Using Your Thumb to Fingerpick Your Ukulele

A tuning method in which each string is tuned two frets higher than the standard gCEA tuning, producing a higher pitch and closer tuning to a guitar.

A chord played with a finger pressed across more than one string.

The part of the ukulele attached to the front that holds the strings below the soundhole. The two main types of bridge are one where you tie the strings to the bridge, and one where you knot the end of the string and thread it through a slit.

A device that straps around the neck of a ukulele and holds down all the strings.

A muted strum.

Two or more notes played simultaneously.

A graphic that shows where to place your fingers in order to play a chord on a stringed instrument.

A group of six chords with each containing notes from the same scale.

n. A strip of metal placed vertically across the fretboard of a stringed instrument that marks different pitches of the notes. The higher up the fretboard, the higher the note is musically. v. to press down on the strings of a stringed instrument to play certain notes.

A dot on the fretboard of stringed instrument that makes it easier to locate frets. Typically, ukuleles have fret markers on the 5th, 7th, and 10th frets.

The strip of wood that runs along the neck of a stringed instrument just behind the strings.

A string you play while holding it down at a certain fret.

A mechanism for tuning stringed instruments in which you turn a peg that tightens or loosens the strings and keeps the strings in tune through friction.

The current most popular method of ukulele tuning, in which the fourth string is tuned to a high g note, and the subsequent strings are tuned to C, E, and A, respectively.

A guitar-type tuning mechanism in which the tuning pegs are geared. Geared tuners allow for more precise tuning than friction tuners.

A technique in playing stringed instruments in which you bring a finger down on a string sharply and swiftly to sound a note.

The place at the end of the fretboard of a stringed instrument that holds the tuning pegs. (It shows the logo of the instrument’s maker.)

A ukulele tuning method in which you replace the high, thin g-string with a low, fat G-string, then tune the other strings to C, E, and A.

A chord in which you fret every string.

The long piece that sticks out of the body of a stringed instrument.

The piece the strings sit on as they go from the fretboard to the headstock.

A chord with at least one string played open, or not fretted.

A string you play without fretting.

A device that detects sound and turns it into electrical impulses which can then be amplified.

A method of tuning in which the two outside strings produce the high notes, in contrast with typical low-to-high tuning.

The first chord in a chord family.

The thin, usually white piece that the strings rest on near the soundhole.

The length of the part of the string played.

The round hole on the front of a stringed instrument that lets the sound out.

A set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that represent musical notes.

A method of representing the melody lines of songs on staves.

A down, down-up, up-down strumming rhythm.

A method of representing musical notes for stringed instruments with lines and dots, indicating which string to play and which fret to use.

Musical notation that indicates the number of beats in a measure and the value of each note.

Picking the same note repeatedly at a rapid tempo to produce a fluctuation in volume. This method allows you to play very long notes that otherwise would stop sounding.

1. The part of a stringed instrument that holds the strings. 2. A device used to calibrate the strings of an instrument to the correct pitch.

A warble added to the end of a note accomplished by repeatedly picking a string very quickly, varying the pitch.