Ukulele cheatsheet

Hold the body in the crook of your right arm, and hold the neck with you left hand. Strum the uke with your thumb; most of the motion of the strumming should be in your wrist. Strum the strings where the body of the uke meets the neck.

A ukulele has four strings. The strings are sometimes refered to by number. While holding the instrument, string 1 is down and string 4 is up. Most ukuleles today are strung G-C-E-A. The bottom string (string 1) is A; the top string (string 4) is G.

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G C E A
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Tuning

Note: loosen the string you are about to tune so that it goes lower than the pitch you're aiming for, then slowly increase the tension to get back to the correct note. Failing to do this can leave excess slack in the string, letting it drop out of tune later.

1. Get one of the strings in tune with an external reference (piano, pitch pipte, et cetera). Start with the C string, for example.
2. Once the C string is in tune, hold down the 4th fret on the C string, and match the E string to it.
3. Depress the 3rd fret on the E string. Match the G string to it.
4. Hold down the 2nd fret of the G string. Match the A string to it.

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