One of the most important (and sometimes the most difficult) things to do in playing a uke is getting it in tune. If it is not in tune it won’t really sound right. For various reasons stringed instruments constantly go out of tune, so you should always tune up before playing. Learning how the strings should sound takes a lot of time, but don’t let that discourage you. Electronic tuners can now be purchased very reasonably and should be considered an essential investment for any uke player. Any chromatic tuner should do the job nicely. There are some inexpensive chromatic tuners listed below that will work with any ukulele. I personally use the Korg CA-30 (listed below) and it works great with any stringed instrument.

You can choose one of the options below to see a short video tutorial on tuning the uke, or click the music note to hear a computer-generated MIDI.

The important thing about tuning your uke in standard C tuning is that the 4th string is tuned higher than the 3rd string. The 3rd string is tuned to middle C and the 4th string is tuned to G above middle C (see the standard notation below). Therefore the 3rd string open is the lowest note on the uke.