Baritone Ukulele Tuning

Baritone (D G B E) runs D3, G3, B3, E4, in playing order. The lowest-pitched string is D3 (146.83 Hz) and the highest is E4 (329.63 Hz), measured against A4 = 440 Hz. Those are the exact target frequencies the tuner on this page listens for.

4 of the 4 strings move: G4 down 17 semitone(s) to D3; C4 down 5 semitone(s) to G3; E4 down 5 semitone(s) to B3; A4 down 5 semitone(s) to E4. Work through them in order, then go back and re-check the first string — retuning shifts the neck tension slightly, so the earlier strings drift as you go.

Matches the top four strings of a guitar exactly, so guitarists can pick one up and play familiar shapes with the right names. Deeper and mellower than standard ukulele tuning, and non-reentrant.

D3 is 146.83 Hz at concert pitch (A4 = 440 Hz). That's the fundamental — the string also produces harmonics above it, which is why a tuner reading the wrong octave usually means it locked onto a harmonic rather than the fundamental. This is the lowest string in this ukulele tuning.

Tuned to the top four strings of a guitar, this shares neither the pitch nor the reentrancy of the smaller ukuleles. Guitarists can transfer their existing shapes and get the correct chord names, which is the main reason the instrument exists. The trade is that the entire body of standard ukulele repertoire and chord charts becomes wrong by a fourth — a chart shape that gives C on a soprano gives G here. Its deeper range and non-reentrant stringing put it closer to a small classical guitar than to the instrument it shares a name with.