You can now tune your guitar — or any other instrument — on Google Search.
How, you ask? Simply type “google tuner” into the search box, as noted by Android Police. You’re then presented with a chromatic tuner that tells you how close you are to the right pitch. It works on both desktop and mobile devices.
There aren’t any fancy bells and whistles like telling you the exact frequency you’re hitting or the ability to tune to specific notes, but for most people, it’ll get the job done.
Now if you ask me, it’s the search query itself that’s a little awkward. I certainly wouldn’t first think to type in “google tuner” if I wanted to tune my guitar. I’d probably type in something like, you know, “tune my guitar” or “guitar tuner” (neither of those currently work). Same for tuning a ukelele, violin, carrot flute, or whathaveyou.
However, the tool only launched recently, so it’s possible the company has not made it available to a wider selection of keywords yet.
It’s also worth noting that the accuracy of the tuning will be will likely depend on the quality of your device’s microphone, as Google can’t calibrate its tuner for every single microphone out there.
But hey, you never know when you’ll need to tune an instrument and don’t have a proper device handy, and I appreciate the simplicity of the tool — it’s arguably better and faster than downloading an ad-ridden app from an app store. Now a tuner is always just a Google Search away.
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