How to tune a ukulele

Standard ukulele tuning is g C E A, and the g is higher than the C, not lower. Pitches for standard, low-G and baritone, plus why that fourth string trips up every tuner that assumes strings go from low to high.

July 29, 2026

Standard tuning for soprano, concert and tenor ukuleles is g C E A. That lowercase g is doing real work: the fourth string, the one nearest your face, is tuned above the third string rather than below it.

Standard (re-entrant, high g)

This is called re-entrant tuning, and it is the reason a ukulele sounds like a ukulele. Strumming does not sweep from low to high the way it does on a guitar; the pitches jump around, which gives you that bright, chiming quality with no bass underneath it.

It also means a tuner that assumes string four is the lowest note will be wrong from the start. If yours insists your g string is flat by an octave, it is guessing based on position rather than listening.

Low-G

Same notes, but the g drops an octave so the strings run low to high like a guitar. You need a string made for it, usually a wound one, since a standard high-g string will not reach that pitch at any useful tension.

Low-G gives you a fuller range for melody playing and fingerstyle. It also costs you the classic re-entrant strum sound, so it is a genuine trade rather than an upgrade.

Baritone

D G B E, which is exactly the top four strings of a guitar. If you already play guitar, every chord shape you know transfers directly, though the chord it produces will be named differently from what your fingers expect.

Ukuleles go out of tune more than you think

Nylon strings stretch, and a new set will drift for the better part of a week. This is normal and not a fault. Tune it, play for five minutes, tune it again, and repeat over a few days until it settles.

They are also very sensitive to temperature and humidity, being small and made of thin wood. Taking one from a cold room to a warm one is enough to knock it out.

The banjolele

Worth mentioning because it catches people out: a banjolele uses the same g C E A tuning as a standard ukulele, at the same pitches. It is a ukulele neck on a banjo body, so anything you can play on one you can play on the other. TuneHaven lists it separately anyway, since players tend to look for the instrument they are holding rather than the one it is related to.