Four strings that do not ascend
The cuatro is tuned A–D–F♯–B, and written that way it looks like an ordinary run of fourths. It is not. In pitch the four open strings are A3 · D4 · F♯4 · B3 — 220.00, 293.66, 369.99 and 246.94 Hz. The first three climb the way you expect. The fourth falls, landing a fourth below the string before it and only a whole tone above the lowest string on the instrument.
That single dropped string is what a cuatro sounds like. Strum across all four and the voices cross rather than stack, which is why a strummed cuatro rings as a chord rather than a rising arpeggio, and why the instrument carries rhythm and harmony at once in a joropo without needing a bass underneath.
The reason is documented and pleasingly unromantic. In the era of gut strings, the highest string broke constantly at the pitch the pattern called for, so players tuned it an octave down and stopped losing strings. The workaround outlived the strings, the repertoire grew up around it, and the “fault” became the instrument’s signature.
The first tab follows the strings as they sit under your hand. The second sorts the same four notes by pitch, which shows how close the B sits to the A. The third is the octave error — worth hearing once so you recognise it.
Cambur pintón
Venezuelan players do not usually recite letters. They sing “cam-bur pin-tón” — a half-ripe banana — across the four open strings, and the phrase does what a mnemonic should: it puts the falling last note in your mouth before you can talk yourself into raising it. If someone says their cuatro is in cambur pintón, they mean exactly the tuning above.
Which string is the “first”? Nobody agrees
A second trap sits underneath the first, and it explains a great deal of contradictory advice. Cuatro sources number the strings in both directions. Some charts and tuners call the A the 1st string and the B the 4th; others reverse it, making the B the 1st. Both are describing the same four pieces of nylon.
On most instruments the ambiguity would be harmless, because you could work out which string was meant from the pitch order. On a cuatro you cannot, because the pitch order is the thing that is unusual. So ignore positions entirely and work in notes and frequencies:
| Note | Frequency | Where it sits |
|---|---|---|
| A3 | 220.00 Hz | Lowest note on the instrument |
| B3 | 246.94 Hz | Second lowest — a whole tone above the A |
| D4 | 293.66 Hz | Third |
| F♯4 | 369.99 Hz | Highest note on the instrument |
Tuning routine
- Start with the A, 220 Hz. It is the lowest and steadiest note on the instrument and gives the dial an easy target to lock onto.
- Then the D and the F♯, in that order. Both are ordinary fourths above what came before, and both behave.
- The B last, and slowly. Read the display, not the interval. You are looking for B3, 246.94 Hz. If it shows B4, you are an octave high — come down. On nylon that wrong octave is also where strings break.
- Check the B against the A by ear. They are only a whole tone apart, so played one after the other they should sound like neighbours, not like opposite ends of the instrument. If the B sounds far above the A, it is in the wrong octave whatever you think the needle said.
- Strum and listen for the crossing. A correctly tuned cuatro does not sound like a rising sweep when you strum it. If it does, the B is high.
- Go round again. Nylon on a small body settles quickly but not instantly, and a new set will keep dropping for days.
Nylon, and what the needle cannot settle
The dial measures in equal temperament, which is right for a fretted instrument — your frets are cut to the same grid. Two things it will not do for you.
Fresh nylon keeps yielding for days after it goes on, and the cuatro’s short scale magnifies it: the same millimetre of creep eats a bigger proportion of a short string than a long one, so the drop is steeper than anyone arriving from a guitar expects. Tune, play, retune, and give it several sessions before concluding something is broken.
And the cuatro is a chordal instrument played almost entirely with strummed shapes, so what you actually hear is four notes at once. Equal temperament’s major third sits about 14 cents above the pure interval, which is audible on a bright nylon chord; if a particular voicing sounds sour with every open string reading centred, that is temperament rather than tuning. Our guide to cents covers the size of the gap. For neighbouring instruments with the same kind of pitch-order surprise, the Cuban tres and the charango are both worth a look.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the B string lower than the strings next to it?
Because it was moved down an octave and never moved back. Written A–D–F♯–B the tuning ascends A3, D4, F♯4 — and then the B, which the pattern says should be B4, sounds B3 instead, below both the D and the F♯. The documented reason is practical rather than musical: in the gut-string era that top string kept breaking at the higher pitch, so players dropped it an octave. What began as a workaround became the sound of the instrument, and every piece of cuatro repertoire assumes it.
Which string is the 1st — the A or the B?
It depends whose chart you are reading, which is why this page names notes instead of positions. Some Venezuelan sources and tuners number the A as the 1st string and the B as the 4th; others number them in the opposite direction. Both describe the same four physical strings. If an instruction says “tune the fourth string” and you cannot tell which one it means, go by pitch: the A is 220 Hz, the B is 246.94 Hz, and no numbering convention can change those.
Can I tune a cuatro by ear from a guitar?
Only for three of the four strings, and the fourth is the one that matters. A, D and F♯ are straightforward. The B is the trap: matching it to a guitar’s open B string gives you B3, which happens to be correct — but matching it by ear to what “sounds right” above the F♯ gives you B4, an octave high. On nylon that is also the string most likely to break. Check the octave digit on the display rather than trusting the interval.
What is cambur pintón?
The nickname for this tuning. Venezuelan players remember the four pitches by singing the phrase “cam-bur pin-tón” — a ripening banana — across the open strings, in the same way English-speaking guitarists use a mnemonic for E–A–D–G–B–E. If someone tells you their cuatro is in cambur pintón, they mean A–D–F♯–B with the dropped B, which is the standard tuning.
Do I need a special tuner for a cuatro?
No — you need a chromatic one that shows the octave. That is the whole requirement. A tuner offering a “cuatro mode” is doing nothing more than restricting itself to four notes, which is a convenience rather than a capability; a chromatic dial names whatever it hears, including the moment you have put a string an octave out. Since an octave error is precisely the failure mode this instrument invites, the octave digit matters more here than a preset does.