| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
It is commonly associated with music from Hawaii (where the name roughly translates as "dancing flea") and was developed there in the 1880s as a variation of the Portuguese braguinha (a braguinha is a cavaquinho built in the city of Braga and named after it; the Brazilian cavaquinho is usually tuned in D-G-B-D).
The ukulele comes in four sizes (from smallest to largest): soprano (the original size), concert, tenor (created in the 1920s) and baritone (created in the 1950s).
In the USA, soprano and concert ukes are usually tuned in the keyIn Music theory, the key is the tonal center of a piece. It is designated by a note name (the tonic), such as C, and is the base of a musical scale from which most of the notes of the piece are drawn. Most commonly, that scale can be either in major or mi of C: G-C-E-A from low to high, with the G-string traditionally tuned an octaveIntervals : For the numerical computation software, see GNU Octave. In music, an octave (sometimes abbreviated 8ve or 8va is the interval between one musical note and another with half or double the frequency. For example, if one note is pitched at 400 Hz up, so it's pitchIn music, pitch refers to the perception of the frequency of a note. For example, the A above middle C is nowadays set at (often written as "A 440 Hz", and known as concert pitch , although this has not always been the case (see #Historical pitch standarded between the E- and A-strings. The baritone is usually tuned in G like the top four strings of a guitar, D-G-B-E. The tenor can be tuned either way, and in C tuning is sometimes tuned with the G-string an octave lower, so it's pitched below the C-string, where you might expect it.
In the past, the soprano was tuned a whole step higher in the key of D: A-D-F#-B, with the lowest noteThis article is about music. For information about money, see banknote. In music, a note is either a unit of fixed pitch that has been given a name, or the graphic representation of that pitch in a notation system, and sometimes its duration, or a specifi being D (the A is a whole step below the B), and this tuning may still be popular outside the USA. An alternative tuning is Bb-Eb-G-C (raised a semitone to the key of E flat). Either of these tunings, and the C tuning above, may be referred to jocularly as "My dog has fleas", because the strings sounded in order are the same as the phrase in the song My Dog Has Fleas.
Musicians and entertainers particularly known for playing the ukulele have included: