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How to Read Tab & Play Melodies on Your Ukulele
Most ukulele melodies are written out in a sort of roadmap shorthand that shows you which strings to pluck with your right hand and which frets to stop with your left hand. The name of this shorthand notation is ‘ukulele tablature’, or ‘tab’ for short.
How to Read Tablature
Lines of the Tab Staff
Each line of the tab staff represents a string on the ukulele. Unfortunately, they’re upside down from how they are arranged on the ukulele:
- The top line of the tab staff is the A-string (the string closest to the floor when you’re playing).
- The line below that is the E-string.
- The line below that is the C-string.
- The bottom line of the tab is the G-string, which is the string closest to the ceiling when you are playing.
Numbers on the Tab Staff
The numbers on the lines tell you which fret to play.A 0 means to pluck a string with your right hand without using your left hand at all. A 1 means to put one of your left hand fingers in the first fret and push down on the string. This is called “fretting” or “stopping” the string. A 2 means to stop the string in the second fret.
Are You Sleeping?
Our first video lesson is on Are You Sleeping? because it’s really easy and you probably already know the tune.
Look at which string line the number is on.Then use your left hand to stop that string in the fret that matches the number shown. Remember that 0 means an open string.
- For the first note, don’t do anything with your left hand and pluck the C-string with your right hand.
- For the second note you would stop the C string in the second fret.
- For the third note you would pluck the open E-string.
Continue through the song using your ear to help you learn to read tab!
Continue through the song using your ear to help you learn to read tab!
This Land is Your Land
Our next lesson notches up the difficulty just a little bit, as you will have to move your left hand to reach one of the notes. Jenny explains how to use the dots on the side of the fretboard to gauge how far to more.
Five Foot Two
Our next lesson notches up the difficulty just a little bit, as you will have to move your left hand to reach one of the notes. Jenny explains how to use the dots on the side of the fretboard to gauge how far to more.
Amazing Grace
Now it’s time to play a melody with your left hand a little higher up on the fretboard. This song also requires you to move your song as you’re playing. Enjoy the challenge!
Greensleeves
Sometimes it’s easier to keep track of where you are in the song if you have a printed copy to look at. Check out Easy Ukulele Songs: Five with Five Chords for the full tablature to Five Foot Two and Greensleeves. You’ll also learn 6 new chords and three additional songs (Camptown Races, Danny Boy, and Lonely Blues).
Auld Lang Syne
Play Melodies on your Ukulele
Now that you know how to read melody tabs, you might like to practice playing some other songs. Click on the link text below to download pdfs of some tab melodies to play.