# GUITAR TO UKULELE: CONVERTING CHORDS. top four strings, five frets up > Guitar chords to ukulele: the five-fret rule that turns every guitar shape you know into a ukulele chord, what changes with four strings, and the keys to avoid. Source: https://chordlens.app/guides/guitar-chords-to-ukulele By instrument · 13 of 14 - Ukulele · Guitar - Beginner - 8 min read - Updated Oct 2026 - Chord Lens Team The short answer A ukulele is tuned like the top four strings of a guitar with a capo at the 5th fret. So any guitar shape, played on those four strings, works on ukulele, but it names a chord five semitones higher: the guitar D shape is ukulele G, A is D, E is A, G is C and Em is Am. 01 / 09 · WHY ## You already know half the ukulele. If you play guitar, picking up a ukulele feels strangely familiar for about ten seconds, then strangely wrong. The shapes your hand wants to make are there, but the chord names don’t match. Play your D shape and it sounds like G. Play your G shape on the top strings and you get C. There is a simple reason. A standard ukulele is tuned G, C, E, A. The top four strings of a guitar are D, G, B, E. Every ukulele string is exactly five semitones above the matching guitar string, which is what a capo at the 5th fret does. So the ukulele is, in shape terms, the top half of a guitar with a capo on 5. That gives a guitarist a head start: every shape you know on the top four strings is already a ukulele chord. You only have to learn to rename them. This guide gives you the rule, the shapes that convert cleanly, what changes with four strings instead of six, and the keys that are easy on guitar but awkward on ukulele. If you are new to both, our guide to [ukulele chords for songs](https://chordlens.app/guides/ukulele-chords-for-songs) starts from the beginning. 02 / 09 · METHOD ## From a guitar chart to ukulele in five steps. You need the song’s chords, from a chart or from the recording, and a ukulele in standard G, C, E, A tuning. In the screenshot the demo song Coming Home, in B, is open in the Chord Lens Studio with Live chords set to Ukulele and Capo 0. Each chord is drawn as a ukulele shape, with the strings named G, C, E, A under it: B, the chord playing now, is a barre shape, and E, either side, is the 1402 shape most players use. The chord sheet on the right shows the song’s four chords, B, E, F♯ and G♯m, the same way. 1. **Keep the chord names** A chord is the same notes on any instrument. A song in B uses B, E, F♯ and G♯m on ukulele too. 2. **Find each shape** For each chord, think of the guitar chord five semitones lower and play that shape on the ukulele: for G, play your D shape. 3. **Check the key** If the shapes come out as barres, the key suits guitar better than ukulele. Move the key or use a capo. 4. **Thin out the big chords** Four strings can’t hold every note of a long chord. Play the version the ukulele shape gives you, or a plain triad. 5. **Play with the record** Strum along with the song, slowed if you need it, until the new shapes come without thinking. ![The Chord Lens Studio for the demo song Coming Home in B with Live chords set to Ukulele and Capo 0, drawing the chords as ukulele shapes on G, C, E, A strings with B playing now as a barre shape between two E shapes, and the chord sheet showing B, E, F♯ and G♯m ukulele shapes.](https://chordlens.app/assets/guides/guitar-chords-to-ukulele/studio-ukulele-capo-0.webp) Live chords on Ukulele Capo 0: the real chords B as a barre: a hard key 03 / 09 · THE RULE ## Same shape, a fourth higher. Here is the whole conversion in one line: a guitar shape on the top four strings, played on a ukulele, sounds five semitones higher. Five semitones is a perfect fourth, so every name moves up a fourth. Learn the five shapes below and you can play most songs. **Guitar D → ukulele G.** The D shape on the top four strings, 0232 on the ukulele, is G. **Guitar A → ukulele D.** Three fingers across the 2nd fret, 2220, is D. **Guitar E → ukulele A.** The top four strings of your E shape, 2100, is A. **Guitar G → ukulele C.** Only the high string, 0003, is C, the first chord most ukulele players learn. **Guitar C → ukulele F.** The top of your C shape, 2010, is F. Minor shapes follow the same rule. Guitar Em, on the top four strings 2000, is ukulele Am. Guitar Am, 2210, is ukulele Dm. Guitar Dm, 0231, is ukulele Gm. Sevenths too: the top of guitar E7, 0100, is ukulele A7. To go the other way, from a chord name to a ukulele shape, count back five semitones and use that guitar shape. Want ukulele E? Five semitones below E is B, so you need the top four strings of a guitar B, which is a barre. That is why E is famous as the hardest common chord on ukulele. Make a small card for your music stand with two columns: the guitar shape name on the left, the ukulele chord on the right. D → G, A → D, E → A, G → C, C → F. After a week you won’t need it. 04 / 09 · FOUR STRINGS ## Less bass, a high G and fewer notes. The shapes carry over; the sound doesn’t quite. Three things are different, and knowing them saves you a lot of “why does this sound wrong?”. **There is no bass.** A guitar chord has its root on the low E or A string. The ukulele has no low strings, so the chord sounds light and bright, with no root underneath. That is normal. In a band, the bass player covers the bottom; playing alone, a ukulele just sounds like a ukulele. **The G string is high.** On a standard ukulele the G string is tuned above the C, not below it, which is called re-entrant tuning. So the string nearest your chin is not the lowest note. Strums sound close and sparkly rather than deep, and fingerpicking patterns from guitar land differently. Some players fit a low-G string to get a deeper sound; the shapes stay the same. **Big chords lose a note.** Four strings can play four notes. A triad fits easily, with one note doubled. A seventh chord has four notes and fits exactly, though ukulele players often leave out the fifth and double something else. Ninths and elevenths can’t all fit, so the ukulele plays the most important notes. The Studio’s ukulele shapes follow the same idea: each one sounds only notes of the chord, and every note the chord needs, with the fifth of a four-note chord allowed to drop. 05 / 09 · KEYS ## Easy on guitar is not easy on ukulele. Because every name shifts by a fourth, the friendly keys shift too. Guitar loves E, A, D and G, where the open strings ring. The ukulele loves C, G, F, D and A for the same reason. A song in E, the easiest key on guitar, is one of the hardest on ukulele: E, A and B, with E and B both awkward. Coming Home shows the problem. In B, as in the screenshot, every ukulele shape is a stretch or a barre. There are two ways out, and the Studio does both. Lower the Key by four semitones and the recording itself moves to G, with the chords G, C, D and Em: four of the first shapes anyone learns on ukulele. Or keep the record in B and set a capo: the ukulele takes a capo from 0 to 9 in the Studio, like a guitar, and every diagram and name changes to the shape you play above it. Guitar charts often come with a capo already written in, as in “Capo 2: G, C, D”. Those are shape names for a guitar with a capo, not the chords that sound. For ukulele, ignore the guitar capo and start from the sounding chords: with a capo on 2, the guitar’s G shape sounds as A. Our [capo chart](https://chordlens.app/guides/capo-chart) lists the sounding key for every fret and shape. 06 / 09 · IN THE STUDIO ## One song, guitar and ukulele side by side. In the Chord Lens Studio, the Live chords menu offers Guitar, Bass, Ukulele, Mandolin and Piano. Switch it from Guitar to Ukulele and every diagram on the screen redraws for the ukulele at once, in time with the song, while the chord names stay the same. That is the quickest way to learn a song you already play on guitar: put the two shapes side by side in your head, one chord at a time. Each chord gets one ukulele shape: the common one where there is one, such as C as 0003 and G as 0232, or the nearest the hand can reach when there isn’t. If you play a different voicing higher up the neck, that is fine; the shape in the Studio is a place to start. 07 / 09 · GOOD TO KNOW ## Good to know. The Studio’s diagrams are for a standard G, C, E, A ukulele. A baritone ukulele is tuned D, G, B, E, exactly like the top four strings of a guitar, so on a baritone your guitar shapes keep their names and no conversion is needed; the Studio’s ukulele shapes don’t fit it. The chords and the ukulele diagrams are free on every plan, with no ads; the Studio asks you to sign in free with Google. Key and speed are free once you sign in. 08 / 09 · Do it in one click ## Chord Shapes Every chord of the song as a ukulele shape, lit in time, with the same chords as guitar one menu away. [Open Chord Shapes](https://chordlens.app/chord-shapes) [Open the Studio](https://chordlens.app/studio) 09 / 09 · Quick answers ## Quick answers. the short answers ### Still stuck? Open the Studio and send us a note with Feedback in its sidebar. A person reads every one. [Send feedback](https://chordlens.app/studio?feedback) ### Can I use guitar chord shapes on a ukulele? Yes. Play the shape on the top four guitar strings and it works on ukulele, but the chord is five semitones higher: the D shape is ukulele G. ### How do I convert a guitar chord to ukulele? Keep the chord name, then play the guitar shape for the chord five semitones lower. For ukulele C, play the top of your guitar G shape: 0003. ### Why does my guitar D shape sound like G on ukulele? A ukulele is tuned five semitones above the top four guitar strings, like a guitar with a capo on the 5th fret. Every shape sounds a fourth higher. ### Why is E so hard on ukulele? The ukulele E shape is the guitar B shape, which is a barre. Most players use 1402, or move the song to a friendlier key. ### Do guitar chord charts work for ukulele? The chord names do, as long as you read the sounding chords. If the chart has a guitar capo, work out the chords that sound and play those. ### What about a baritone ukulele? A baritone is tuned D, G, B, E like the top four guitar strings, so guitar shapes keep their names on it. Chord Lens draws standard G, C, E, A shapes. ### Can Chord Lens show the ukulele chords for a song? Yes. Set Live chords to Ukulele and every chord is drawn as a ukulele shape in time with the song, with a capo from 0 to 9 if you want one. ## Keep going [Previous in By instrument **12** Piano chord inversions](https://chordlens.app/guides/piano-chord-inversions) [Next in By instrument **14** Play bass from chords](https://chordlens.app/guides/how-to-play-bass-from-chords) ### Related guides - [By instrument · Ukulele Ukulele chords for songs 9 min](https://chordlens.app/guides/ukulele-chords-for-songs) - [By instrument · Guitar Learn guitar songs from YouTube 8 min](https://chordlens.app/guides/learn-guitar-songs-from-youtube) - [Chords and keys · Guitar · Ukulele Capo chart 5 min](https://chordlens.app/guides/capo-chart)