How to tune a ukulele

A ukulele has four strings and the one closest to your chin is not the lowest. That one fact explains most of the confusion people have the first week. This page gives you the standard tuning with frequencies, the two common alternatives, how to tune by ear, and why the thing will not stay in tune at first.

Standard tuning: G C E A

Hold the ukulele as you play it. The strings, from the top one nearest your face down to the one nearest the floor:

String	Note	Frequency at A4 = 440 Hz
4th, top	G4	392.00 Hz
3rd	C4	261.63 Hz
2nd	E4	329.63 Hz
1st, bottom	A4	440.00 Hz

The usual mnemonic is Good Cooks Eat A lot. Soprano, concert and tenor ukuleles all use this tuning. Only the baritone is different.

The C string is the lowest note. The G, despite being on top, is tuned a fifth above it, between the E and the A. This is called reentrant tuning, and it is why a strummed ukulele sounds bright rather than bassy: there is no low string at all.

Low-G

Some players, especially on tenor ukuleles, replace the top string with a thicker one and tune it to G3, 196 Hz, an octave down. The notes are the same letters, G C E A, but now in pitch order from low to high. The instrument sounds fuller and fingerpicked melodies gain a bass register.

You cannot do this by loosening a standard G string an octave. It will flap. Low-G needs a Low-G string, usually sold separately or in a dedicated set.

Baritone: D G B E

A baritone ukulele is bigger and tuned D3 G3 B3 E4: 146.83, 196.00, 246.94 and 329.63 Hz. Those are exactly the four thinnest strings of a guitar, which is why guitarists find a baritone easy. The chord shapes are the same as on a standard ukulele but every chord comes out a fourth lower, so a G shape sounds a D.

Why the G string confuses tuners

New ukulele strings are nylon or fluorocarbon and arrive very slack. A fresh G string can sit a whole tone flat, right on top of the F.

A tuner that only knows the four target notes has to shoehorn that sound onto one of them. You get displays like "E4, +75 cents": a string you are not touching, a needle pinned to the edge, and no idea which way to turn. A tuner that names the note actually sounding tells you "F4", and as you tighten it walks F, F sharp, G until the G lights up. Tunora works the second way, which is also why it listens six semitones below the lowest string of whichever instrument you pick.

Tune up, not down

Turn the peg until the string is slightly below the note, then bring it up. A string tuned upwards pulls against the peg and holds. Ease down onto the note and the slack in the peg gradually gives, and five minutes later the string is flat again.

Pluck one string at a time and let it ring. Two strings at once give the tuner two pitches to argue about.

Tuning by ear from one string

If you have one reference, the A at 440 Hz from a tuner, a piano or a reference tone, the rest follows:

1. Tune the A string to the reference.
2. Press the E string at the 5th fret. It should match the open A.
3. Press the C string at the 4th fret. It should match the open E.
4. Press the G string at the 2nd fret. It should match the open A.

Listen for the slow wobble, the beating, between the two notes. As they approach each other the wobble slows, and when it stops they are in tune.

New strings will not hold pitch

Nylon stretches. For the first few days a freshly strung ukulele can lose a semitone between sittings, and even a string that was perfect at breakfast is flat by lunch. This is normal and it ends.

To speed it up: tune to pitch, gently pull each string away from the fretboard an inch or so, retune, and repeat a few times. After two or three days the strings settle and a ukulele holds tune as well as anything with nylon on it, which is to say it still wants a touch-up when the room changes temperature.

Where a phone tuner fits

A phone microphone is accurate enough for a ukulele in a normal room. The things to look for in a tuner app are a ukulele mode that shows the four strings and lights the one you are on, a reading in cents so you know how far off you are, and a display that names the note actually sounding rather than the nearest target.

Tunora has High-G, Low-G and baritone as separate presets, plus a custom tuning editor for anything else, such as the older A D F sharp B tuning. A reference tone for any string plays from a button so you can tune by ear when the room is loud. It does not read vibration through the body the way a clip-on does, so on a noisy stage a clip-on still wins.