The following illustration shows the main parts of the ukulele, named just like the parts of its bigger cousin, the guitar. Any part might have more than one name.
Knowing the names of parts doesn't bear with any practical significance, but it's nice to know what part of your instrument you're talking about. It's much classier to say "tuning pegs" than "that twisty thingy up there".
Learning the importance of tuning before strumming your ukulele is much more important. This step is an absolute must, especially if you are a beginner, and even if you find it difficult or boring. Let's get your uke in tune! This post is going to address standard tuning only. My goal is to help brand new players just sitting down with their new toy. (Patience, my musically advanced readers, as this post will not cover basic music theory either.)
Holding the ukulele as you'd hold a guitar, the strings will be tuned to the following notes in a top to bottom order: g-C-E-A. Just to keep things interesting, the high g is commonly noted as the 4the string, followed by C as 3rd, E as 2nd, and A as 1st strings. The lowercase g indicates that this note is higher than the G you'd expect in a guitar style tuning. Hopefully, I don't have to explain how to hold a guitar. You've all seen a guitar player, no? The gCEA order is true if you hold the neck of the ukulele in your left hand, which is typical for right handed players. If you hold the neck in your right hand, as typical for lefties, the order of the strings will be reversed. You can play the ukulele this way too, but it will be a little different. More about this later. So, back to standard tuning: assuming you don't have a badly out of tune instrument, plucking the strings in order will produce a high g, followed by the lower C and E, and finally the A.
On a properly tuned uke the pitch of the high g will be somewhere between the E and the A. Those familiar with guitars will remember that on guitars the order of the strings goes from lowest to highest pitch. Having a high pitch g as the first string you pluck, followed by lower pitched ones, is one of the ukulele's specialty. Among other things, this gives ukes their unique sound. (As a side note: a common alternative to standard tuning is to replace the high g with a low G string, making the fourth string lower in pitch than the C of the third string.)
In summary, the standard tuning of a ukulele is as follows: gCEA. How to tune your uke's strings to these sounds, you ask. There are two types of tuning to choose from: absolute or relative. I'm a firm believer in absolute tuning, which is the tuning of each individual string to the pitch it is named after. You'll tune the g string to a g pitch, the C string to a C, and so on. When done, the name of each string will correspond to the pitch it will play. With relative tuning the player picks one string, and tunes the rest of them to it. In this case, for example, the g string will probably be off, but the tune or chord played will still sound good, because the pitch of the other strings is tuned to g string, so the instrument is basically in tune to itself. Relative tuning is useful when no other tuning methods are at hand, but makes jamming with other players impossible. Enough about relative tuning though, instead let's talk about the much simpler and more precise absolute tuning.
For absolute tuning you'll need a tool that will indicate or check which direction you'll need to modify the tension of the strings. When you tune your strings you tune up by tightening the string, and you tune down by loosening the string, until you get to the proper note.
I've found many tuning programs on the internet, some made specifically for ukuleles. I've used this one in the past:
Online Ukulele Tuner
By pressing play below any of the four strings, you can listen to the given sound over and over. In the meantime, you're turning the tuning peg of the given string slowly and carefully on your uke, plucking it after each adjustment. When you hear the same sound out of your ukulele and the speakers, you're done. Training your ears so that you can tell when the two sounds (uke string and computer) are at the same pitch takes some practice. Keep at it, be patient, and you'll get the hang of it. Don't skip tuning, because playing a well tuned ukulele will make your play sound so much better.
Spending $15-20 on a chromatic tuner can make the job of tuning even easier. Chromatic tuners have tiny microphones that listen to the pitch, showing the name of the note you're playing on a display screen. Now you can read if your string's pitch is too high, too low, or just right. I think of tuning this way as visual tuning, since you don't have to use your ears at all. Clip on chromatic tuners, like the one shown on the picture, come in very handy when tuning in a noisy place, perhaps among other players.
...here the g string is still a little low...watch the position of the lower left tuning peg...on the right the g string is in tune
I'd like to mention that the standard gCEA tuning is used for soprano, concert, and tenor size ukes. Depending on string set, baritones are usually tuned to DGHE, but I'll explain this in detail in a later post.
Once again: do not skimp on tuning! Tuning is the base for great sounding ukulele play. In the beginning this could take you up to 5 minutes, but with practice you can get it done in 15-20 seconds.
