- Mozart , Viola in Sinfonia Concertante For Violin, Viola And Orchestra . Changing the pitch of the open strings to a semitone ''higher'' was in this case probably primarily intended to make the viola sound ''louder'', and so better discernable in the symphonic orchestra: indeed, increasing the tension in a string, not only sharpens the pitch, but also makes it sound louder, the loudest sound being obtained just before breaking.
- Mahler , scordatura Violin soloist in the 2nd movement of His 4th Symphony . In this case the composer probably intended primarily the specific (tone)"color" of the sound produced by a scordatura violin, which is less ''suave'' than the sound of a standard tuning.
- Saint-Saëns , solo Violin in '' Danse Macabre '', where the E-string is tuned to Eb.
- Igor Stravinsky 's The Firebird is a rare, perhaps unique, piece which calls for the entire violin section to retune a string, in order to play some natural Harmonic s.
- Bach's Fifth Cello Suite requires the soloist to tune down the highest string from an A to a G.
- the cello in George Crumb 's chamber work ''Vox Balaenae'' (scored for electric flute, electric cello, and electric piano). The traditional C-G-D-A tuning is changed to B-F#-D#-A, which serves to emphasize the key of B major that emerges in the final movement.
- Zoltán Kodály 's solo cello sonata in B minor requires the cellist to tune down the two lower strings from G and C to F# and B, to emphasize the key with reoccuring B-minor chords.
- Ligeti 's Violin Concerto
- Schnittke 's Monologue for viola and strings
- In some Double Bass solo music, a specific solo tuning (F#-B-E-A) that requires a different set of strings is used. This is to allow the bass to be heard better over the Piano or Orchestra . With better instrumental technology and string manufacturing, orchestrally tuned (E-A-D-G) bass editions are becoming more common.
Scordatura is commonly used on the Fiddle in Folk Music of Appalachia and the Southern United States . The fiddle may be re-tuned in any number of ways in these musical idioms, but there are two common re-tunings. While the standard tuning for open strings of the Violin is GDAE—with the G being the tuning of the lowest-pitched string and the E being the tuning for the highest-pitched string—fiddlers playing tunes in the key of D major sometimes employ a tuning of ADAE. In this tuning the open G string is raised to the A directly above it. Even more frequently used is a scordatura tuning of AEAE for music played in the key of A major. Among fiddlers this is referred to as "cross-tuning." In both of these scordatura tunings, scordatura facilitates a Drone on an open string next to the string on which the melody is being played. Relatively well-known American folk tunes that are often played in cross-tuning include "Breaking Up Christmas," "Cluck Old Hen," "Hangman's Reel," "Horse and Buggy," and "Ways of the World."
GDAE is known in some North American Old-Timey fiddling circles as "that Eye-Talian tuning," the implication being that it is only one of many possibilities. Other tunings include:
- GDGB = Open G Tuning
- GDGD = Sawmill Tuning
- GDAD = "Gee-Dad"
- DDAD = Dead Man's Tuning, or Open D Tuning, or Bonaparte's Retreat Tuning, or "Dee-Dad"
- ADAE = Old-Timey D Tuning
- AEAE = High Bass, High Counter (or High Bass, High Tenor) similar to Sawmill Tuning
- AEAC# = Black Mountain Rag Tuning, or Open A Tuning
- AEAD for Old Sledge, Silver Lake
- EDAE for Glory in the Meeting House
- EEAE for Get up in the Cool
Slack Tuning
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