What You'll Need

When tuning for the first time, it's a very good idea to have a spare set of strings just in case a string breaks. Inexpensive strings are good enough for beginners, and you'll need at least the A and E strings as backup, or better yet, you can have a set of strings available (E, A, D, and G.)

1. The A and E strings, or a set of all the violins strings, E, A, D, and G.
2. A Tuner: there are many tuning apps available for the phone or tablet, search for "violin tuner" or "chromatic tuner" in your app store. The free versions should be just fine to get the job done.
3. A soft touch.

Know Your Strings...and Pegs!

One of the most common ways in which strings are broken is plucking or tuning one string, but turning a peg that is attached to a different string! To know which string corresponds to which peg, slide your finger down any string and follow it into the peg box (the box that holds the four pegs.) See where a string is wound, on which peg. Repeat this exercise with all the strings. Some violins may not be strung this way - this is not the end of the world - so be aware that when you do the finger sliding exercise, that your results may be different from what is described below. Take note of which peg is attached to each string.

The traditional order of your strings, from thicker to thin, is G, D, A, and E, or, if the violin is facing you, from left to right, G, D, A, and E. The strings should (again if the instrument is incorrectly strung, this may be different) correspond to these pegs:

the far left G string goes to the lower left peg
the inner left D string goes to the upper left peg
the inner right A string goes to the upper right peg
and the far right E string goes to the lower right peg.

Do your finger slide with this in mind, if your violin is set up the same way as above: YAY!!! If not, well YAY!!! again for you mainly because you're trying to learn how to do this new thing, but you'll eventually want to get the violin corrected. Don't try to correct it now, just keep on with the tutorial.

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Where Others Go High, We'll Start Low...

If you've never ever tuned a violin before, it may be best to start your tuning practice with one of the lower strings.

Print and Cut the Template

Cut exactly on the dotted lines of the printout. Do be careful to include the green line (do not cut it off.)

Mark the Finger Board

Place the template underneath the strings and move the green line towards the skinny end until it bumps up against the edge of the nut. Using a pencil, lightly mark your finger board at each red line.

Optionally, you may use a ruler underneath the strings to have the same spacings from the edge of the nut. Make a mark at each of these figures:

1 3/8" (35mm)
2 5/8" (66mm)
3 1/8" (80mm)
4 1/8" (106mm)

Cut the Tape

This doesn't need to be extremely accurate, so no fuss, but try your best to cut 4 tape strips that are approximately 1/8"-3/16" x 3.0" (2-4mm x 8cm.) Loosely place these on the edge of a table so you may remove them later.

Place the Tapes

Sliding the tapes underneath the strings (starting your slide where the finger board ends is easiest) place the tape over each mark on the finger board, try to make the tapes perpendicular to the line of the finger board. Wrap the excess tape around the neck of the violin and try to overlap the tape on the backside (this tends to help it hold better.)

You're Done!

For beginners, using fingering tape is a great way to become acquainted with the positions of the fingers on the violin. At some point in the future, you will not need them anymore, usually around the time they wear out.