Free Tool
Ukulele Tuner
Play a reference tone, match your string, repeat four times. Below the tuner: why the ukulele’s fourth string is pitched higher than its third, and what to do when a uke refuses to stay in tune.
Tuning is the one skill that has to work before anything else does. A beginner practising on an out-of-tune instrument is training their ear to accept wrong intervals, and that habit is far harder to unlearn than any chord shape. Use the tuner below before every session, even a five-minute one.
The order that causes the least trouble
Tune A first, then E, then C, then the high G. Ukulele necks are short and the string tension is low, so every adjustment you make slightly alters the pull on the others. Working from the thinnest string inwards, then re-checking once, converges faster than tuning in string order.
Why the fourth string sounds higher than the third
Standard ukulele tuning is re-entrant: the strings do not run low-to-high across the instrument. The G is pitched above the C, so a downstrum does not sweep upward in pitch the way a guitar does. It sprays the notes of the chord in a scattered order instead, which is precisely where the bright, chiming quality comes from. It is an inheritance from the Madeiran machete, and it is the reason a ukulele still sounds like a ukulele even when a guitarist plays guitar shapes on it.
Tune Your Ukulele by Ear
Standard G-C-E-A tuning reference. Click any string to hear the correct pitch, then match it on your own ukulele. Toggle sustain to hold the note while you tune.
Select a string to begin
🎯 Tuning tip
Always tune up to a note, never down. If a string is too high, loosen it below the target pitch first, then tighten up to match. This keeps the string tension settled and in tune longer.
🔧 About re-entrant tuning
Notice the G string (392 Hz) is pitched higher than the C string (262 Hz). This "re-entrant" tuning is what gives the ukulele its signature bright, lilting sound — only 4 strings, but a world of character.
Ukulele Tunings Explained
Standard re-entrant tuning is just the beginning. From low-G to D-tuning to Hawaiian slack-key, each tuning opens a new sonic world. Select a tuning and press play to hear it.
Standard (Re-entrant)
G4 · C4 · E4 · A4
String 4
G4
392.0 Hz
String 3
C4
261.6 Hz
String 2
E4
329.6 Hz
String 1
A4
440.0 Hz
The classic ukulele tuning. The G string is pitched higher than the C — the 're-entrant' quirk that gives the ukulele its bright, lilting, unmistakable voice.
Best for: Soprano, concert, and tenor. The default for 95% of players.
When the tuner is right but the chords still sound wrong
If every open string reads correct and a C chord still sounds sour, work through this in order:
- Fretting pressure and position. Press just behind the fret, not on top of it, and not halfway between two frets. Too much pressure bends the string sharp, especially on nylon.
- New strings still stretching. Expect a week of retuning. This is normal.
- Nut slots too tight. If tuning up produces a pinging sound and the pitch jumps past where you wanted it, the string is binding in the nut slot. A pencil-lead rub in the slot lubricates it.
- Geared vs friction tuners. Traditional friction pegs slip. Tightening the small screw on the peg head by a quarter turn usually cures it.
- Humidity. A solid-wood instrument moving between a dry room and a humid one will shift pitch on its own. This is the instrument responding correctly to its environment, not a fault.
Alternate tunings, and when they are worth it
The alternate tunings listed above the tuner are not novelties. Low-G swaps the re-entrant quirk for a full octave of bass and is the default for fingerstyle players who need melody notes below middle C. D tuning (A-D-F#-B) was standard in 1920s sheet music, which is why some vaudeville-era arrangements sound oddly low in modern tuning. Baritone D-G-B-E is a different instrument in practice: guitar shapes transfer directly, ukulele chord charts do not.
Questions people actually ask
What are the four ukulele tuning notes?
Standard tuning is G4-C4-E4-A4, counting from the string nearest your face. The C is the lowest-sounding string, not the G, which is what makes ukulele tuning feel strange if you have come from guitar.
Why does my new ukulele go out of tune every few minutes?
Nylon and fluorocarbon strings stretch for roughly the first week to ten days of playing. Tune, play for two minutes, tune again, and repeat. You are not doing anything wrong and the instrument is not faulty; the strings are simply settling. Gently stretching each string by lifting it away from the fretboard speeds this up.
Can I tune a ukulele without a tuner or a microphone?
Yes. Play the reference tone for the A string on this page, match it by ear, then use the fifth fret of the A string to check E, the fourth fret of E to check C, and the second fret of C to check the high G. Relative tuning like this keeps the instrument in tune with itself, which is all you need when playing alone.
Should I tune a concert or tenor ukulele differently?
No. Soprano, concert and tenor all use G-C-E-A. Only the baritone is different, tuned D-G-B-E like the top four strings of a guitar. Scale length changes the tension and the tone, not the target pitches.