How to Tune and Strum a Ukulele

A well-tuned ukulele with a steady strum sounds lovely even with simple chords. This guide covers the three things to get right before anything else: tuning, holding and strumming.

Tuning: G C E A

The four strings, from the one nearest your chin to the one nearest the floor, are G, C, E and A. Many players remember them with the sentence:

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Sing it with the notes G, C, E, A and you'll hear exactly how a tuned ukulele should sound.

Unlike a guitar, the ukulele's G string is tuned higher than the C string next to it. That's what gives it its bright, sunny sound, so don't worry if the G string sounds higher than you expect.

Free toolOnline TunerA chromatic tuner that listens through your microphone, with guitar and ukulele string guides.

Holding the ukulele

• Hold it against your chest, with the neck pointing up and to the left (if you're right-handed).
• Your strumming forearm gently squeezes the body against you, so you don't have to grip the neck.
• Let your fretting thumb rest behind the neck, not wrapped around it.
• Strum over the spot where the neck meets the body, not over the sound hole. It sounds warmer there.

Three strumming patterns

Strum with the nail side of your index finger on the way down, and the soft pad on the way up. Keep your wrist loose, like shaking water off your hand.

1. All downs: D – D – D – D. Four steady strums, one per beat.
2. Down-up: D U – D U – D U – D U. Twice as many strums, still perfectly even.
3. Island strum: D – D U – U D U. This bouncy pattern is the sound of the ukulele and fits hundreds of songs.

Practise each pattern on a single chord like C before adding chord changes. A metronome at 70–80 BPM helps you stay steady.

Free toolOnline MetronomeA precise, free metronome with click, tick-tock or voice counting, tap tempo, time signatures and subdivisions.

Last updated 9 October 2026

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