Want to learn some cool riffs on your ukulele? In this lesson, ukulele teacher Willy M. shares how to read ukulele tabs and where to find ukulele tabs online for your favorite songs…
How to Read Ukulele Tabs for Beginners
The wonderful thing about ukulele tab notation is that it’s quite easy to learn to read. Once you learn the basic notes and symbols and practice playing, you can get the hang of it pretty quickly. Follow these simple steps to be well on your way to playing uke tabs like a pro:
- Learn the basic notes
- Understand other symbols
- Practice playing to figure out rhythm and tempo
- Find ukulele tabs for different songs
Continue reading to learn how to master each of these steps!
Learn the Basic Notes
The first step for how to read ukulele tabs for beginners is understanding the 4 basic notes. Ukulele tab notation will look like four lines. Most of the tabs that you’ll find on the internet are for a ukulele tuned to G-C-E-A tuning. If the ukulele is tuned to another tuning, the tab will usually indicate this, as you’ll see that the pitch that each string is tuned to sits directly to the left of the tab.
The four lines of the tab represent the four strings, as mentioned. They’re represented from the G string, being the bottom line of the tab, to the A string, being the top line of the tab.
Here’s the rundown from bottom to top:
- The bottom line or string is G.
- The second line or string from the bottom is C.
- The third line or string of the tab is E.
- The top line or highest string is A.
When you see a number written on the tab, it refers to the fret that you are supposed to hold down when you pluck a note. Sometimes, you will see examples that are typed out like this:
In this example, you would play the open C and E string, followed by playing the fifth. Then, you’d play the third, then open C string. You would then play the third, then the second fret of the G string, followed by the open G and C strings. The rest of the example is pretty self-explanatory.
Understand Other Symbols
As you’re learning how to read ukulele tabs, you might find that there are other symbols. These represent hammer-ons, pull-offs, string bends, slides, and the like. While these are more common to guitar tablature, you may also find them on the uke.
It’s usually pretty easy to figure out what these symbols mean. A bend looks like a curved arrow pointing up, a hammer-on has a little “h” in the symbol, whereas a pull-off has a little “p” in the symbol! Slides are lines from one fret to another, and vibrato is typically a zigzag line after a note.
Learn more about these other symbols (tabs) here!
Practice Playing to Figure Out Rhythm and Tempo
Once you learn the basics of how to read ukulele tabs and other symbols, it’s pretty easy to get the hang of it. Now you’re ready to start playing so you can practice what you’ve learned and start figuring out rhythm and tempo!
Sometimes, you’ll find a tab written along with the sheet music that gives you a good idea of how to play the rhythm. Sometimes, you might find a tab written with the rhythmic steps of the traditional sheet music notes written above the tab, without the accompanying sheet music. Either way, they are simple ways of helping you understand the rhythm of what you are looking at.
Find Ukulele Tabs for Different Songs
Now, you’re probably ready to start practicing what you’ve learned about how to read ukulele tabs! That’s why I’ve done the research for you and found 8 sites where you can find ukulele tabs.
- Ukuleletricks.com: perfect for beginners with few tabs, but lots of chord charts and videos
- UkuTabs.com: lots of popular ukulele songs and a neat feature that lets you transpose the song into a key you want to play in
- Gotaukulele.com: various tabs and chord charts for older songs from the 20s to the 80s
- Ukulele-tabs.com: another chord-heavy site, but the chord charts are partially tabs as well because they give you the strums written out between the chords (diagrams with little “x’s” for the strums)
- Ukulelehunt.com: one of my favorites where you can find awesome chord charts
- LiveUkulele.com: provides most tab and chord charts in one printable sheet.
- Tabs4ukulele.com: a chord-heavy site that has a lot of hit songs
- Ultimate-guitar.com: lots of ukulele tabs for just about any song you can imagine
I hope this guide for how to read ukulele music tabs for beginners and where to find them has been helpful. For more help, I always recommend working with a professional uke teacher. Have fun!
Willy M. teaches guitar, ukulele, and mandolin lessons in Winston, NC. He is the author of the Dead Man’s Tuning series of mandolin songbooks and is a former member of the American Federation of Musicians. Willy has been teaching for 20 years, and his students have ranged in age, from young children to folks in their 80s. Learn more about Willy.
Photo by Michael
Megan L.