Find the note you are singing
A keyboard that plays, so you can hunt the note you have in your head. Sing, slide along the keys until one matches, and read the note and its frequency. Mouse, touch or your computer keyboard.
This keyboard needs JavaScript to make a sound. The note table further down works without it.
Hunting a note by ear, when you cannot read music
Sing the note and keep it going. Press a key. If the two are far apart you simply hear two pitches; as you get closer, they start to beat — a slow wobble in the loudness, the two waves drifting in and out of step. The closer you are, the slower it beats. When the wobble stops, you are on it.
That wobble is a physical fact, not a knack: two frequencies a few hertz apart beat at exactly their difference. Two hertz off gives you two wobbles a second, and almost anyone hears that — including people who will tell you they are tone deaf.
Tick hold before you start. A key that stops when you release it is no use for this: you need the reference to keep sounding while you sing against it.
Finding the key of a melody you have in your head
Find the note the melody lands on — the one it comes home to, usually the last one of a phrase. That note is the tonic, and it names the key. Then hum the second and third notes and find those too; if the third is four semitones above the tonic the key is major, if it is three it is minor.
Write the notes down as you find them. Three or four are enough to tell a musician what you are hearing, and enough to set a starting point in a session — which is all this tool is for. If you need the frequency for a tuner or an autotune, the reading above gives it, and the note and frequency converter does the arithmetic in both directions.
The notes of the middle octave, at A = 440 Hz
The frequencies a singer meets most often. Everything here is equal temperament: each semitone multiplies the frequency by the twelfth root of two, about 1.0595.
| Note | Frequency | Note | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| C4 | 261.63 Hz | F#4 | 369.99 Hz |
| C#4 | 277.18 Hz | G4 | 392.00 Hz |
| D4 | 293.66 Hz | G#4 | 415.30 Hz |
| D#4 | 311.13 Hz | A4 | 440.00 Hz |
| E4 | 329.63 Hz | A#4 | 466.16 Hz |
| F4 | 349.23 Hz | B4 | 493.88 Hz |
A typical male voice sits around C3 to C4, a typical female voice around C4 to C5 — but ranges vary far more between two people than between the categories, so take it as a place to start looking, not as a verdict on your voice.
Frequently asked
How do I find the note I am singing?
Hold the note in your voice, then walk up the keyboard until one key stops fighting you — when the two pitches lock, you stop hearing a wobble between them. That wobble is the giveaway, and it is easier to hear than the pitch itself: the closer you get, the slower it beats. Use hold so the note keeps sounding while you sing against it.
Is this a real piano sound?
No, and it is deliberate. A convincing piano means dozens of recorded notes — several megabytes to download before you can press a key. This one is synthesised in your browser: a fundamental plus four harmonics, short attack, slow decay. The pitch is exact, the timbre is not a piano. For hunting a note, exact pitch is the part that matters.
Which keys on my computer keyboard?
The row Q S D F G H J K plays the white keys and Z E T Y U the black ones, on an AZERTY layout — A W E R T Y U and W E T Y U on QWERTY, since the tool reads the physical key, not the letter printed on it. Left and right arrows shift the octave.
Why can I set A to something other than 440 Hz?
Because a recording you are singing along to may not be at 440. Older recordings, some orchestras, and anything deliberately tuned to 432 will sit a fraction of a semitone away — and against a keyboard locked to 440 you will never lock in. Set the pitch to the record, not to the standard.
Does my voice go anywhere?
Nothing is recorded. This tool does not use your microphone at all: it only makes sound, it never listens. There is no upload, no account, and nothing to accept.