For guitar-like instruments with a body and a neck, strings are listed from left to right as you face the instrument with the neck upwards. In most instruments the strings are arranged so that the pitch increases from low to high as you go from left to right. Exceptions to this are the 're-entrant tuning' such as on the Ukulele where one of the strings is out of order, and the use of 'octave strings' where strings in a course are turned an octave apart to add to the colour of chords. Note that strings on these instruments are usually numbered in the opposite direction - on a guitar, the '1st string' is the one on the far right, which has the highest pitch.

Notes

• These tables use the American naming system for notes. C₄ is Middle C (261.6Hz). C₃ is an octave below it while C₅ is an octave above it. The semitone below C₄ is B₃ because the octave numbering has C as the lowest note of each octave. A₄ is 440Hz.

• The list is divided into two. The first table shows closely spaced tunings in fourths and thirds, like a Guitar. The second table gives widely spaced turnings mainly in fifths, like a Violin.

• Guitar music is written an octave higher than it sounds, so the first fret on the 2nd string is written as C₅, the C above middle C, although it is actually C₄, middle C.

• The Ukulele and the Tetrachordo Bouzouki both use similar tuning patterns to the top four strings of the guitar, so four-string guitar chords will work on them, although they'll be in a different key. The Ukulele uses a 're-entrant tuning' where the strings do not go in sequence from low to high. Instead, the first listed string is higher in pitch than the second.

• Old sheet music for the Ukulele seems to be pitched a note higher, using the tuning A D F# B.

• Twelve-string guitars are normally strung so that the octave string (the high one) of a course is played first on a down beat. Greek Bouzoukis and Turkish Sazes are usually the other way around.