Hmm... did I accidentally get a left-handed uke?

Hiya, brand new player here.

I bought a Kala KA-15S Mahogany Soprano Ukulele on Amazon and went to the website to get started.

It appears that if you're facing the Ukulele, the strings are meant to go, from left to right, G-C-E-A. However, my tuner shows that mine go A#-C-D#-G.

I can definitely hear the higher pitch of the string that's supposed to be where the G is.

What do you think? Are my strings backwards, and should I tune them as such? Or should I try to tune the strings into the G-C-E-A pitch anyway?

Agent said:

Hiya, brand new player here.

I bought a Kala KA-15S Mahogany Soprano Ukulele on Amazon and went to the website to get started.

It appears that if you're facing the Ukulele, the strings are meant to go, from left to right, G-C-E-A. However, my tuner shows that mine go A#-C-D#-G.

I can definitely hear the higher pitch of the string that's supposed to be where the G is.

What do you think? Are my strings backwards, and should I tune them as such? Or should I try to tune the strings into the G-C-E-A pitch anyway?

Click to expand...

I would doubt that it came strung wrong. I guess it is possible. I think that I understand what you are explaining about the strings, but just so we are on the same page, If you hold your ukulele like you are going to play it, instead of standing up somewhere and looking at it, the top string is a G, the next down is a C, then the E, and on the bottom is the A. In ukulele speak, the bottom is string one, the top is string four, which is weird to me, but that is the way it is. Your tuner does not know what string you are playing, it only knows what the pitch of the string you are playing is, so I don't know how your tuner is telling you anything other than that. Keep in mind as well, the tuner doesn't know what octave that note is in either. My advise, tune it.

Another thing that I just thought of that might help out a lot is that there is more than one way to tune a uke. If you play the second fret of the top string, the pitch should be the same as the bottom string played open. Both are A. If you play the string second from the bottom on the third fret, it should be the same as the top string played open. They would both be G. If you play the third string up from the bottom on the fourth fret, it should be the same as the second string up played open. Both of those would be E. I'm pretty sure that is all correct anyway. I use that method to tune up a uke in the store if it is out of tune. I don't always get the right pitch, but at least they are all working together. You might use that technique to just double check that everything is in the same octave. I hope that helps.

Thanks Rllink. What I meant was that those were the notes that the tuner showed when I tried the strings at first before tuning it, but I did find that I was able to tune it correctly (and the notes matched how you said they were meant to, yay!)

I have another question now

Can you or anyone please explain to me what pictures like these ones are supposed to mean?
http://ukuguides.com/guides/basic-ukulele-chords-for-beginning-players/

Like this one:
http://ukuguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/A.png
I guess the longitudinal lines of the grid represent the strings (with left-to-right meaning top-to-bottom) and the lateral the frets, but what do the un-shaded dots and the shaded dots represent, and which chords are you supposed to string?

Also why are there only 3 lateral lines in the pic even though there are 12 frets on the instrument? The Kala guide looks similar and also doesn't explain that.

Thanks for the link. Weirdly even though my Snark tuner shows the pitch being correct, my strings (played open) really don't sound like the Ukulele strings on the website. They also sound different from intro the video at kalabrand.com/start. They sound similar to the Sine Wave tune though.

Yep, those are just where you put your fingers to make a chord. And interestingly enough, they are pictured as if your uke is standing up against the wall, just like you explained it in your first post. So here is a site that has a gazillion chords in it and it has little pictures showing the finger placement when you are playing them. http://www.ukulele-chords.com/# Go to the top where it says "browse chords" and find what you are looking for. Just remember that this site has some very complex chords, and alternate fingering for the chords, so it can confuse you. Just look at the different fingerings and pick the one that matches what you are looking for, then go to the picture and look at it. It is pretty simple actually, and I'll bet it won't take you long to learn to read them. But that is a good place to start. Give it a few months, and you will be able to look at a chart and play the chord on the run.

Agent said:

Thanks for the link. Weirdly even though my Snark tuner shows the pitch being correct, my strings (played open) really don't sound like the Ukulele strings on the website. They also sound different from intro the video at kalabrand.com/start. They sound similar to the Sine Wave tune though.

Click to expand...

Maybe one or more of you strings are not in the right octave. That happens a lot to people tuning their ukes for the first time. Your tuner doesn't know what octave you are in. It just recognizes the note. Not all Gs are the same, there are several of them up and down the scale. If you have a site where you are getting the pitches, match 'em up. Then fine tune it with the tuner.

Agent said:

Like this one:
http://ukuguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/A.png
I guess the longitudinal lines of the grid represent the strings (with left-to-right meaning top-to-bottom) and the lateral the frets, but what do the un-shaded dots and the shaded dots represent, and which chords are you supposed to string?

Also why are there only 3 lateral lines in the pic even though there are 12 frets on the instrument? The Kala guide looks similar and also doesn't explain that.

Click to expand...

The shaded dots are where you put your fingers, the little open circles mean you play the string "open" -- i.e. don't put any fingers on any frets.

There are only 3 or 4 frets shown (the top line represents the nut) since that's where most people do most of their playing, especially in the beginning. If you are meant to fret in a different position, the little graphic will usually note the first line in the grid as being the 3rd fret, or whatever it happens to be.

Hi Agent:

When I started, I used YouTube videos to help me. Here's one link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qh2JQwkhjk

There are lots more.

Cheers,

Leigh

when picking down the strings slowly...do you hear my dog has fleas tune?