Two strings, a perfect fifth, and no fingerboard at all
An erhu is tuned D4 on the inner string (內弦 nèi xián, the one nearest your body) and A4 on the outer string (外弦 wài xián) — a perfect fifth apart, the same interval a violin uses between neighbouring strings. Those two notes are the entire tuning. What makes the erhu genuinely different from every other bowed instrument on this site is what happens above them.
There is no fingerboard. A violin, viola or cello gives you a board to press the string against, which fixes the stopping point precisely. An erhu gives you nothing: your fingers press directly on a string suspended in the air, and the note is wherever your hand decides it is. There is no fret, no board and no physical landmark to catch a mistake. That is why a perfectly tuned erhu can still play badly out of tune, and why the two numbers below are a starting point rather than the whole job.
Tune the inner D first, then the outer A. Use the A=442 tab if your ensemble tunes there — or better, set concert A in the tuner settings and the chips under the dial move with it.
How the erhu is actually tuned: pegs, fine tuners and the qianjin
The pegs do the coarse work, and traditional erhu pegs are plain wooden friction pegs — they hold by being pressed into the tapered peg hole, exactly like a violin peg, with the same tendency to slip or bind depending on the weather. Turn a peg inward, toward the neck as you tighten so the string pulls it into its hole rather than out of it. Many modern erhus add mechanical fine tuners on the strings themselves, which handle the last few cents and are genuinely worth having.
The qianjin (千斤)is the piece with no equivalent on a Western bowed instrument, and it is the reason this page exists rather than a violin page with the noun swapped. It is a loop of string binding both strings to the neck, functioning as the erhu’s nut — it defines where the vibrating length of each string starts. Its height is adjustable, and moving it changes three things at once:
| Qianjin position | Tone | String tension | Note spacing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Higher (further from the resonator) | Brighter, louder | Higher at the same pitch | Wider — bigger stretches between notes |
| Lower (closer to the resonator) | Warmer, softer | Lower, easier to press | Narrower — easier vibrato and holds |
The conventional starting position: rest your elbow on the resonator and lay your forearm along the neck — the qianjin belongs roughly where the base of your palm meets your little finger. That makes it a genuinely personal setting rather than a fixed spec, since it depends on the length of your arm. If your note spacing has never felt right, this is the adjustment to make, not the pegs.
Tuning routine, step by step
- Set concert A first in the tuner settings — 440 for solo practice and Western ensembles, 442 for most Chinese orchestras. Everything downstream depends on this.
- Tune the inner D, then the outer A. The bow hair sits permanently between the two strings, so you sound one string at a time by pressing the bow outward against the outer string or inward against the inner one, rather than crossing over as a violinist would.
- Bow steadily and read the sustain, not the first instant of contact. A bowed note takes a moment to speak cleanly, and the attack is the least reliable part of it.
- Check the fifth by ear once both read centred. Sound the two open strings in quick succession — a true fifth sits still, and any wavering means one of them has drifted since you set it.
- Re-check after a few minutes of playing, especially with new strings or in a room whose temperature differs from where the instrument was stored.
The snakeskin: why an erhu’s tuning follows the weather
The resonator is covered with a stretched python-skin membrane, and it is the single most climate-sensitive part of the instrument. Skin is hygroscopic: in cold, dry air it tightens and the tone turns thin and less resonant; in humid air it slackens and the response softens and dulls. The same air moves the wooden pegs in the opposite direction — dry air shrinks them until they slip, humid air swells them until they bind.
Practically: aim for roughly 45–55% relative humidity, keep the instrument cased with a humidity pack, and give it time to acclimatise after travelling between very different climates before judging either its tone or its tuning stability. An erhu that has just come in from the cold will not hold pitch and will not sound like itself, and neither is a fault.
The huqin family
The erhu is one member of the huqin family of Chinese bowed instruments, all sharing the two-string, fifth-apart layout. The gaohu is tuned a fourth above the erhu at G4–D5, with a brighter, higher voice often used for melodic lead. The zhonghusits a fifth below at G3–D4 — the same two pitches as a violin’s lowest two strings — filling the viola’s role in a Chinese orchestra. Others, including the banhu and the piercing jinghu of Beijing opera, keep the fifth but vary the pitch, the body material and the string type. All of them tune the same way this page describes; only the two target notes change, and this dial reads any of them.
Equal temperament vs. playing by ear
This tuner, like every chromatic tuner, measures against twelve-tone equal temperament. That is exactly the right reference for setting two open strings against a concert pitch, and a much less useful one once you are actually playing. Traditional Chinese melodic practice — like traditional practice on most unfretted instruments — treats certain degrees expressively rather than fixing them to a grid, and the erhu’s lack of a fingerboard makes that bending completely natural. Sliding into a note, and the ornaments built on it, are core to the instrument’s voice rather than deviations from correctness.
The practical split is the same one every unfretted instrument faces: use the dial to set your two open strings honestly against the pitch everyone else is using, then use your ears for everything above them. Our guide to cents covers why a note can be measurably off the grid and still be musically right.
Frequently asked questions
Should I tune to A=440 or A=442?
Tune to whatever the people around you are using, and set it in this tuner’s settings rather than trying to play consistently sharp. A=440 is the right default for practising alone, playing to a recording, or playing with Western instruments. Chinese orchestras very commonly sit at A=442, and some ensembles higher still. The gap is not trivial: 442 is about 8 cents sharp of 440, which is clearly audible on a sustained note against a fixed-pitch instrument. Because this tuner derives its targets from your chosen concert A, changing that one setting moves both the D and the A correctly — you never have to look up new numbers.
My open strings are perfectly in tune but everything I play still sounds off. Why?
Because on an erhu, tuning the open strings is genuinely only the beginning. There is no fingerboard — your fingers press directly against a string suspended in mid-air, with nothing underneath to stop it at a defined point. Every stopped note is therefore placed entirely by ear and muscle memory, and there is no fret, no board, and no physical landmark to catch an error the way there is on a guitar or even a violin. Perfect open strings and poor intonation higher up is the normal state of affairs for a learner, and it is a practice problem rather than a tuning one.
What is the qianjin, and does moving it change my tuning?
The qianjin (千斤) is the loop of string binding the two strings to the neck — the erhu’s equivalent of a nut. It sets where the vibrating length of the string begins, so it decides your note spacing, and it also changes tone and tension. Raising it lengthens nothing but tightens the feel and brightens and strengthens the tone, with wider spacing between notes; lowering it softens and warms the sound, reduces tension and makes vibrato easier. It does not replace the pegs for tuning — you still tune to D and A — but if your hand position feels wrong or your spacing never quite fits your fingers, the qianjin is the adjustment to look at, not the pegs.
My pegs keep slipping — or they are stuck. What is going on?
Almost always humidity, because an erhu is mostly wood and a stretched python-skin membrane. Dry air shrinks the wooden pegs so they lose grip and slip, dropping a string mid-practice; humid air swells them so they bind and turn in jarring jumps rather than smoothly. The instrument wants roughly 45–55% relative humidity, and storing it in a case with a humidity pack solves most of it. Many modern erhus also carry mechanical fine tuners on the strings, which take the last few cents out of the pegs’ hands entirely and are well worth having if your pegs are temperamental.