will break! Instead, transpose the whole tuning scheme down, as appropriate to the size of your lute.

The letters in the table are given in Scientific pitch notation and are specified for an instrument as if it were tuned at A=440. For Baroque lutes this is not typically the case, but still with your pitch set to A=415 or otherwise, the pitch names are still the same.

The mediaeval tunings are somewhat speculative; there is not much indication of how lutes were tuned before the late 15th century.