Editing Musical tuning (section)

===Altered tunings===
{{unreferenced section|date=October 2014}}
{{Main|scordatura}}
Violin scordatura was employed in the 17th and 18th centuries by Italian and German composers, namely, [[Biagio Marini]], [[Antonio Vivaldi]], [[Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber]] (who in the ''Rosary Sonatas'' prescribes a great variety of scordaturas, including crossing the middle strings), [[Johann Pachelbel]] and [[Johann Sebastian Bach]], whose ''[[Cello Suites (Bach)|Fifth Suite For Unaccompanied Cello]]'' calls for the lowering of the A string to G. In [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s ''[[Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra|Sinfonia Concertante]]'' in E-flat major (K. 364), all the strings of the solo viola are raised one half-step, ostensibly to give the instrument a brighter tone so the solo violin does not overshadow it.

Scordatura for the violin was also used in the 19th and 20th centuries in works by [[Niccolò Paganini]], [[Robert Schumann]], [[Camille Saint-Saëns]], [[Gustav Mahler]], and [[Béla Bartók]]. In Saint-Saëns' "[[Danse Macabre (Saint-Saëns)|Danse Macabre]]", the high string of the violin is lower half a tone to the E{{Music|b}} so as to have the most accented note of the main theme sound on an open string. In Mahler's [[Symphony No. 4 (Mahler)|Symphony No. 4]], the solo violin is tuned one whole step high to produce a harsh sound evoking Death as the Fiddler. In Bartók's ''Contrasts'', the violin is tuned G{{Music|#}}-D-A-E{{Music|b}} to facilitate the playing of tritones on open strings.

American folk violinists of the [[Appalachians]] and [[Ozarks]] often employ alternate tunings for dance songs and ballads. The most commonly used tuning is A-E-A-E. Likewise banjo players in this tradition use many tunings to play melody in different keys. A common alternative banjo tuning for playing in D is A-D-A-D-E. Many Folk guitar players also used different tunings from standard, such as D-A-D-G-A-D, which is very popular for Irish music.

A musical instrument that has had its pitch deliberately lowered during tuning is said to be ''down-tuned'' or ''tuned down''. Common examples include the electric guitar and electric bass in contemporary [[heavy metal music]], whereby one or more strings are often tuned lower than [[concert pitch]]. This is not to be confused with electronically changing the [[fundamental frequency]], which is referred to as [[pitch shifting]].