Before any chord sounds right, your four strings need to land on G C E A. Here’s exactly what that means, how to get there by ear or with a tuner, and why a brand-new ukulele seems to drift out of tune every five minutes (it’s normal — and it stops).
Hold the ukulele in playing position and look down at the strings. From the one nearest your face to the one nearest the floor, they are tuned:
| String | Note | Pitch | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4th (top, nearest your face) | G | G4 (~392 Hz) | The re-entrant string — tuned high, not low |
| 3rd | C | C4 (~262 Hz) | The lowest-pitched string; the thickest |
| 2nd | E | E4 (~330 Hz) | |
| 1st (bottom, nearest the floor) | A | A4 (440 Hz) | The highest, brightest string |
A common way to remember the order is the little phrase “Good Chords Easily Achieved.”
The re-entrant quirk. Unlike a guitar, a standard ukulele’s strings don’t run low-to-high in pitch. That top G is tuned higher than the C and E next to it — the strings go high, low, medium, high. That “re-entrant” G is exactly what gives the ukulele its bright, jangly, instantly-recognisable voice. If yours sounds deeper and more guitar-like, you may have a low-G set.
The most reliable way to start: play a known-correct tone for each string and turn the peg until the string matches it. Tighten the string to raise the pitch, loosen it to lower it — and creep up to the note rather than down, so the string settles under tension and holds.
The lele tuner does exactly this. The practice app plays a clean reference tone for each of G, C, E and A — tap a string, match it by ear, repeat. No microphone or sign-up; it runs entirely in your browser.
A clip-on chromatic tuner clamps to the headstock and reads the string’s vibration, so it works even in a noisy room. Pluck a string and the display shows the note it hears:
One thing to watch: a chromatic tuner will happily confirm any note, so double-check you’re landing on the right letter for each string, not a neighbour a semitone away.
If you only get one string in tune — say the C from a piano’s middle C — you can tune the rest to the instrument itself:
It won’t guarantee you’re at concert pitch, but the ukulele will be in tune with itself, which is all you need to play alone.
Almost always: new strings. Fresh nylon or fluorocarbon strings stretch a great deal for the first few days, so the pitch keeps sagging flat.
| Tuning | Strings | What it’s for |
|---|---|---|
| Low-G | G C E A (low G) | Same notes, but the G is an octave lower — fuller, more guitar-like range. Just swap the single G string. |
| D tuning | A D F# B | An older soprano tuning, a whole step up. Brighter and a touch louder; common in vintage songbooks. |
| Baritone | D G B E | The bigger baritone ukulele — same as a guitar’s top four strings. The chord shapes on this page won’t match it. |
Unless you have a reason to do otherwise, start with standard GCEA — it’s what almost every chart, song and lesson assumes, including the chord chart here.
Tuned up? Here’s where to go next.