Low-G vs High-G

Tune a ukulele G–C–E–A and you still have not finished describing it. The letters leave out the one fact that shapes everything the instrument does: which octave the fourth string lives in. High-G — reentrant — tuning puts that G above the two strings next to it, so the strings do not climb evenly from low to high; they dip down to the C and climb back up. Low-G — linear — tuning drops the same string an octave, so the four strings ascend in order the way a guitar’s do.

One string, one octave, and you get two noticeably different instruments. This guide explains what reentrant tuning actually is, what each G gives you and takes away, what it means when you go shopping for a string set, and how to decide which uke you want to be holding.

What “reentrant” actually means

On a linear instrument, string order and pitch order agree: each string you cross is higher than the last. A reentrant tuning breaks that promise on purpose. In high-G the open ukulele sounds G4–C4–E4–A4 — the fourth string is tuned a perfect fifth above the third string instead of a fourth below it. Sing the open strings in order and your voice jumps down, then walks back up: the old “my dog has fleas” jingle is a reentrant tuning demonstration you already know.

The consequence is a very compact instrument. From the lowest open string (the C) to the highest (the A) is only a major sixth, so every note of a strummed chord lands close together. That closeness is the classic ukulele shimmer: no low root booming underneath, four voices crowded into the same register, ringing as one bright chord. It is also why grips stay easy — the voicings on our soprano chord pages so often sit inside three or four frets precisely because the reentrant G keeps everything within reach.

And it hides a melodic trick. Because the fourth string re-enters at the top of the range, scale runs can hop between strings so that consecutive notes ring into each other like small bells — a note on the G string sustains while the next sounds on the C or E string. Our scale maps are drawn for the neck as it actually sounds, which is why they look different from anything drawn for a linear instrument.

The family at a glance

Reentrant or linear is not a size question — it is a per-instrument fact, and the whole uke family splits cleanly. Every row below is drawn from the same instrument registry that powers this site’s chord and scale pages:

Soprano, concert, and tenor ukes ship reentrant by default, and any of the three can be converted to low-G with a string change. The baritone (DGBE), bass uke (EADG), and guitalele (ADGCEA) are linear by design — there is no high-G decision to make on those, which is exactly why their pages on this site describe voicings so differently.

What high-G gives you

The traditional voice. High-G is the sound most people mean when they say a track “has a ukulele on it”: bright, close, chiming, more campfire bell than small guitar. Strums benefit most — with no string a fourth below the C, there is no muddy bottom for a busy right hand to churn, and fast pattern work stays articulate. Cross-string melody playing depends on it outright: those ringing runs only work because the fourth string sits up in melody range. And chord grips voiced for reentrant GCEA — which is what every soprano, concert, tenor, taro-patch, and banjolele chart on this site is — sound exactly as written.

What low-G gives you

Range and weight. Dropping the fourth string an octave adds a perfect fourth of territory below the old floor — the notes from G3 up to the open C that a high-G uke simply does not have. Melodies that dip under the tonic stop needing octave gymnastics; solo arrangements gain a bass register to carry the tune over; chords grow a fuller bottom edge that reads more “small guitar” than “bell”. Jazz players and fingerstyle arrangers overwhelmingly land here, and singers who accompany themselves often prefer how a low-G uke sits under a voice.

The trade is real, though. You give up the shimmer — the same grips strummed on a low-G tenor sound rounder and heavier — and you give up true campanella, because the fourth string no longer re-enters at the top. The maps on our scale pages still work (the frets do not move), but the octave the fourth string sounds in does.

Strings: what you actually buy

You cannot simply tune a high-G string down an octave — at low-G pitch a plain high-G string is far too slack to play. Low-G is a different string: either a metal-wound string, which speaks clearly but can squeak under the fingers and wears faster, or a thick plain fluorocarbon, which sounds closer to the rest of the set but is physically much fatter. That thickness matters at the nut — the low-G slot on a converted uke often needs a light widening — and it is why string makers sell dedicated “low-G” sets rather than expecting you to improvise one. Buy the set for the size you own: soprano, concert, and tenor scale lengths take different tensions, and a set balanced for one feels wrong on another.

Which should you choose?

• Strummers, singers of bright happy songs, traditionalists: high-G. It is the instrument’s signature voice and the default assumption of nearly all ukulele teaching material, including every reentrant chart on this site.
• Solo fingerstyle arrangers and jazz players: low-G, for the bass register and the extra fourth of range under the melody.
• Guitarists in transit: low-G will feel logical — strings in pitch order — but see our coming-from-guitar guide before deciding; the reentrant quirk is most of what makes the uke a new instrument rather than a small familiar one.
• Can’t decide? Two ukes is the honest answer many players reach: a reentrant soprano or concert for strumming, a low-G tenor for arranging. Failing that, keep high-G — it is the sound you bought a ukulele for.

Whichever G you land on, check the result: the tuner hears both setups, and the fretboard explorer will show you every note either version of the neck can reach.