The Westport Library Resource Guides: Learning Ukulele: About

Watch Ukulele Lessons

How to Play Ukulele

The ukulele is a compact and versatile instrument that is easy to take with you wherever you go. Whether you want to become a professional musician or just a hobbyist, there are a few key skills that every ukulele player should master.

Like most stringed instruments, the ukulele was developed to be played right-handed. This means that the player's left hand hovers above the fretboard, pressing down strings at different frets to form chord shapes and individual notes, while the right hand picks and strums. Most ukulele players use their fingers for this, but you can also use a pick, as you might with a steel-string acoustic guitar.

A beginner's first ukulele is typically a concert ukulele, often with nylon strings and a rosewood fingerboard. For a concert ukulele, G-C-E-A tuning (which produces a C6 chord) is the universal standard. This translates to the following on a concert ukulele:

The fourth string: Tune this bottom string to G4. Typically, this string is called the G string. Some players call this string "low G," but it is actually the second-highest pitch of all the strings.
The third string: Tune the next string up is to C4. Sometimes called the C string, the third string has the lowest pitch of the strings.
The second string: Tune this string to E4. Also known as the E string, it has the second-lowest pitch of the strings.
The first string: Tune this top string to A4. Called the A string, it has the highest pitch of the strings.

A ukulele player may be called upon to play solo lines and melodies, but beginning ukulele players usually start with some basic ukulele chords. Once you master your major chords and minor chords—along with a few basic strumming patterns—you can start playing a wide array of popular songs. Continue reading from Masterclass