Picking up a ukulele as a guitar player

Guitarists tend to approach the ukulele either as a toy or as a whole new instrument to learn. It is neither. It is a guitar with two strings missing and a capo at the fifth fret, and once you see that, the instrument takes about twenty minutes to become playable.

The relationship, stated precisely

A guitar’s top four strings, from low to high, are D, G, B, E. A ukulele is tuned G, C, E, A.

The intervals between the strings are identical. The ukulele simply sits five semitones higher, which is exactly what a capo at the fifth fret does to those four guitar strings.

So: put your capo on the fifth fret, ignore the bottom two strings, and you are playing a ukulele. The fingering, the shapes, the relative positions of everything — all identical.

The translation table

Play a guitar shape on a ukulele and you get a chord a perfect fourth higher.

The two most useful entries are the first and the fourth. The ukulele’s C chord — one finger on the third fret of the bottom string — is your guitar G shape reduced to four strings. The ukulele’s F is your guitar C shape. Both are the first chords any ukulele beginner learns, and you already know them.

The one thing that will confuse you

Re-entrant tuning. The ukulele’s G string — the one nearest your face — is tuned higher than the C next to it.

For a guitarist this feels wrong in a specific way: strumming does not sweep from low to high, and the bass note you expect at the bottom of a chord is not there. Fingerpicking patterns that ascend on a guitar bounce around unpredictably.

It is also the entire reason a ukulele sounds like a ukulele rather than like a small guitar. Persist with it for a week before deciding. The full explanation is in ukulele tunings explained.

Low-G, the guitarist’s option

Replacing the G with a thicker, often wound string tuned an octave down restores the familiar low-to-high order.

What you gain: an extra fourth of range at the bottom, bass notes under chords, and fingerpicking that behaves the way your hands expect. Solo instrumental ukulele playing very often uses low-G for exactly these reasons.

What you lose: the jangly re-entrant character that made the instrument appealing. It starts to sound like a small nylon-string guitar, which is a fine thing to be and is not what most people buy a ukulele for.

Two practicalities: you need a string made for low-G rather than a retuned standard one, and on some instruments the nut slot must be widened to accept a thicker wound string.

Which size to buy

Tenor is the usual answer for guitarists. A 17 inch scale gives the most space between frets, the deepest voice of the standard sizes, and a neck that does not feel like a toy in a hand used to 25.5 inches. The Kala KA-15T#ad is our pick and the field is in best tenor ukuleles.

Concert is the compromise if portability matters. Noticeably more room than a soprano while staying small — the Cordoba 15CM#ad is the one we would buy, and the case for the size is in best concert ukuleles.

Soprano will feel cramped. Buy one if you specifically want the brightest traditional sound and can live with the fret spacing.

Baritone is tuned DGBE with no transposition at all, so your guitar chord names carry over unchanged. Easiest of all for a guitarist, and furthest from what most people mean by a ukulele.

What will feel different physically

String tension is much lower. Fretting takes almost no force. Guitarists routinely press far too hard at first and push notes sharp.

Nylon feels wide and soft. Different under the fingers, and gentler — no calluses required.

Do not use a guitar pick. A hard plastic pick on nylon strings sounds thin and clicky and can mark a soft top. Use your index finger, or a felt pick made for the instrument.

Strum over the fretboard. Guitarists strum over the soundhole out of habit; on a ukulele that is harsh. Move up over the neck joint.

Strum much more lightly. A small body with a light top does not respond well to guitar-strength attack.

What it is genuinely good for

Beyond novelty, a ukulele earns its place for a guitarist in three ways.

It is the instrument you take places a guitar will not go. It is a genuinely different harmonic texture for writing, because four strings and no bass note push you toward different voicings. And it is the most reliable instrument in the house for handing to someone who has never played anything — which is why it comes up so often in ukulele versus guitar.

One practical note: replace the factory strings. On inexpensive ukuleles they are usually the weakest component, and a set of Aquila Super Nylgut ukulele strings#ad is the cheapest meaningful upgrade the instrument can receive.