Mandolin are used. Usually, courses of 2 adjacent strings are tuned in unison. By far the most common tuning is the same as violin tuning, in scientific pitch notation G–D–A–E, or in Helmholtz pitch notation: g–d′–a′–e″. Note that the numbers of Hz shown above assume a 440 Hz A, standard in most parts of the western world. Some players use an A up to 10 Hz above or below a 440, mainly outside the United States. Other tunings exist, including "cross-tunings", in which the usually doubled string runs are tuned to different pitches. Additionally, guitarists may sometimes tune a mandolin to
The Well-Tuned Piano third, consider that 5:4 is equivalent to 386 cents () and 9:7 is equivalent to 435 cents (). This difference is audible to the listener by comparing the tuning for each pitch of the western chromatic scale with the chromatic scale used in "The Well-Tuned Piano". "The Well-Tuned Piano" is based on a pitch lattice of perfect fifths and harmonic sevenths. "The Well-Tuned Piano", being improvisatory in nature, as well as ever-changing, has no specific form. The closest a listener can come to understanding the structure of Young's piece is by studying the liner notes from the 1981 Gramavision recording.