Is playing stringed instrument out of tune harmful?

I know how to play the piano and recently rented a violin from a business nearby. It sounds fine to me but I have no way of knowing for certain that it is well tuned without paying for one thing or another which I would rather not do. That aside I was wondering, aside from any possible auditory issues could it be harmful for the violin to be played if it's out of tune?

Not necessarily. Unless you're playing it in some ungodly decibel that can damage the inner workings of your ear, the only damage playing out of tune will do is to your reputation, haha. That being said, always take the proper precautions to protect your hearing when playing an instrument.

not in the least, unless you play incredibly loudly. Out of tune just means you're not playing a frequency that's relative to the other strings. Fun fact, the frequency that's standard for some notes changes depending on where you are. Like in most countries, A is 446hz, but in some like Australia, it's 442hz. Most people can't tell the difference but if you have good ears, even a 1hz difference can bother you if you're ocd like that hahaha

Thank you everyone. I will continue to try my hand at playing the violin without any worries now......though I do apologize to my dogs each time before I start practicing because my playing sounds like a cat is dying or something lol.

If you don't wanna buy a tuner, you can find one online usually. It'll play a tone and you just turn the pegs till your instrument matches the tone.

^about the reputation xD hilarious.. deyr right..(learned quite myself lols) yeah.. i think its just a matter of familiarization of the correct notes and tunes....? like when your playing on yours,, for hours,, or days..(and start thinking that this one's note should be like this and so on..) lets say youve finally finished a piece.. then one fine day,, when you go visit someone's else place and try der own instrument..(with correct tuning) n also to show off or something..esp.to a sudden pretty girl. LOL jk! http://mg0.joyreactor.com/pics/comment/gif-table-flip-arcade-627445.jpeg its like your life's in a mess..o_o you get my point. (: better yet be sure.. ü hey! i played the piano before too! what were your favorites btw! ^_^ *excited*

hey btw,, got me thinking.. o_o if it was rented from a business nearby,, dont you think they have already tuned it? or have da tools?.. Ummn.. try asking them for free. Cx tell them it came from dem anyways.. cx *laughs..

@princess_lily I think I understand what you mean. As in when you go to play someone else's correctly tuned instrument to show off or impress a pretty girl etc and all of a sudden the "correct tuning" completely throws you off right? I know that "your' life's a mess" feeling that results from that lol. I rely far to much on mechanical memory with the piano and if ONE thing is off from what I'm used to or I can't seem to get 3 or so notes right....BLAAAHHHHHH!!!! WHY CAN'T I PLAY THIS SONG!?!?!? lol. I KNOW the song but it doesn't sound like the song I know XD I tend to enjoy the more melancholy pieces when playing the piano. I don't know how to play too many songs and most of the ones I know how to play are anime related. As for my favorites....well at least the ones I can play on the piano...hmm...Fields Of Hope *Gundam Seed Destiny*, and Sayuri's World *The Place Promised In Our Early Days*, I also enjoy Sora from Escaflowne which I adapted myself from some music sheets I found online, combining the piano and vocal notes together which wasn't a fun task lol. The one of the last pieces I was working on was Natsuhiboshi from Naruto. I would have thought that they would have tuned it, and it sounds good to me for whatever that's worth haha, but when I was talking with the guy as I was signing the paperwork he said that my stubbornness *something I mentioned during converstation* would be helpful for learning especially when I have to "tune it". So from that I'm not entirely sure if it was tuned already or not. I didn't ask out of possible embarrassment and I was a little short on time because I had to get home to make dinner. I'm sure they had the tools but I wanted to be as cheap about it as I could lol. Not cheapskate cheap, just cheep as in very close watch on my spending for the next few weeks cheap. I think that they might do it for free.....but possible embarrassment again haha. If I get to the point where I see some good improvement then I might very well ask them.

XD XD YAeah! WAhahhaha i FEEEL ya i feel ya mate! *remembered* often stop in my mozartness (nose starts growing) trance,, and got me doing..tot.. tot?? tot!?? ..tot tot tot tot tot! Then i flip da piano! Cx OoooOohh that sounds beaUtiful and cOool! Id check it out sometime..ü I remembered Naruto,, I only knew Blue Bird halfway.XD [forced to learn it, but it was nice..:) ] I LOVE Canon and adore Canon Rock....i mimic it.Cx ( Lets capitalized the MIMIC part XD *coughs* ) waw (piano + vocal notes combi?) sounds like you have a music-page something? o : oooOooh! You cook? >__< ((me loves food.LOL)) *Food aside* wahaha dont worry mate, i feel ya (likes/ LOOVES to be suu oriented/efficient with budgeting my own money.LOL and notes them down out of habit (and work).XD were not cheap, we are JUST very.... .......... am, detail oriented.XD YAHAHA Well yeah, Cx i like your way of weighing pro's and cons first.. *laughs* WE think alike! *high fives* i liked violin too! before piano..Cx *pokes,, but you should try dat auto tunner apk-something in the net like Jinsei had said. (:

If you have a piano, you can tune your violin that way. The open strings are E, A, D, G. E starting from the FACE on the treble cleft going down the the G after middle C in the bass cleft