Guqin tunings

The string is dragged over the bridge (yueshan 『岳山』), across the surface board, over the nut (longyin 『龍齦』 dragon gums) to the back of the qin, where the end is wrapped around one of two legs (fengzu 『鳳足』 "phoenix feet" or yanzu 『雁足』 "geese feet").

The most common tuning, "zheng diao" 〈正調〉, is pentatonic: 5 6 1 2 3 5 6 (which can be also played as 1 2 4 5 6 1 2) in the traditional Chinese number system or jianpu 〔簡譜/简谱〕 (i.e. 1=do, 2=re, etc.).

Often before a piece, the tablature names the tuning and then the mode using traditional Chinese names: gong 《宮》 (do), shang 《商》 (re), jiao or jue 《角》 (mi), zhi 《徵》 (sol), yu 《羽》 (la), or combinations thereof.

[3] A more modern name for tunings uses the word jun 〔均〕 to mean key or pitch of the piece, so for example, zhonglü jun 〈仲吕均〉 means "F key", since zhonglü is the name of the Chinese pitch which Western equivalent is "F".

), "lower third string" (e.g. Qinxue Lianyao), or normal tuning (e.g. Mei'an Qinpu).

Examples include pieces like "Shenren Chang" [Harmony Between Gods and Men] which uses a lot of "strange" notes not much heard in modern Chinese music.

Thus, many of the more "popular" Chinese instruments such as the erhu, dizi, or pipa adopted more purely pentatonic scales and modes, whilst the qin which was secluded from such standardisations kept much of the old tradition of music.

We can see from older, more ancient scores, such as Youlan using such rare notes; comparing that to a more modern piece one can hear the difference in tonality, scales and mode.