Ukulele Lesson: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star Instruction

You can actually play melodies on your ukulele! In this ukulele tutorial you will learn to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star in the key of C. I will tell you how to place your fingers on the frets so you will not have to read sheet music!

There are many ways to notate melodies for ukulele. The most common way is to use ukulele tablature that consists of four lines representing the strings on your ukulele and numbers placed on the lines to indicate which frets to press down.

In this article I will instruct you with English words how to play on your ukulele. We will play this melody in the key of C. I presuppose that your ukulele is tuned in C which is the most common tuning.

C-tuning means that the first string on your ukulele is tuned in A. The first string is the bottom string when you hold your ukulele in playing position. The second string is tuned in E, the third string in C and the fourth string in G.

The notes I just mentioned can be found in the fourth octave on a piano. That is the octave in the middle of a piano or a keyboard.

Remember, the first string is the bottom string on your ukulele when you play.

Try to use your left hand index finger to play the notes on the first fret, the middle finger to play the notes on the second fret and your ring finger for the notes on the third fret. Practice to play this way and you will experience that this is an effective way to play melodies as you can keep your left hand in the same position as you play the notes and it will also be easier to find the notes.

You can use your right hand thumb to pluck the notes or use a pick.

I will use two ways to show you how to play the melody.

1. First you will find the lyrics to the song, one line at a time. Below the lyrics I will show you the melody in a form of notation that I call number tablature. In this notation every note consists of two numbers, the first number tells you which fret to play and the following number which string to play. If the first number is a 0 it means that you play the string without pressing down a fret.

2. Below this notation I also give you a description on how to play the melody with words.

Here are the lyrics line by line with corresponding ukulele tablature and instructions on how to play:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

03 03 32 32 01 01 32

Play the open third string twice. An open string is a string you play without pressing down a fret. Then play the third fret second string twice, the open first string twice and the third fret second string.

How I wonder what you are

12 12 02 02 23 23 03

Play first fret second string twice, second open string twice, second fret third string twice, then the open third string.

Up above the world so high

32 32 12 12 02 02 23

Third fret second string twice, first fret second string twice, open second string twice, second fret third string.

Like a diamond in the sky!

The same melody as the previous line!

Now you only have to repeat the two first lines of the melody and you have completed the song!

Learn the melody one line at a time until you master the song by heart and you are ready to play it for your friends!