Are Guitalele and Guitar Chords Same? (Explained)

Photo of author
Written By Sarah Barlow

Chief Music Officer

In many ways the guitalele is just a very small guitar and can be played in the same way as a guitar.

However playing a G chord on the guitalele (or any chord), is not the same as playing a G chord on the guitar. We explain how and why in this article.

Answer To Whether Guitalele and Guitar Chords Are The Same

A guitalele has six strings, like a guitar, and the pitch intervals between those strings in standard tuning are the same as on guitar.

But if you strum a G chord on the guitalele and I strum a G chord on the guitar they will not sound the same and will clash.

Guitalele and guitar do share the same chord shapes, but these shapes will make different chords based on the tuning of each instrument.

Because the intervals between guitalele strings are the same as that on a guitar you can play in exactly the same way as you would on guitar, using the same chord shapes and strumming patterns.

However, these chord shapes, will consist of different notes, and therefore be making different chords.

Is Guitalele Tuning Same as Guitar?

Guitaleles and guitars have the same intervals between each of their strings but are tuned to different notes.

Guitar standard tuning is E A D G B E.

Guitalele standard tuning is A D G C E A.

If you put a capo on your guitar, on 5th fret, this will modify the notes of your guitar string to the same notes as that of a guitalele, but when they are set up without modifications, they have different tuning.

Can I Play the Guitalele Like a Guitar?

Yes, you can absolutely play the guitalele in the same way you would play the guitar.

Even though the strings are tuned to different notes (ADGCEA instead of EADGBE), the intervals between them are the same, so the same chord shapes can be used across both instruments.

How To Play Guitalele with a Guitar

If you want to play a guitalele with a guitar at the same time then there are three different ways to achieve this.

The first method is to transcribe the chords for one instrument so that they are in the same key as the other instrument.

The second method is to put a capo on your guitar, on the 5th fret, to give it the same tuning as a guitalele. This is the easiest method.

Lastly, you could also try and detune your guitalele to standard guitar tuning.

This is possible but usually requires some modification to your guitalele to work well.

When you detune guitar strings by that many octaves the string tension is quite low and does not make a good sound.

But if you make some adjustments to the action of your guitalele, it is possible to achieve a decent sound. Proceed with caution though, this requires advanced guitar modification repair skills.

Can You Put Guitar Strings on a Guitalele?

Yes, you can use guitar strings on a guitalele, but this is not suitable in all situations.

Depending on your specific guitalele and the type of tuning you intend to use, you may be better off with dedicated guitalele strings, guitar strings or even combining different strings from a ukulele.

This great post from Student of Guitar (https://studentofguitar.com/guitalele-strings/) outlines different string recommendations depending on the style of your guitalele, and the type of tuning you intend to set up your guitalele with.