Foundations

A ukulele has four strings, a neck with metal frets, and a body. Holding it: body against you, neck slightly up. Fretting hand: thumb behind the neck, tips on the strings — not a death grip.

Right hand rests lightly near the soundhole. Most strums use the index finger (nail down, flesh up). Fingerpicking uses thumb + fingers (pima) — see Fingerpicking.

Standard high-G tuning (My Dog Has Fleas), from the string nearest the ceiling down to the floor:

Tune so each open string matches the pitch above. Use the live Tuner (mic, ukulele · high-G GCEA) or a clip-on tuner; the buttons here are a pitch reference.

Tuning by ear, once the tuner has you close. Three checks, each a fretted note against the next open string:

• C string at fret 4 = open E.
• E string at fret 5 = open A.
• G string at fret 2 = open A as well — the reentrant G sits only two frets below the A string.

Play the pair together and listen for the wobble: as the two pitches converge the wobble slows, and when it stops you are in tune. That is the skill a tuner cannot give you, and it takes about a week to hear reliably.

A new string will not hold pitch for a day or two. That is nylon stretching, not a fault — tune, play a minute, tune again. More options (low G, D tuning, baritone): Tunings.

Click a string at a fret to hear it. Open notes sit left of the nut (unfretted). A is on top — the same orientation as TAB later.

Each fret is one half step — the same twelve-note grid as piano. A finger just behind the fret, not on top of the metal, keeps the note clean.

High-G reentrant: the G string sounds above the C string.

That sentence is the strangest thing about the instrument, so hear it rather than take my word for it. On a standard high-G ukulele the string nearest the ceiling is not the lowest note — the C string is. Play them back to back:

Hear G then C Hear all four in string order

The four strings in order sound G–C–E–A, which climbs, dips, then climbs again. That dip is why ukulele chords sound bright and close rather than deep, and why a strum sounds like a chord rather than a bass note with notes stacked above it. It also means low on the instrument does not mean nearest the ceiling — worth remembering the first time you read TAB. Prefer the deeper sound? That is low G.

Every beginner hits the same four problems, and all four are fixable in seconds once you know which one you have. Play a single string and listen:

The general rule: press less than you think and place closer to the fret than you think. Squeezing harder is the wrong answer to almost every ukulele problem.

A capo clamps across a fret and shortens every string. Open shapes then sound in a new key. That is how you keep easy chords while matching a singer’s Sa or a song that sits too low or high.

The bar is the capo at fret 2. The one-finger C grip is the same picture you already know — the fretted note moves up with the capo; “open” strings sit on the capo fret. That shape now sounds like D major.

• Capo fret 2 + open C shapes → music that feels like D major.
• Capo fret 2 + open G shapes → like A major — a common singer’s key.

Place it just behind the fret, snug but not crushing — nylon goes sharp under a heavy clamp. If a string buzzes, shift it a millimetre toward the fretwire.

TAB is a grid. Four lines — A on top, then E, C, G at the bottom (same orientation as the neck on this site). Read left to right: each column is a moment in time. A digit is the fret to press, not which finger to use. 0 is open (no fret). A vertical bar | is a barline or beat marker. If several numbers stack in one column, play them together (a strum or chord).

A|---3---
E|---0---
C|---0---
G|---0---   → C major

Letters and marks (same as guitar TAB; left hand unless noted):

• h — hammer-on (pick once, then fret the next note with the left hand)
• p — pull-off (flick off to the lower fret; the lower note must speak)
• / and \ — slide up or down to the next fret without lifting
• b — bend · ~ or v — vibrato on the held note
• x — mute that string (percussive click, not a clear pitch)
• <12> — touch harmonic at that fret
• D / U under a line — downstroke / upstroke

On song pages you may also see chord names (C | Am | F | G) above the grid — that is when to change shape, not a melody to read note by note.

Example on the A string (pick → hammer → pull):

A|---3---h---5---p---3----
E|------------------------
C|------------------------
G|------------------------

All open strings (G across to A), written the TAB way — read left to right; each 0 is the next string in the arpeggio, not a chord:

A|-------------0--
E|---------0------
C|-----0----------
G|-0--------------

Play all open strings

Hear them with Play all open strings (G across to A), then match the same notes on the neck diagram earlier on this page — the dip after G is the reentrant string. On song pages, chord TAB is where your left hand sits on each string — fret numbers for a grip, not a melody line to read left-to-right like staff notation.

Next layer — how long notes last, chord letters above a staff, and reading pitch on the staff — is on Neck and names · Reading (TAB is assumed; staff sections are at the end of that page).

Move on when all of these are true on a normal day, not your best one:

• All four open strings match the tuner, and the three by-ear checks (C string fret 4 = open E, E string fret 5 = open A, G string fret 2 = open A) stop wobbling when you play each pair together.
• You can explain why the G string sounds above the C string, and read the open-string TAB (A on top, G at the bottom) left to right.
• A single note at any fret rings clean on the fingertip just behind the fret, with the least pressure that works and no buzz or thud.
• You can say what a capo at fret 2 does to the one-finger C shape (it sounds like D major) and clamp it just behind the fret without going sharp.