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. When buying a ukulele, the first thing you want to do is tune it. 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. There are a number of dedicated ukulele tuners available, and also any chromatic tuner will also do the job nicely.

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. Therefore the 3rd string open is the lowest note on the uke. This is referred to as “re-entrant tuning.”