The ukulele is eminently portable and fun to play. As a result, the instrument has maintained its popularity, with around 1.5 million units sold each year in the U.S. alone. Whether you play the ukulele solo or as part of a collective, accurate tuning is fundamentally important in ensuring that you always sound your best. A high-quality ukulele tuner is relatively inexpensive, and it will help you tune to pitch quickly, quietly and easily.
As a top pick, the KLIQ UberTuner stands out for its ukulele-specific tuning mode and its 360-degree turning radius for easy viewing.
An ukulele tuner is a small electronic device that typically clamps to the instrument’s headstock. While plug-in tuners are available for electric ukuleles, these are not as convenient to use and are often bulkier than their clip-on counterparts. You will usually find that an ukulele tuner works well with an acoustic guitar or bass; likewise, a clip-on guitar tuner is an effective tool to tune your ukulele.
As with anything battery-powered, the longer it lasts the better. This is especially true of tuners, as you must rely on them to remain effective while performing or practicing for several hours at a time. Low battery can also affect response time and screen brightness.
Many modern tuners have a rotating and/or tilting display that allows you to adjust it for optimum visibility. This is especially useful with an ukulele, as the headstock is very close and viewing angles can be acute.
Tuning often takes place between songs during a live performance or practice session. It is essential to tune accurately and as quickly as possible. The best tuners react quickly to the signal from a plucked string and do not lag when you adjust the pitch with your tuning peg.
An ukulele tuner should feature a bright display that can easily be read while holding the instrument in a standing or seated playing position. The best models have color-coded indicators that clearly register when the ukulele is tuned to pitch, and they show distinct increments when it is either sharp or flat.
The UberTuner can accommodate any tunable instrument, but it has a specific tuning mode for ukuleles, which makes it especially accurate when tuning to the instrument’s particular frequencies. Its display is large and clear, making this a good choice for those who are visually impaired, and it has three points of adjustment to ensure a good viewing angle. This is a good choice for those who tune in noisy environments because its sensors are not affected by ambient noise.
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This affordable tuner is small enough that it doesn’t look too imposing on an ukulele headstock, and it ticks all the right boxes. Its notable features include good visibility with a multicolor display that tells you which note you are plucking. The display also rotates 360 degrees, making it easy to see in any lighting conditions and at any viewing angle. Its built-in metronome comes in handy for keeping time during solo practice sessions.
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Consider the D’Addario Micro Clip-On if you don’t want your tuner to impose upon your instrument’s looks. As the name suggests, its small profile is unobtrusive with a display that sits right on top of the headstock’s surface. Notes are names in large bold letters, with colorful sharp and flat increments on either side. A long battery life and rapid response time are the two standout features of this compact unit.
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The Fender Auto Clip is named because it powers on automatically as soon as you clip it to the headstock of your ukulele. This is especially handy if you are tuning in the middle of your set and don’t want to fumble with small buttons. It powers off after 5 minutes of inactivity, so once you are nicely in tune, you can put it aside without worrying about battery drainage. As you would expect from a well-respected brand such as Fender, this is a high-quality unit with excellent functionality throughout.
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Hola! Clip-on Ukulele Tuner UT-100
This tuner is made especially for the ukulele and has a compact profile and a strong nonslip grip. It has a chromatic mode, as well as an ukulele mode for tuning a variety of instruments and for non-standard tuning. While it doesn’t have a multicolored display like some models, the entire background turns green when you reach your desired pitch, making it very easy to use in low lighting or if you are visually impaired.
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Luke Mitchell writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
