Five Signs Your Piano Is Ready for a Tuning

You don't need a trained ear to know your piano needs attention. Most pianos tell you, if you know what to listen and feel for. Here are the five most common signs.

1. Familiar songs sound subtly wrong

The clearest tell. A piece you know by heart starts to feel sour or "off," even though you're playing the right keys. That's the intervals between notes drifting out of agreement.

2. Two notes that should match don't

Play an octave — the same note low and high. It should sound clean and unified. If it sounds like two pitches fighting each other, or shimmers in a way it didn't used to, the piano has drifted.

3. It sounds jangly or "honky-tonk"

Many notes on a piano use two or three strings struck together. When those strings fall out of agreement with each other, you get that detuned, saloon-piano warble — a sign it's been a while.

4. It's been more than a year

Even if nothing sounds obviously wrong, the calendar is a sign in itself. Pitch drifts slowly enough that your ear adjusts; a piano can be noticeably flat before you consciously notice.

5. It was recently moved, or the room's climate changed

A move, a new home, a renovation, switching the heat on for winter — any big change in environment can knock a piano out of tune within weeks.

One reassuring note: a piano that's gone flat is almost always tunable. It may need a pitch raise first, but "out of tune" rarely means "ruined."