Sep 01
How to string a ukulele?
There’s no getting around it, the way a ukulele is strung is absolutely ridiculous. But that’s what makes it such incredible instrument.
Almost all stringed instruments go from lowest string (thickest) to highest string (thinnest). Not the ukulele. The ukulele strings sizes go like this from nearest your head to nearest the ground:
G string: Second thinnest.
C string: Fattest.
E string: Second Fattest.
A string: Thinnest.
Anyone who has experience with string instruments will find this baffling. I certainly did. When I first bought a cheap ukulele and, being a guitarist, was completely ignorant, I changed the order of the strings. Now I’m much wiser and know that this is the only way to have your strings.
The best quality ukulele strings around are Aquila and Worth.
September 9th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
It’s not really the ONLY way to string a uke. I play with a low G string on my tenors, and a high G on my sopranos. I guess folks alreay know this, but I couldn’t resist leaving a comment. I’m just a natural-born comment-leaver. As opposed to George Harrison in Yellow Submarine, who was a born lever-puller.
September 10th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Thanks, Bartt. I didn’t want to muddy the issue too much. The world of ukulele tuining and stringing can be very confusing.
October 1st, 2008 at 9:55 am
[...] If you want know what order the strings should be in, I wrote about it here: how to string a ukulele. [...]
October 28th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
ringo was the lever-puller!
January 5th, 2010 at 10:42 am
ohmygodyouhavenoideahowhandythiswas.
THANK YOU.
i just got a guitar-styled-strung soprano and had never played a stringer instrument and assumed that was the proper way, and i just was either 1) tuning it wrong or 2) couldn’t play right. THANK YOU.
November 1st, 2010 at 4:29 pm
i have always tuned to a c major(and i arrange the strings fattest to thinnest like a guitar) if you want an example find my video on youtube evan sims (my tuning is c g e c) it helps me pick faster when i play bluegrass
May 30th, 2011 at 5:13 pm
Thank you so much for this! I made the same mistake with reorganizing the strings and then I found myself not only embarrased that I didn`t research more about it, but also in the major pickle of putting the strings back the way they were! So now I can be grateful not only for the fact that I have a ukulele story even before I began playing, but also for being able to continue to make ukulele history! Yay!
December 3rd, 2011 at 11:51 pm
Thanks for this! Like Kiki, I thought I was tuning or playing incorrectly. Now the world makes sense!