Google has just “secretly” released a new tuner feature in the search bar. While I couldn’t find any press release from Google announcing the tuner. It’s apparent that the tool is new.
We gave the Google tuner a test and it works. It works just as well as any handheld tuner or app we have used in the past.
We were a bit concerned that our older laptop with a mediocre microphone would be able to detect the tune accurately. But surprisingly enough the free tuner app didn’t disappoint.
This isn’t the first time Google has built mini-apps for musicians either. Their metronome tool release a few years ago
How to Use Google Tuner
- Go to Google.com
- Type “Google Tuner”, “Google Guitar Tuner”, “Google Violin Tuner”. The tuners are all the same, just be sure you’ve typed “Google” and “Tuner” and should work great.
- After hitting enter you will need to select press mic to begin.
If you haven’t already enabled the microphone on your computer you may get a pop-up that looks something like below. You’ll need to allow access to your microphone.
Testing the new Google Tuner
You can watch us testing the Google Tuner for the first time here.
Give it a try yourself!
To use the tuner all you need to do is type “Google Tuner” at Google.com You can also click here to go directly to the tuner.
Why was Google Tuner created?
Again we didn’t see any press release from Google with an official statement, so maybe this tool actually isn’t new and we just stumbled across it. But our guess is Google built the tuner feature as hundreds of thousands are turning to Google for help with their instrument tuning.
According to Ahrefs.com the term “Guitar Tuner” is searched approximately 454,000 times each month. That is a lot of searches.
Other music tuner searches such as the “violin tuner” get an additional 37,000 monthly searches.
Google must have recognized the incredible number of people searching for the solution and Google was happy to solve it for us.
As of right now you still need to include the word “Google” for the tuner to appear. For example, if you search Violin Tuner you will get standard search results. But search “Violin Tuner Google” and you will get Google’s new tuner feature.
Where does the Google Free Tuner work?
Google Tuner will work on your phone and desktop devices. This is important as you want to get your sound as close as you can for accurate readings. Setting your mobile phone next to your instrument makes it easy to get accurate readings.
Music Tuner for Online Lessons
Using the online tuner for music lessons will be the biggest benefit for Google’s tuner. Tuning a instrument remotely has historically been a bit difficult and time-consuming.
Online music student‘s instruments can now be tuned by having them go to Google for both the teacher and student to view the readings.
Since they already have their computer its convenient. Just be sure to have the student use the tuner on their computer. (have them share screen too) this will then allow you to be able to tell if it’s just an older computer’s audio or the instrument is out of tune.
Our favorite part of the new tool is it will come in handy for music students that may not have purchased a tuner yet. We will still continue to use our physical tuner as it just feels more right.
For those interested in learning more about tuning instruments. You can check out our guide on just how to tune a kalimba here.
Give it a try and let us know what you think!