Online bandura tuner
The Ukrainian bandura has dozens of strings: long basses run along the neck and short prystrunky (treble strings) run along the edge of the soundboard. A modern Kyiv (Chernihiv) style academic bandura has 55 to 65 metal strings and a chromatic scale: the prima without a mechanism has 55 to 58, the concert model with key-change levers 61 to 65. The layout varies by model, so instead of a fixed "string 1 to string 65" list this page works as a chromatic tuner: nearest note, octave and cents.
Bandura: what the sources confirm
Main row of the academic bandura and the extreme notes of Trembita models at A4 = 440 Hz. Which string carries which note depends on the model.
| What | Note | Frequency (Hz) |
|---|---|---|
| Main row (in every octave) | G A B C D E F♯ | — |
| Lowest bass: Chernihiv type, Prima, Lvivianka, Kharkiv type | C2 | 65.41 |
| Highest prystrunok: Chernihiv type, Prima, Lvivianka | G6 | 1567.98 |
| Highest prystrunok: Trembita Kharkiv type | A6 | 1760.00 |
| Lowest note of the modern bandura per the Encyclopedia of Ukraine | A1 | 55.00 |
Trembita Musical Instrument Factory (Lviv) — Chernihiv-type bandura
How to use it
- Keep the "Free chromatic" profile, set A4 if needed (440 Hz by default) and enable the microphone.
- Mute the neighbouring strings and pluck one string. The tuner shows the nearest equal-tempered note, its octave and the deviation in cents.
- Compare note and octave with your bandura's tuning chart from the maker, teacher or method book. To hear a target, choose the note manually and press play.
- Turn the pin with the tuning key in small movements until the reading stays within ±5 cents. Go through every string, then check them all once more.
Help and explanations
What the sources confirm: the main row of the academic bandura is tuned in G major / E minor — G, A, B, C, D, E, F♯ — and these pitch classes repeat in every octave (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Ukrainian Wikipedia and I. Zinkiv's 2021 study of the Skliar bandura and the Lvivianka). Banduras made by the Trembita factory in Lviv sound from C2 (65.41 Hz) to G6 (1567.98 Hz), and its Kharkiv-style model reaches A6 (1760 Hz).
Academic bandura tuning: a main row in G major
In the Skliar-system bandura, mass-produced at the Chernihiv factory from 1954 to 1989, the strings of the G major scale form one row and the chromatic strings a second, crossing row (Zinkiv, 2021). It therefore makes sense to tune G, A, B, C, D, E, F♯ octave by octave first and the semitone strings afterwards. The sources do not publish which bass or prystrunok carries each note, so follow your own instrument's chart.
On concert banduras with levers, tune with the mechanism in the basic position given by the maker or teacher, and only then check the notes with levers engaged: the mechanisms by Skliar, Tuzychenko, Herasymenko and others work differently. The range also varies. Trembita lists C2 to G6 for its Chernihiv-type bandura (56 strings: 13 basses and 43 prystrunky), its Prima and its Lvivianka, while the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine gives A1 to G6 for the modern bandura in general.
Traditional bandura: tuned to the voice
The old kobzar (starosvitska) bandura had about 20 strings — 4 to 6 basses and 15 to 18 prystrunky — and a diatonic tuning. According to the Ukrainian Music Encyclopedia (2006), it was mostly tuned "na sumno" (natural minor) and retuned "na veselo" (major), and the layout and tuning of basses and prystrunky were not fixed. There was no absolute pitch: each kobzar tuned the instrument to his own voice.
For a traditional bandura, first choose a key that suits the voice, tune the prystrunky to the diatonic scale of that key and the basses to degrees I, IV and V. The tuner simply checks the notes you chose; any "standard" key for this instrument would only be a convention. For the diatonic Kharkiv-style bandura (31 to 36 strings) the sources do not give a single base key either.
Tips
- Mute the neighbouring strings with your other hand before every reading: on a chromatic bandura many strings vibrate in sympathy and confuse the microphone.
- On the lowest basses (around C2, 65 Hz) a phone microphone picks up the fundamental poorly. Make sure the tuner shows the right octave (C2, not C3) before turning the pin. The highest prystrunky (up to G6) decay quickly, so pluck firmly and read at once.
- New metal strings stretch, so retune several times in the first days, and in an ensemble agree on one A4 (440 Hz is the usual tuner setting).
Frequently asked questions
How many strings does a bandura have, and is there a string-by-string tuning chart?
A prima has 55 to 58 strings, a concert bandura 61 to 65, a Kharkiv-style bandura 31 to 36 (diatonic) or 61 to 68 (chromatic), and a traditional one about 20. The number of basses (12 to 17) and prystrunky (43 to 50) depends on the model, so there is no universal string-to-note chart. Use the maker's or teacher's chart.
What key is a bandura tuned in?
The Kyiv (Chernihiv) style academic bandura is chromatic, and its main row is G major / E minor: G, A, B, C, D, E, F♯ in every octave. The other five notes come from semitone strings or levers. The traditional bandura was tuned to the singer's voice, with no fixed key.
What is the range of a bandura?
Trembita models sound from C2 (65.41 Hz) to G6 (1567.98 Hz); Trembita's Kharkiv-style model reaches A6 (1760 Hz). The Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine gives A1 to G6 for the modern bandura, so the lowest note depends on the instrument.
Why does the tuner show the wrong octave on the basses?
A low metal string's overtones are often louder than its fundamental, and phone microphones hear 65 to 100 Hz poorly. Hold the phone closer, mute other strings and pluck again; never raise a string an octave to follow an unstable reading.