The ukulele is a fun instrument to play, but it can be difficult for many people to tune. It usually takes some time and practice before you get the hang of properly tuning your instrument. In this blog post, we will go over how to tune a ukulele in just several in-depth steps!
One thing you need to know is that there are several different ways to tune your ukulele. These include tuning your ukulele to a guitar, piano or keyboard, or tuning the uke to itself. Therefore, these are some of the common ways you can tune your ukulele. The good news is that nowadays you can even tune your ukulele online.
In this post, we’ll go over each of them to help you understand how you can do it.
How to Tune a Ukulele to a Guitar
If you want to tune your ukulele to a guitar, it’s most likely you’re playing with a guitarist, and you want to be in sync. Not to worry because tuning your uke to a guitar will make sure you’re in tune with each other.
To tune your ukulele to a guitar, you can any of the below tunings:
- You can tune your uke to the g-string and ask the guitarist to tune their guitar to the E-string third fret.
- Tuning the uke to the C-string and ask the guitarist to tune to the B-string first fret.
- Also, you can tune the uke to the E-string and ask the guitarist to tune to the E-string open.
- Tune your ukulele to the A-string and ask the guitarist to tune to the E-string fifth fret.
How to Tune a Ukulele to a Piano
Tuning a ukulele to a piano is quite easy. That’s because pianos tend to hold their tuning a bit longer compared to other musical instruments. Electronic keyboards are also better since they produce their notes digitally and always deliver the best experience. Therefore, if you have a piano it’s the best tuning source to consider.
Tuning:
- The uke’s C-string is equal to the middle C of a piano or electronic keyboard. You can also use the E-key on a piano and, G-key, and the white key for A.
ALSO READ: Is Ukulele Easy to Learn? Find the Answer in this Post
How to Tune a Ukulele to Itself – Best Ways to Follow
The third option involves tuning the ukulele to itself. However, this option is a bit complex, unlike the other two options.
Here’s how to tune the different types of ukuleles:
Soprano
- Common tuning – G4 – C4-E4 – A4
- Standard tuning – A4 –D4 – F#4 – B4
Concert
- Common tuning – G4 – C4 – E4 – A4
- Standard tuning – G3 – C4 – E4 – A4
Tenor
Common tuning
- G4 – C4 – E4 – A4
- G3 – C4 – E4 – A4
Standard tuning
- D4 – G3 – B3 – E4
- D3 – G3 – B3 – E4
Baritone
- Common tuning – D3 – G3 – B3 – E4
- Standard tuning – C3 – G3 – B3 – E4
The most common ukulele tuning is the gCEA. That means that the string nearest to you, which is the fourth string, is tuned to a high g-note. In ukulele language, the lower indicates a high g and not a lower-sounding G-string. The other string down is tuned to C, the second one to E, and the first string is tuned to A.
The A string is the one furthest from you. This method of tuning is also known as the “Re-entrant tuning.†That is why you need to use a lower case “g” when indicating this type of tuning.
In fact, the gCEA ukulele tuning method is the most popular nowadays. That’s because this tuning method makes it easy to learn to play the uke since it’s easy to find the chord charts and notation for the gCEA tuning.
Conclusion
There are many ways on how to tune a ukulele. But, the methods we’ve discussed in this post are the most common and simplest ways to do it. You don’t need to complicate things too much, and the good thing is that the ukulele is pretty easy to learn.
Therefore, we hope you’ve learned something today, but you can always reach out to us via email if you have any questions.
