Standard Tuning for Ukulele

Standard (Reentrant) runs G4, C4, E4, A4, in playing order. The lowest-pitched string is C4 (261.63 Hz) and the highest is A4 (440.00 Hz), measured against A4 = 440 Hz. Those are the exact target frequencies the tuner on this page listens for.

Nothing to change — this is the reference tuning for Ukulele. If your instrument is already in tune, you're there.

Reentrant tuning: the fourth string is pitched above the third rather than below, so the strings do not run low to high. That is what produces the instrument’s bright, compact jangle, and why strummed chords sound closer to a cluster than a spread.

C4 is 261.63 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.

The defining feature is reentrancy: the fourth string is pitched above the third rather than below, so the strings do not ascend in order. A strummed chord therefore sounds as a tight cluster within a single octave rather than spreading across two, which is exactly the bright, compact jangle the instrument is known for. It also means the lowest sounding note in a chord is frequently not the one your thumb strikes first, so voicings behave differently from any guitar intuition. Melodies played on the reentrant fourth string sit above their neighbours, enabling the campanella style where a scale is spread across strings so notes ring into one another.