Ukulele Capo Chart — Key Transposition for Standard GCEA Tuning

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Last Updated on July 11, 2026 by folkstrings

Ukulele Capo Transposition Chart

Standard GCEA tuning — what key each chord shape produces at every capo position

How to use: Find the capo fret on the left. The “C shape sounds like” column shows the actual key produced when you play a C chord shape with the capo in that position. All other shapes transpose by the same amount. Highlighted rows are the most commonly used positions.

Commonly used capo positions

Tool by Folkstrings.com

Why Use a Capo on Ukulele?

A ukulele capo does exactly what it does on a guitar — it clamps across all strings at a given fret, shortening the vibrating length and raising the pitch of every string by the same number of semitones. Your chord shapes stay identical; only the sounding key changes. A C shape played open gives you C major. Capo on fret 2 and that same C shape sounds like D major.

The main reasons ukulele players use a capo are to match a vocalist’s key without learning new chord shapes, to play in a key that has difficult open chord shapes using easier shapes from a different position, or to achieve a slightly different tonal character by playing higher up the neck.

Most Commonly Used Capo Positions

Capo 2 is the most used capo position on ukulele. It moves the key of C up to D and the key of G up to A — both very common keys for pop and folk songs. If you know your C, F, G and Am shapes, capo 2 gives you D, G, A and Bm for free.

Capo 5 moves C up to F and G up to C — useful when you need to play in F but find the open F chord shape awkward. Playing C shape with capo 5 gives you a cleaner-sounding F without the two-finger stretch.

Capo 7 produces G and D from C and F shapes — the two most common ukulele keys, but now played from a higher position which gives a brighter, more crystalline tone.

For more on ukulele tuning and setup, see our ukulele tuning reference covering standard, low-G, baritone and D-tuning.

Author Profile

Daniel Johnstone

Daniel Johnstone is an English writer and folk musician who has been playing stringed instruments for over twenty years. He started on guitar as a teenager before working his way through cavaco, tenor guitar, autoharp, mountain dulcimer, and harp. He founded Folkstrings.com to provide practical, experience-based buying advice for folk instrument players at every level — the kind of guidance he always wished had existed when he was finding his feet.