Learn How to Play the Ukulele: Tuning the Ukulele

Holy crap, you guys, I got so excited about having you make music with your ukulele that I forgot probably the most important thing about playing your uke: tuning the ukulele! You could have the most flawless technique EVAH, but unless your uke is in tune, you're gonna sound like crap. So let's talk about it.

First of all, remember from my post about how ukuleles are tuned, it's good to know what notes your strings are, and whether you have a re-entrant uke with a high g, a low G, or a baritone uke which is (usually) tuned like the top four strings of a guitar. 

There are other ways to tune a ukulele, sometimes called drop tuning, and alternate ways to tune a ukulele by doubling up on some notes (for instance, 2 G notes and 2 E notes), but that's another post for another time when I've had a chance to play with some of those. For now, we're going to stick to our basic gCEA tuning, or if you have a baritone uke, DGBE.

How to Tune a Ukulele: Using a Tuner

So, unless you have perfect pitch and the ability to recognize notes by ear, you're gonna need a tuner. Hell, even people that I know who have perfect pitch use a tuner when tuning their instruments, so it't not a bad idea. Even if you can recognize different pitches, sometimes it helps to get the first string tuned using a tuner and then tune the rest by ear if you can recognize the intervals between notes.

There are lots of different tuners available.

Clip-on tuners attach temporarily to your instrument while you tune the strings, and indicate what note you're tuning to, what interval or octave, and whether the note is sharp or flat. 

Stand-alone tuners are small devices that you only need to hold near your instrument while you tune and also indicate the same information. One bonus of some of the stand alone tuners is that they also include useful tools like digital metronomes, and can tune a wide variety of other string instruments like guitars, violins, cellos, or bass guitars. 

Tuning apps are widely available for your cell phone or tablet or other mobile device and work in much the same way as a stand alone tuner. Most of them are free, with a small price for premium features, and some of them also include digital metronomes that you can use.

Built in tuners come on some ukuleles that have electric pickups or other onboard electronics. These tuners work the same way as the clip-on tuners but are built in to your ukulele. I find them to be terribly convenient because this means I don't need to either whip out my phone every time I want to tune up my uke, and it's one less thing for me to lose. (I have a hard enough time keeping track of my keys on a good day.) 

How to Tune A Ukulele

So now you have your tuner and your ukulele, it's time to tune. Starting with the fourth string (closest to the ceiling when you're holding your uke), turn on your tuner and give that string a single, firm pluck. Take your time and let that single note reverberate and notice what your tuner says.

If the note is flat (lower than it should be), gently turn the corresponding tuning peg about 1/4 inch, and repeat. Pluck the note firmly, just once, and let the sound reverberate. Don't pluck it over and over in short bursts, or your tuner won't be able to pick up on the vibration and give you the proper feedback.

Once that first note is in tune, repeat for all remaining strings. If you're tuning an 8 string uke, well, have fun with that, and sometimes I find a pick can be useful in tuning just one string at a time. You can also use your 8 string ukulele as a way to practice pitch matching: tune one string using the tuner, and then tune the other string of the same note by matching the pitch of the first one. Fun stuff!

How Often Should You Tune Your Ukulele?

Well, rule of thumb says that you should tune your ukulele every time you sit down to play, even if that's multiple times in a day. Personally, that's how I tune my ukuleles - every time I sit down to play, even if it's just been an hour between sessions, I tune it up. 

When you've just changed the strings on a ukulele or you have a new ukulele (hooray for New Ukulele Day!), you'll have to tune your uke more than that. Sometimes with new strings, you may find yourself tuning multiple times within one session of play. That's totally normal as the strings stretch out and learn how to hold their tuning.

Once your strings hold their tuning, it's verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry tempting to just skip tuning your ukulele every day, but trust me, your instrument and your listeners will thank you.