Learning fretboard notes on a ukulele might seem like a daunting task, after all there are 76 notes (4 strings and 19 notes on each) you can play on the uke. In reality, many of the notes on the fretboard repeat across the neck, meaning you can play exactly the same note in several different places. We will see how it works later.
For now, I want you to know that if you divide and conquer and take it in bit by bit the ukulele fretboard won’t seem so complicated. Let me show you how to learn ukulele fretboard and memorize the notes on the fretboard step by step!
If it is of any comfort to you, unlike a guitar ukulele only has 4 strings 🙂
Notes on the ukulele fretboard
Let take a close look at the notes on a ukulele fretboard!
The chart above shows only natural notes (no sharps and flats) laid out on the ukulele fretboard. These are the notes you should learn first!
As you can also see the chart only goes to the 12th fret. It is commonly marked with 2 dots right on the fretboard, and sometimes also on the side of the neck.
The pattern actually repeats after that, so that is the first thing that makes learning the notes on the uke easier! Learn the notes up to the 12th fret, and you will be pretty much set for the rest of them!
By omitting notes with sharps and flats and by focusing only on the main part of the fretboard we now get only 32 notes to learn. It might sound like trying to memorize 32 random words in a foreign language, but believe me it is not that complicated. Let’s divide and conquer even further.
Memorize open string notes (names of the strings)
It is logical to start learning the ukulele fretboard with memorizing the notes on the open strings, in other words, names of the strings. It will come handy when you try to tune your uke!
It doesn’t really matter in which direction you choose to remember them, from bottom up:
A – E – C – G
or from top to bottom:
G – C – E – A
You can simply remember the names of the strings, or use mnemonics like:
- Apps Every Child Gets
- Good Child Eats Apples
You might want to come up with your own mnemonic to make it more memorable.
Remember how the pattern of notes will repeat starting from fret 12? You probably already figured out that notes on 12th fret must also be A – E – C – G
We just learned 8 more notes! And we are down to 24!
Notes on the 3rd string (learning C major scale)
Let me quickly quiz you before we move on. Which one of the strings on your uke is called C?
If you answered “3”, you are correct! BTW, strings on ukulele (and guitar) are typically counted from bottom up.
Now we will learn to play a C major scale (and learn all natural notes) on the 3rd string. Don’t worry, we will get to the other 3 strings quickly enough.
What is C major scale
Just to review a bit of music theory, C major scale contains no sharps of flats (in other words, it contains only natural notes). It goes like this:
C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C
Actually, the notes in C major scale are not spaced out equally. It looks more like this:
C – D – E-F – G – A – B-C
Whereas there is a full step between most notes, there is only half step between E and F and between B and C.
You don’t need to concern yourself with why it is like that, and just remember, that is is this particular combination of whole and half steps that makes this scale major.
C major scale on the 3rd string
Now let’s see what C major scale looks like on the ukulele fretboard:
On ukulele fretboard (it is true for guitar fretboards too) each fret represents a half-step. That is why you can see how one fret is skipped over between most of the notes. Exception is E/F and B/C that only have half (a single fret) a step between them.
Learn this pattern, and practice playing it on your uke again and again. If it helps, you can say to yourself:
whole – whole – half – whole – whole – whole – whole – half
Remember that first C is just an open string, and D is on the 2nd fret.
Use fretboard markers as a visual reference
Note how some notes fall on the frets with markers. For example, F and G. Also note how A is to the left of a marker, and B is to the right of the same marker. Visual aids like that should help you find those notes later on.
The C major scale starts with C played as an open string and it ends with C played on the 12th fret (watch for that double dot marker!). The second C is one octave higher.
You can continue the same pattern beyond 12th fret, but that is not necessary for the time being. I’d suggest you learn those 7 notes on the 3rd string stone cold first.
Practice playing on the 3rd string
You can either practice playing the C major scale and speaking out the names of the notes as you play them, or you can think of a note (say G, and then play it). Make sure to double check that you got it right!
It is a good idea to play it backwards too (starting from the 12th fret).
Once you are fairly comfortable with the scale, you can also try and improvise melodies or try and play some tunes by ear using just those notes on the 3rd string.
Don’t rush to move to learn notes on the rest of the fretboard just yet. Get really really comfortable with playing across the neck on just one string first. It might take 3-4 days. Don’t rush, you will be able all around the fretboard rather soon!
Notes with Sharps and Flats
If you haven’t figured it out, all the notes that you skip over are the ones that have flats and sharps. A “flat” (marked as b) means it is lower than the given note, and a “sharp” (marked as #) means it is higher. So Gb (G flat) is one fret to the left of G, and G# is one fret to the right of G… Can you guess where C# is?
6 more notes down! 18 to go!
Natural notes on the 1st string
You can play C major scale on other strings too. Here is what it looks like on the 1st (A) string:
C major on the 1st strings start at the 3rd fret, but the pattern of the whole and half steps stays the same (it always does!).
Again, practice playing up and down one string, and run the drills you are familiar with to memorize all these notes on the 1st string. Remember to relate the notes to the fretboard markers!
6 more notes down! Only 12 to go!
Natural notes on the 2st string
It gets a bit repetitive from this point on. Here is what C major scale looks like on the 2nd string of your uke:
It might seem boring to repeat the same process again and again on each string, but please bear with me. Here is where it gets a bit more interesting…
By now you should know all the natural notes on the first 3 strings. That means you can start playing C major scale on more than 1 string! Here is what it looks like on the fretboard chart:
Pretty cool, isn’t it?
6 more notes down! Only 6 to go!
Natural notes on the 4st string
Finally, the notes on the 4th string:
You know the drill. Spend some time becoming familiar with how notes are positioned on the fretboard. Use those markers as a reference!
By now you should know all the notes on the ukulele fretboard! See it was pretty easy, wasn’t it?
Next steps to mastering the ukulele fretboard
Keep recalling the names of the notes on every string consistently. Do it every day in the beginning, and then perhaps every other day, or once a week later on.
Keep practicing playing C major scale on all 4 strings all across the neck. Play it on a single string, as well as discover more and more finger patterns to play it across the strings. It should be easy enough to do since you know the notes of the major scale and now you know where to find them on the ukulele fretboard!
Also try naming notes every time you learn a new chord.
Another way to strengthen your fretboard knowledge is to download and print blank ukulele fretboard charts.
