How to Read Ukulele Tabs

How do you read ukulele tabs?

Read ukulele tab like a picture of the fretboard: four lines for the four strings, A on top and G at the bottom. Each number tells you which fret to press on that line’s string. Play the numbers from left to right.

1. Find the string: the line the number sits on (top A, then E, C, G).
2. Find the fret: the number. 0 is open; 2 is the 2nd fret.
3. Pluck that string with your thumb or index finger.
4. Move right to the next number. Numbers lined up in one column are a chord: strum them together.
5. Get the rhythm from the recording, or from the staff above the tab if there is one.

For example, in the first tab above, A|-0--- on the top line means “play the open A string”, and the next number down, on the E line, means “play the open E string”.

Which line is which string in ukulele tab?

From top to bottom the lines are A, E, C and G. The top line is the 1st string (A4), the string nearest the floor when you hold the ukulele; the bottom line is the 4th string (G4).

The G string is in the middle of the pitch range, not the bottom: in high-G tuning it is higher than the C string. That is why a strum of the open strings sounds bright, and why tab for low-G ukulele sometimes uses frets that will not work on a high-G ukulele.

What do the numbers mean in ukulele tab?

Each number is the fret to press on that string. 0 is the open string, 1 is the first fret (nearest the tuning pegs), and each fret raises the note by one semitone.

So 3 on the E line is G4, the same note as the open G string. 2 on the C line is D4. Fingers are not shown in tab; a common habit is one finger per fret: index for fret 1, middle for fret 2, ring for fret 3, little finger for fret 4.

How do you read chords in ukulele tab?

When numbers are stacked in the same column, play them at the same time. A C chord is 3 on the A line and 0 on the other three lines; a G7 chord is 2, 1, 2, 0 from the top line down.

Chord charts and tab show the same thing in two ways. A chord box is drawn upright (strings left to right G, C, E, A), while tab is drawn on its side (A on top). C is written 0003 in chord-chart order (G C E A) but 3-0-0-0 from the top tab line down.

• 0 0 0 3 (G C E A)
• 0 2 1 2 (G C E A)
• 2 0 0 0 (G C E A)
• 2 0 1 0 (G C E A)

What do h, p and / mean in ukulele tab?

h is a hammer-on, p is a pull-off and / (or s) is a slide up; \ is a slide down. Each one plays the second note without plucking again, so the notes join smoothly.

A|--------------|--------------|-2--/4--\2--0-|
E|--------0--h1-|-3--p1--p0----|--------------|
C|-0--h2--------|------------2-|--------------|
G|--------------|--------------|--------------|

A first tune to read: Ode to Joy

This is the first line of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy (1824, public domain), on the E and C strings only. Play it slowly; each note is a quarter note except the dotted note and the long note at the end.

A|------------|------------|------------|-----------|
E|-0--0--1--3-|-3--1--0----|----------0-|-0---------|
C|------------|----------2-|-0--0--2----|-----2-2---|
G|------------|------------|------------|-----------|

What to learn next

Once you can read tab, learn the first four chords (C, Am, F and G7) and a couple of strums. Classfern’s free tools on lessonplanner.info run in your browser: the ukulele tab and chords play-along turns hundreds of traditional tunes into tab you can play along with, and the ukulele strumming patterns player keeps time for you.