If you’re like me you’ve played guitar for a while and it is your primary instrument. But you also dabble in the ukulele. Keeping the two instruments separate is a bit of a challenge – just a bit. Not a major challenge because many of the basic techniques are the same.
Grace Can’t Eat Apples
But the big difference is that the strings are all tuned differently. So the chords are all fingered differently. Yes, there are four strings, similar to the top 4 strings of the guitar. But the standard Guitar tuning of those 4 strings is D-G-B-E, and for the Ukulele it is G-C-E-A.
Here’s an acronym for the ukulele strings that might help you remember the string names” Grace Can’t Eat Apples.
The Uke is Tuned the Same but Different
I was thinking about this the other night and I realized that there is a very consistent relationship between the notes and chords on the two instruments. The strings on the Ukulele are all tuned exactly 4 notes above those on the guitar.
Guitar: “D” Ukulele: DEF “G”
Guitar: “G” Ukulele: GAB “C”
Guitar: “B” Ukulele: BCD “E”
Guitar: “E” Ukulele: EFG “A”
Same for the chords…
Guitar: “G Chord” Ukulele: GAB “C Chord”
Guitar: “D Chord” Ukulele: DEF “G Chord”
Guitar: “C Chord” Ukulele: CDE “F Chord”
etc.
How does this help you when you’re playing. Well, say you’re playing in the Key of “D” and you need D, G, A, and Bm chords. Assuming you know your guitar chords, you just have to back these off 4 notes.
“D” on the Uke is fingered like “A” on the guitar (ABC D)
“G” on the Uke is fingered like “D” on the guitar (DEF G)
“A” on the Uke is fingered like “E” on the guitar (EFG A)
“Bm” on the Uke is fingered like “F#m” on the guitar (F#GA B)
A Bit of Theory Never Hurt
Obviously this is not perfect. In order to know that last one is F#m rather than Fm requires that you know a bit of music theory. (Here’s a bit of Basic Music Theory for Guitar)
But music theory gets a bad rap because some teachers fixate on it. Just the essentials is very helpful, and you should not ignore it. Basic things like:
– the Names of the Strings
– Essential Major and Pentatonic Scales
– Basic Chord Theory
– Note positions on the Fretboard
…just to name a few.
What this all demonstrates is how similar the the guitar and ukulele are, and why learning to play the ukulele adds to your overall music knowledge and understanding.