There are many different types of musical instruments that are used by modern day musicians. The sound of some can make you get up on your feet and dance, others can make you feel romantic, and some sound very sweet to the human ears. One of the musical instruments that fall in the last category is the flute. It may so happen that you know how to play a flute. However, during your performance on stage or even while you practice at home, an out of tune flute can easily annoy you. Add to that the fact that an out of tune flute can also make the music you play sound really awful.

There may be situations when despite using the right fingers and playing all the right notes, the sounds that come out from your flute may sound out of place. The best way to solve this problem is to use a flute tuner. There are various types of flute tuners available on the market. You will also find some that are readily available on app stores and use it on your phones. However, these apps are not that accurate and using them will not give you the best possible results all the time.

What Is A Flute Tuner?

A flute tuner can help you overcome any situation in which you face problems normally associated with out of tune flutes. This equipment or device helps to keep your flute in tune all the time you play it. There are various types of flute tuners available at the stores. Thus, it is important that you consider certain factors while shopping for such a flute tuner. There are basically two types of flute tuners, namely chromatic tuners and non-chromatic tuners. The latter is normally responsible for tuning your flute to its normal or standard tuning. Basically, it helps to relate the notes that you play on the musical instrument to the actual note that you wished to play.

However, chromatic tuners are usually recommended since these can tune your instrument to the nearest semi-tone. Chromatic tuners are more recommended, since they can easily tune your flute to a wider array of notes.
Apart from the two different types, you should also consider whether the tuner you need is a clip-on tuner or just a compact handheld. The former comes with built-in microphones that help the tuner to detect lower vibrations very easily, which is not possible with other tuners. Apart from that, clip-on tuners are quite small in size and quite convenient to carry. These types of tuners also tune your flute more accurately as compared to other types of tuners even in noisy environments.

How to Use a Flute Tuner?

For a flutist, it is very important to learn the right way of playing the flute in tune. But if you also have to play it with another instrument, it can get a bit tricky. This is why it is important that you learn how to use a flute tuner. It is important for you to understand that the flute tuner does not help to tune the flute as you play. It simply measures the frequency of the tones that you play and fine tunes it. Basically, you have to do all the tuning yourself.

Learning the basic technique of tuning on a flute is a pretty cool skill that you will learn while practicing on a flute. There are several movements that you can execute on a flute that help to alter the pitch. If you wish to utilize the flute tuner, you will have to notice whether you are playing flat or sharp or simply right on. Here is the way you should use a flute tuner.

  • Turn the flute tuner on.
  • Find the right calibration and ensure that it is set to A=440.
  • The most on-tune note on any flute is A, so play it.
  • Check the dial to see whether it is to the right or to the left.
  • Adjust your playing properly.
  • Once you manage to hit the note and also have the dial stay mostly straight up in the middle, you can be rest assured that your flute is on tune.
  • If the dial shifts to the left of the middle position than you are flat.
  • If the dial shifts to the right of the middle position, then you are sharp.

It is important for you to understand that there is much more to the technique of using the flute tuner than what can be mentioned here. However, practice makes perfect. Thus, if you practice with the flute tuner regularly, you will soon become a master at using it. Once you get more and more fluent and ultimately become a seasoned player, you will notice that tuning the flute gets easier every day for you.