Ukulele Glossary

A tuning where the strings are not ordered from lowest to highest pitch. On the ukulele, the G string (4th) is pitched higher than the C string (3rd), giving the instrument its characteristic bright, lilting sound.

Acacia koa — a native Hawaiian hardwood with a rich golden-brown grain. The traditional and most prized wood for building ukuleles, prized for its warm tone and beautiful figure.

Also called braguinha. A small four-stringed Portuguese instrument from Braga — one of the ukulele's two direct ancestors. It gave the ukulele its compact body shape.

A five-stringed instrument from Madeira, Portugal. Its top four strings (G-C-E-A) became the ukulele's standard tuning, used worldwide today.

A small Portuguese/Brazilian string instrument closely related to the machête. It influenced the construction techniques used by early Honolulu ukulele makers.

The metal strips embedded along the ukulele's neck. Pressing a string against a fret shortens its vibrating length, producing a higher pitch. Standard ukuleles have 12–21 frets depending on size.

The circular opening on the ukulele's front (soundboard) that projects the instrument's sound outward. Usually decorated with a rosette (decorative ring).

The small grooved piece at the junction of the headstock and neck. It spaces the strings evenly and sets their height above the first fret.

The piece on the bridge that the strings rest on. Like the nut, it sets string height and spacing, but on the body end of the instrument.

The wooden piece glued to the soundboard that anchors the strings and transfers their vibration to the body. The saddle sits in the bridge.

The top portion of the ukulele that holds the tuning pegs (machine heads). Can be straight (flat) or slotted.

Sweeping the fingers or a pick across all strings simultaneously to play a chord. The fundamental ukulele technique — can be down (D) or up (U).

Plucking individual strings with the fingertips rather than strumming. Produces melodic, arpeggiated patterns — the style favored by Jake Shimabukuro.

A percussive strum where the strings are muted with the strumming hand immediately after contact, producing a rhythmic 'chk' sound. Also called a 'palm mute strum.'

Pressing one finger flat across multiple strings to form a movable chord shape. Allows the same chord shape to be played at different fret positions.

The British clipper ship that carried 400+ Madeiran immigrants — including the three ukulele founders — from Madeira to Honolulu in 1879. A four-month, 12,000-mile voyage.

The 1915 world's fair in San Francisco where the Hawaiian Pavilion's performances captivated hundreds of thousands of Americans, igniting the first nationwide ukulele craze.

A hybrid instrument with a ukulele's neck and tuning but a banjo's drum-like body. Popularized by George Formby in 1930s–50s Britain.

From Hawaiian, roughly 'jumping flea' — describing the rapid finger movement of a skilled player. Developed in Honolulu c. 1879 by Madeiran immigrants using Hawaiian koa wood.

An arrangement style that plays a scale across several strings instead of along one, so consecutive notes ring into each other like bells. Re-entrant tuning makes it possible on the ukulele in a way it is not on a guitar, and it is the reason many classical ukulele arrangements sound harp-like.

Whether the instrument plays in tune with itself along the whole neck, not just on open strings. Test it by comparing the note at the twelfth fret with the open string an octave below: if the fretted note reads sharp, the cause is usually string height, a badly cut nut or a dead string rather than tuning.

The vibrating length of the string, measured from nut to saddle, and the single specification that separates the four ukulele sizes. It sets fret spacing, string tension and how much volume the instrument can produce, which is why it matters more to a buyer than the choice of tonewood.

A solid top is one continuous piece of wood; a laminate top is thin layers bonded together. Solid tops generally sound richer and open up with playing, while laminate is markedly more tolerant of humidity swings and knocks — a genuine advantage for classrooms, travel and extreme climates rather than merely a cheaper option.

The height of the strings above the frets. High action makes chords physically hard and pushes fretted notes sharp; very low action buzzes. Most complaints that an instrument is difficult to play are action complaints, and a setup usually fixes them for less than the price of a new instrument.

The width of the fretboard at the nut, which determines how much space there is between strings. It matters more than overall size for players with larger fingers, and it is the reason some players find a wide-nut concert more comfortable than a narrow-nut tenor.

Replacing the high fourth string with a thicker string tuned an octave lower, making the ukulele a conventional low-to-high instrument. It extends the range downwards for melody playing and fingerstyle, at the cost of the bright re-entrant jangle most associated with the instrument.

A family of Hawaiian tunings, best known on guitar as ki hoʻalu, in which strings are slackened to produce an open chord. Ukulele players borrow the idea for open, ringing accompaniments; the tunings travelled with players rather than with printed instruction.

A ukulele neck on a small banjo body with a drum head instead of a wooden soundboard, also called a banjolele. Its volume made it the vaudeville and music-hall instrument of choice, and it is the sound most associated with George Formby.

An oval-bodied soprano introduced by Kamaka in the 1920s, named for its shape and originally painted to match. The wider body gives a rounder, slightly louder tone than a figure-eight soprano of the same scale length.

The decorative ring around the sound hole, usually inlaid wood, shell or a printed transfer. It is purely cosmetic on a ukulele, but the quality of the inlay is a reliable indicator of how much hand work went into the rest of the instrument.

The internal wooden struts glued under the top and back. They stop string tension distorting the soundboard while leaving it free enough to vibrate, and the pattern a builder chooses is one of the largest single influences on tone.

Any wood chosen for its acoustic behaviour rather than its appearance. Koa is the traditional Hawaiian choice; mahogany is warmer and more even; spruce and cedar tops are brighter and louder. The difference between two tonewoods is smaller than the difference between a good and a bad setup.

A clamp placed across the fretboard to raise the pitch of every string at once, letting a player keep familiar chord shapes in a different key. Useful for matching a singer's range without relearning the song.

A dense synthetic string material, brighter and slightly higher tension than clear nylon, with more projection and better tuning stability. Most factory-fitted strings are nylon, so fluorocarbon is the most common and cheapest upgrade a beginner can make.

Playing the tune and its accompaniment at the same time, with the melody note as the highest sounding note of each chord shape. It is the arrangement style that lets a solo ukulele perform a song without a singer.