How to tune a violin string when they are to flat?

Question

All of my strings are flat and wont tune at all

Answer 1

Tuning a violin can be a daunting task for beginning violin students. Before I discuss actual tuning, here are some general tips.
- Violin Strings are under tremendous pressure. Turning them too far can break the string or even damage the violin. Turn pegs S-L-O-W-L-Y, and just a little at a time. If your violin is equipped with fine tuners on the tailpiece, that may be all you need to turn.
- Raise the pitch of a string (make it sound higher) by turning the appropriate peg away from you. Lower the string's pitch by turning it toward you.
- If you are using a tuning fork or electronic tuner, let the tone play throughout the tuning process of a string.
- Most people find it easier to listen to a string come into tune from the string being too "flat" (too low) rather than from too "sharp" (too "high"). If you need to tune a string you may wish to loosen the string very slightly, then tighten it until it is correct.

The process itself is pretty simple to describe, but may be more difficult to do.

Start the tone that you are trying to match. That may be an electronic tuner, a pitch pipe or a tuning fork.

Hold the violin under your chin. Bow the string so that you produce a moderate, even tone. If you are pressing the bow too hard into the string you will produce tones that are somewhat distorted for tuning purposes. Keep bowing during the tuning process.

If your string is indeed flat, turn the appropriate peg AWAY from the bridge very gently. The peg does not need to turn much to cause the pitch of the string to change. Turning the peg away from the bridge will cause the pitch to rise as the string tightens, turning the peg toward the bridge will cause the pitch of the string to fall as the string loosens. Be sure to press the peg in slightly as you are tuning.

If your violin has fine tuners most people will find it easiest to turn the peg until the string is just a tiny bit flat, then move to the fine tuner. Turning the fine tuner clockwise will cause the pitch of the string to rise, turning it conter-clockwise will cause the pitch of the string to fall.

If your violin hold is not solid enough to maintain proper position through this process, set the violin on your lap and pluck the string softly. Let the string ring for a second or two then follow the procedure described above.

If your violin does not have fine tuners here is a little trick that many people use with some success. If you just can't hit the note perfectly and have the violin maintain that pitch, then tune just a little bit sharp (too high), place your right thumb against the right side of the fingerboard most of the way down to the bridge. Place your right index finger against the string you are tuning as though you were going to pluck it, but pull the string gently rather than plucking it. If you keep that pressure on the string for a second or two sometimes it will bring the string down just enough to cause it to be perfectly in tune. This is especially effective for gut strings.

The last thing to remember is that once you have a string in tune you have actually changed the tension throughout the violin, so check to make sure that what you have done has not affected the other strings. Tuning one string frequently means tuning them all.

My own web site has a more detailed page on tuning if you need further assistance. There are also tuning tones on my site (as well as some others--just search Yahoo!) in case you do not have access to a pitch pipe, tuning fork, piano or electronic tuner.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Play Anything On Violin Fast : http://ViolinLion.com/Get

Answer 3

Get new strings, or tune it up....If the pegs won't stick, get some peg dope/peg compound to put on the pegs and they will be fine. You can buy it online at shar.com or at your local violin shop.

Answer 4

try using finetuners if you have them.
you can try loosening the strings and retuning them. [just dont take the whole string out because after it curls up, its hard to put back in the hole. xP]
or you can just get a new set of strings.

Answer 5

Time for new strings

Answer 6

You have to turn the pegs. If they won't budge, you may need peg soap. be careful, because if you overwind, the strings can break.