Best tuner for ukes?

dcw uke

Active member
Joined
Jul 3, 2020
Messages
42
Reaction score
2
Location
Mankato, MN
I'm a beginner with no previous experience with any musical instrument. Really loving my uke as a Father's Day gift (Kala KA-SMHCE-E).
I've started a YouTube channel to document my progress and share tidbits I'm learning. Made the mistake of purchasing a cheap, no name tuner on Amazon, then spent $2 more for a Snark. What a difference. My uke has a built in tuner, but still prefer the Snark. Any other recommendations on tuning for a beginner?
 
If you search the forum, this question comes up regularly! 'Best Tuner' is subjective; the tuner one player loves may be disliked by many others. If your Snark works for you, then stick with it for a while. And learn 'relative tuning', where you tune ONE string from a tuner or tuning fork, (Usually 'A') and then tune the other strings by ear from that string. Again, many threads about this and if in doubt, Internet search is your friend!
Don't get too hung up on 'exact tuning'; so long as your instrument sounds okay to YOU and you can play/sing along with it, then unless you plan to play with a group of players, that is plenty good enough! In a group/club situation you will need your Snark, as one instrument out of whack with the rest will stand out like a sore thumb! Just enjoy your instrument, get familiar with it, and play away.
 
Snarks always struck me as too big (for my taste). I prefer Planet Waves NS Micro Tuners or, better yet, their sound hole tuners. That’s what I always ask for when relatives want to get me something ukulele-themed.
 
The Snark is hard to beat. It has a good price, it's large enough to see easily, and it's fast. There are some tuners that are very small and some that supposedly give you more information, but you can't go wrong with a Snark. I have a bunch of them lying around, as well as other brands, so one is always handy.
 
The Snark is a fine choice. Can't go wrong with that.
 
I agree, Snark has decent tuners for the price. D'addario Micro and soundhole tuners are nice too but the Micro tends to rattle and, in my case, break completely.

The most accurate tuner I've tried is a Peterson Strobe Tuner but they're closer to $50 than the 10-15 dollars the Snarks cost.
 
I use a Peterson Strobe Clip. Not cheap, at $70, but very accurate, and the thing is 10 years old!
 
If you search the forum, this question comes up regularly! 'Best Tuner' is subjective; the tuner one player loves may be disliked by many others. If your Snark works for you, then stick with it for a while. And learn 'relative tuning', where you tune ONE string from a tuner or tuning fork, (Usually 'A') and then tune the other strings by ear from that string. Again, many threads about this and if in doubt, Internet search is your friend!
Don't get too hung up on 'exact tuning'; so long as your instrument sounds okay to YOU and you can play/sing along with it, then unless you plan to play with a group of players, that is plenty good enough! In a group/club situation you will need your Snark, as one instrument out of whack with the rest will stand out like a sore thumb! Just enjoy your instrument, get familiar with it, and play away.


I agree with tuning by ear — tune the Uke to itself. Tune the C string, then tune the E string so that it vibrates sympathetically when you pluck an E on the C string. And proceed onward to the rest. With time, your ear will get you pretty close. But using sympathetic vibrations will ensure your Uke is tuned to itself. The only issue of EXACT tuning will arise if y’all are playing in a group.
 
I tuned by ear only for decades but as I play in noisy environments or with other people I also appreciate the advantage of electronic tuner. I have used a Snark now for maybe 5 or 6 years and it does the job well even outside in bright sunlight.
 
Peterson Stroboclip HD is more durable and more accurate than Snark. You get what you pay for.
 
Snarks always struck me as too big (for my taste). I prefer Planet Waves NS Micro Tuners or, better yet, their sound hole tuners. That’s what I always ask for when relatives want to get me something ukulele-themed.

OF love Snarks due to the giganormous size (the failing eyesight thang). They do look out of place on a soprano... But, yeah, the NS sound hole is one of my favs if it fits. Unfortunately it it vibrates in some instruments or hits against a brace.

I like my TC Electronics tuner a lot. Accuracy is great so I don't have to touch up by ear as much I do with other tuners.
 
Snarks are pretty good tuners. But they have a lot of slack in them.

• You want to tune from low to the tone. Tightening the strings gives a more accurate tuning be cause the strings are stretching to the note.
• Many times my Snark says the string is in tune when I first pluck it. Then I tighten the string a little and suddenly the tuner says it's way out.
• I can move the tuner button as much as a quarter turn and the SNARK says it's in tune the whole time. I move the button in small increments and can hear the note change as I play the string each time, Yet the Snark says it's in tune for all of them.
• Get close to the point where the tuner says it's in tune and for the final adjustments, let the meter completely decay to nothing before you play the note again. If you tune on the fly, you'll get a false reading.
• Try to play the string as you normally do. Since the tuner is reading the vibrations in the neck/headstock the strength of the pluck will change how the tuner reads the vibrations.
• When I'm at my uke club, the noise from the ukes near me will affect the readings of my tuner. Their tuning will cause my strings and soundboard to vibrate and color my tunings.

All electronic tuners have pluses and minuses.

Peterson tuners are very accurate. But I find them to be slower to use. The desk version is great to use when you plug in your electric uke.
 
A lot of great advice, thanks! I appreciate hearing feedback from experienced players.
 
Also keep in mind that ukes often have friction tuners or cheap geared tuners and that synthetic strings contract and expand as they are tuned. So this means that an overly accurate tuner will drive the player nuts because it is simply not possible to tune to extreme high level of accuracy. Best tuner is the one that is "good enough" for the task!
 
I agree, Snark has decent tuners for the price. D'addario Micro and soundhole tuners are nice too but the Micro tends to rattle and, in my case, break completely. ...

The redesigned the Micros. They don't rattle anymore, but the power button is stiff now. I kind of have to pinch it from both sides to turn on and off. I guess that's better than the resonant rattling.
 
Any other recommendations on tuning for a beginner?]

Okay. If the question is for a beginner, literally almost any tuner will work.

If you're looking for THE MOST ACCURATE you're going to need to look at the tuners by TC Electronics or Peterson (both clip-on tuners). Both have a ridiculous sensitivity to pitch.

A few years ago, I watched a video by Cool Cat Ukes (Simon Taylor) who compared tuners using a pitch generator. I replicated his study, and came to the same conclusions...of the tuners I had in the house, the D'Addario were the most sensitive. My ears can't hear that small of a difference. I do not have the Peterson or TC Electronics tuners, and my YouTube channel is going to have to start paying a whole lot more if I am going to buy one (I'd rather buy ukuleles to review).

Some tuning tricks:

1) Get used to tuning "grossly" at first. In other words, get close by ear, and then fine tune after that.
2) String teachers will tell you to always tune up, partially because the strings are going to loosen regardless of what you do. So why facilitate the loosening by tuning down. If you're above the pitch, go under and tune up.
3) And there are going to be times to ignore #2, such as when you are tuning 30 ukuleles for students. Time is time.
4) If you ever hear someone is out of tune, there is a nice way to suggest that they tune, "Would you like to use my tuner?" This is similar to, "Would you like to have some gum?" (bad breath is just as bad as an out of tune ukulele).
5) Always check to make sure you're turning the peg for the right string. We've all done it. Some have broken strings accidentally.
6) When a ukulele is new, or strings are new, you're going to have to tune them for a while. Most modern tuners don't "slip" (although there are still friction tuners that do and need to be tightened).
7) when you change strings, just make sure every screw is tightened, too, as part of the process.

How are those for tips?
 
I'm a beginner with no previous experience with any musical instrument. Really loving my uke as a Father's Day gift (Kala KA-SMHCE-E).
I've started a YouTube channel to document my progress and share tidbits I'm learning. Made the mistake of purchasing a cheap, no name tuner on Amazon, then spent $2 more for a Snark. What a difference. My uke has a built in tuner, but still prefer the Snark. Any other recommendations on tuning for a beginner?

I’ve had a Snark (it came with a second hand instrument) and didn’t like it, it got sold. To me that Snark seemed excessively accurate, cumbersome and overly large. I’ve used Eno tuners for years and found them to be just perfect for my needs, they can be very reasonably priced too if you get them direct from China.

Set-up on a Uke is everything. You can be as accurately tuned as it is possible to be on an open string but notes down the neck will be way out if the strings are poor or the nut and saddle not set up well. Likewise if you fret poorly you’ll pull a string out of tune. Snarks and other fancy tuners, well maybe they’re right for some people but I don’t think much of them and instead I’m looking towards the much broader picture. YMMV.

Interestingly this thread prompts me not to rely on pitch display devices but to consider using my ears more and differently. Within my lifetime electronic tuners have emerged at ‘the’ way to tune however before then people used other ways like tuning to a Piano or Tuning Fork. Whilst I wouldn’t recommend using it all the time I think that there is some value in being able to tune a Uke using a tuning fork and relative pitch tuning - something to investigate and a skill that I plan to (attempt to) acquire.
 
Last edited:
Snarks are fine, a bit on the big side, but the main problem is that sometimes the ball joint breaks. There is a long thread on this. I read it, got one anyway, and it broke after a few months of light use (sitting on shelf in den between uses). It was replaced by snark, but I've since moved on to a cheap, smaller, more durable alternative.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom