Rubab tuner for the Afghan rabab
The Afghan rubab, also written rabab or robab, is the short-necked plucked lute of Kabul, with a skin stretched over the lower half of its body. It has three main melody strings, nylon today and gut in the past, tuned a fourth apart, plus two or three long drones and 11 to 15 sympathetic strings. This rubab tuner covers the three main strings.
Rubab tuning notes and frequencies (Kabul reference)
Afghan rubab, three main strings from low to high, in the Kabul reference with Sa = D described by John Baily. Equal-tempered frequencies at A4 = 440 Hz; the octave is inferred from real string gauges and lengths, and all three strings move together with the singer’s or harmonium’s Sa.
| String | Note | Frequency (Hz) | Common sargam | Baily’s sargam |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| String 3 · low (Dari bam) | C♯3 | 138.59 | Ni (low) | Ni₁ |
| String 2 · middle (miana) | F♯3 | 185.00 | Ga | Ge |
| String 1 · high (jelau) | B3 | 246.94 | Dha | De |
John Baily, Online Afghan Rubab Tutor (OART): Tuning the rubab
How to use it
- Tap Turn on microphone; the Kabul reference (Sa = D) is already selected.
- Start with string 3, the thickest: tap its button to hear C♯3 and lock the tuner on it, then pluck the string open and turn the peg slowly until the needle turns green.
- Tune string 2 to F♯3 and string 1, the thinnest, to B3. Check by ear: Sa on the 1st fret of string 3 and high Sa on the 3rd fret of string 1 should form a clean octave.
- Go round once more: the bridge rests on a skin, so retuning one string changes the tension on the others, as Baily notes.
Help and explanations
In John Baily’s Online Afghan Rubab Tutor, Sa is usually D and the open strings are, from low to high, C♯3, F♯3 and B3; Sa itself sits on the 1st fret of the low string. Treat this as a reference, not an official standard: the shape (a fourth plus a fourth) is fixed, while the pitch follows the singer or the harmonium.
Sa = D is a reference, not a rule
Baily writes that Sa usually corresponds to D, that many Afghan musicians tune by ear, and that in a band the rubab tunes to notes given by the harmonium player; for beginners he suggests an electronic tuner. No academic source prints the octave: C♯3–F♯3–B3 is the one that fits the gauges and string lengths of real rubabs, and it agrees with tuner apps and string sellers.
For another Sa, move all three strings by the same interval and keep the fourths. A semitone down (C–F–A♯) or up (D–G–C) fits the A reference setting at 415 or 466 Hz. For bigger moves, such as E–A–D (Sa = F), use the chromatic tuner.
Sargam names and written music
In common Hindustani sargam the open strings are low Ni, Ga and Dha, all natural (shuddh). Baily’s twelve-name Afghan sargam writes them Ni₁, Ge and De, because there Ga and Da stand for the flat (komal) forms; read his “Ga” as the middle string and you would tune it to F instead of F♯.
Methods in staff notation often follow the Hindustani convention of writing everything a whole tone lower, in C, so the open strings may appear as B–E–A while they sound C♯–F♯–B. The tuner always shows the sounding pitch.
String names, drones and sympathetic strings
Baily records the Dari names, from low to high, as bam, miana and jelau (“front”); in Pashto usage the strings are often called katay, bam and zer, so “bam” there is the middle string. That is why the buttons on this page use numbers and position. If your rubab has double courses on strings 1 and 2, as many older ones do, tune each pair in unison.
The drones (shahtar) and sympathetic strings (tarab) have no preset: their octave is not documented and they change with the rag. Baily tunes three drones to Sa, Pa and low Pa (D, A and low A with Sa = D) and the sympathetic strings to the scale of the rag, such as D major for Bilawal. Tune them with the chromatic tuner. Baily’s own order is drones first, then sympathetic strings, then the three main strings.
Tips
- If the low string reads C♯4, the tuner caught an overtone: pluck again closer to the phone and never tighten it an octave up.
- Skin and nylon react to heat and humidity, so check the tuning again after a few minutes of playing.
Frequently asked questions
What are the rubab tuning notes?
In the Kabul reference (Sa = D), from the thickest to the thinnest string: C♯3 (138.59 Hz), F♯3 (185.00 Hz) and B3 (246.94 Hz), at A4 = 440 Hz.
How do you tune a rabab?
Tune the low string to C♯3, the middle string to F♯3 and the high string to B3, check the Sa octave (1st fret of the low string, 3rd fret of the high one) and go round a few times.
Is there a standard rubab tuning?
The fourths are standard; the pitch is not. C♯3–F♯3–B3 (Sa = D) is the Kabul reference, but players follow the singer or the harmonium, so the same shape may sit on E–A–D or C–F–A♯.
How many strings does a rabab have?
Three main melody strings, two or three long drones and 11 to 15 sympathetic strings, so roughly 16 to 21 in all.
Why does my rubab book show the open strings as B, E and A?
Staff-notation methods often write a whole tone lower; the strings still sound C♯, F♯ and B.
Does this tuner work for the Uzbek or Tajik rubob?
No. The Tajik, Uzbek and Pamiri rubobs share the 2024 UNESCO listing of the “art of crafting and playing rubab/rabab” with the Afghan rubab, but they are different instruments with their own tunings. For the Indian sarod, use the sarod tuner.