Ukulele tuner

Standard ukulele tuning: G C E A

Soprano, concert and tenor ukuleles are tuned G C E A, named from the 4th string, nearest your face, to the 1st, nearest the floor. The G is tuned above the C, not below it. That is re-entrant tuning, and it is why a ukulele chord sounds close and bright: all four strings sit inside the octave above middle C. Sing the four notes and you get the old "my dog has fleas".

The other tunings on the switches

Equal temperament at A4 = 440 Hz; the reference switch above moves them all.

How to tune a ukulele with this tuner

Tap Start tuning and allow the microphone. Hold the ukulele as you play it, pluck the string nearest your face, the G, and let it ring. Auto hears which string you play; tap a string to pick it yourself. The needle left of the middle means flat: tighten the string so the pitch rises. Right of the middle means sharp: loosen it. Hold the string inside five cents (about 1.3 Hz on the A string) for a moment and it gets a tick, and the tuner moves on: G, C, E, A. When all four are ticked the microphone closes. Any order works. This tuner goes G, C, E, A; many players start with the A because it is the 440 Hz reference. Tuning one string pulls the neck a little, so check all four again in one round before you play. Then strum a C chord, one finger on the 3rd fret of the A string: if it sounds sour, run through the four once more.

Turn in small steps and come up to the note from below. If a string is sharp, take it under the note and bring it back up: the peg and the string's grip in the nut then settle tight instead of slipping flat a minute later. The needle can't tell octaves apart: it reads a string an octave low as in tune. A string an octave low feels floppy and buzzes; one heading an octave up gets very tight and snaps long before it gets there. If you're not sure, turn the microphone off, tap the string above and compare: your string should sound at the same height as the tone. On a high-G ukulele the G sounds higher than the C next to it. Not sure which way a peg turns? Give it a quarter turn and watch the needle. With the microphone off, tap a string above to hear its note, a plucked tone at the target pitch, and tune to it by ear like a pitch pipe. A = 440 Hz is the standard; switch to 442 to play with an orchestra or a piano tuned there, or to 432 if your group uses it.

Clip-on tuner, app, or a tuner in the browser

A clip-on tuner reads the vibration through the headstock rather than the air, so it works in a loud room or in a ukulele club where twenty people tune at once. Most cost about $13 to $25 (US prices, 2026) and run on a coin cell or a charge. Clip it to the headstock, front or back, set it to C (chromatic) or U (ukulele), and pluck: it reads the same way as the needle here. A phone tuner hears through the microphone: it costs nothing and is always with you, but it wants a fairly quiet room. Hold the phone a hand's width from the sound hole and rest a hand on the strings you are not tuning.

Looking for a ukulele tuner app that is free? This page works like one without the download: no account, no ads, in Safari on an iPhone or Chrome on Android. Add it to your home screen and it opens from an icon.

Can a guitar tuner tune a ukulele?

Yes, if it is chromatic. A chromatic tuner names any of the twelve notes, so G, C, E and A read as well as a guitar's six strings. A tuner locked in guitar mode expects E A D G B E and reads a C string as a sharp B; switch it to chromatic, or to the ukulele mode clip-ons often mark U. This page asks for the four ukulele notes and works out which string you play. For a guitar or a bass, the guitar tuner and the bass tuner do the same.

Ukulele sizes and their tunings

Which tuning is best? For a soprano or a concert, standard G C E A with the high G: nearly every songbook, chord chart and lesson assumes it. The size changes the tuning only at the baritone and the bass ukulele.

Strings are sold per size for a reason. Tension rises with the square of the length, so a soprano set tuned to pitch on a tenor carries about 70 % more pull. Buy the set made for your size and tuning.

High G or low G

High G (G4, 392 Hz) is the standard and gives the re-entrant ring. Low G (G3, 196 Hz) drops the 4th string an octave, so the strings rise from 4th to 1st like a guitar's: a fuller bass and five more semitones under middle C (G, A and B with the sharps between) for melody and fingerpicking. It is most common on tenors. A low G string is thicker, wound or a heavy fluorocarbon, and often needs its nut slot widened, or it sits high, buzzes or sticks. Pick Low G above so the labels and the tapped tone match; the reading folds octaves, so a low G also reads true on Standard.

D tuning and Canadian tuning

D tuning, A D F♯ B (A4 D4 F♯4 B4), sometimes called English tuning, puts every string a whole step higher. Chord shapes stay the same and sound a step up: the C shape plays D. Older songbooks, from the 1920s on, are often written for it, and so is much banjolele music (the banjolele tuner). Canadian tuning is the same with a low A (A3, 220 Hz), from the Canadian school ukulele programs J. Chalmers Doane started in Nova Scotia in the late 1960s; the D tuning switch reads it, since the A string folds onto its octave.

Baritone ukulele tuning

A baritone is tuned D G B E, the guitar's top four strings. The shapes are the same as on any ukulele but sound a fourth lower: the C shape gives G. Some players string a baritone with a high D (D4) for the re-entrant sound; the Baritone switch reads it an octave up.

Other tunings, and 6- and 8-string ukuleles

Some tunings have no switch here. Open C, G C E G (the A string down a whole step to G4); with a low G, G3 C4 E4 G4, it is the usual slack-key tuning. Open D, A D F♯ A, is the same move from D tuning (the B down to A). A half step down, F♯ B D♯ G♯, fits a singer. Tune these with the chromatic tuner, which reads any note. A 6- or 8-string ukulele is tuned in courses, pairs of strings played together. On an 8-string the G and C courses are octave pairs and the E and A courses unison pairs; a 6-string doubles two of the four, which two depends on the maker. Tune the main string of each course here, then its partner: an octave string reads on the same needle, a unison partner by ear until the beating stops.

How much does a decent ukulele cost?

Roughly, in US shops in 2026: $50 to $100 for a playable laminate soprano or concert, $100 to $300 for a solid top, more for solid wood throughout or a maker's instrument. For playing in tune the setup matters more than the price: level frets, a nut cut low enough that the first frets don't play sharp, pegs that hold. Plenty of cheap ukuleles leave the factory with a high nut; a shop setup costs less than the next model up and lets them play in tune.

Why won't my ukulele stay in tune?

• New strings stretch. Nylon and fluorocarbon drift flat for days, up to a week or two of playing. Speed it up: tune, pull each string gently away from the top a few times, tune again, until it holds.
• Friction pegs slip. Many older sopranos and banjoleles have plain friction pegs. Tighten the small screw on the end of each until the peg holds without feeling stiff. Geared pegs rarely slip; if one seems to, the string is slipping round the post. Wind on two or three turns.
• The knot creeps at the bridge. On a tie bridge the knot pulls tighter for the first days. On a slotted bridge, check the knot sits fully in its slot.
• The pitch jumps with a ping while you turn. The string is binding in the nut slot and letting go. Pencil graphite in the slot helps; a slot too narrow for a new low G needs a repair shop's file.
• Weather. Wood and nylon move with heat and humidity. Tune in the room you play in, after the ukulele has sat there a few minutes, and again before you play for anyone.
• In tune open, out of tune in chords. That is intonation, not tuning. Play a tuned string at the 12th fret: the needle should stay near the middle, since it reads the octave on the same string. Sharp at the 12th, or chords sharp near the nut, means the action at the saddle or nut is too high, or the hand presses too hard. A setup at a shop fixes the first; a lighter touch the second.

Tuning a ukulele to a piano or a guitar

Any instrument already in tune gives you the four notes. On a piano, the C string is middle C, and G, E and A are the white keys of those names just above it; a low G is the G just below middle C. On a guitar in standard tuning the ukulele's notes are here:

Matching two notes by ear, listen for the beating: a slow wah-wah in the sound, as many beats a second as the notes are apart in Hz. Turn until it slows and stops. 440 against 442 Hz beats twice a second, a difference of 8 cents. Tuning the strings to each other, as below, makes the ukulele agree with itself, not with anyone else, so start from a real reference when you play with others.

How to tune a ukulele without a tuner

Tune the C string (C4) to a reference first, from the tone generator (261.63 Hz) or a piano. Then tune each string from one already in tune: hold the fret, play both and turn until the wobble stops.

• The E string (E4): 4th fret of the C string (C4)
• The G string (G4): 3rd fret of the E string (E4)
• The A string (A4): 5th fret of the E string (E4)

Tuning a guitar too? The guitar tuner is the same needle for six strings.

The notes you tuned go into Brumm as a short melody over a beat.