Balalaika Tuning (E.A.D.E.E.A)

The balalaika is a three stringed Russian folk instrument with a characteristic triangle shaped body. The balalaika family extends from the large bass (tuned EAD) through the tenor, alto, and the prima balalaika (which is tuned EEA). The balalaika tuning concatenates the bass and prima tunings onto one fretboard for an interesting, if not authentic, tuning.

The strength of the tuning lies in its natural keys, E and A, and in the trance like effect of the two E strings tuned to the same note. Unless you restring the guitar, the second string is very loose, which gives the tuning a "sitar" like quality.