Playsoloist

PlaysoloistStringsUkuleleSongsSanta Lucia

ukulele song · Strings

Santa Lucia Ukulele Tab

Composer
Traditional
Year
1849
Key
C
Time
3/4
Tempo
96 BPM
Difficulty
Beginner · ★
First note
G4

Santa Lucia on ukulele

The full melody, rendered as four-string ukulele tab in re-entrant High-G (gCEA) you can read on screen or print for the stand — free, and never truncated.

Tuning: g C E A (re-entrant High G) · Strum: D - D

AECgVerseC003G7322F110C000A7000Dm021AECgG7102C00ChorusC755Dm455F555C605AECgC788000Dm555G7577C78

Arranged for the standard re-entrant High-G (gCEA) ukulele. On Low G, Baritone or D tuning the app re-fingers the same melody live. Left-handed? The app can mirror the whole tab.

Lyrics

Bar 1 — Sul mare luccica l'astro d'argento

Bar 5 — placida è l'onda, prospero è il vento

Bar 9 — Venite all'agile barchetta mia

Bar 13 — Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!

Trad. Neapolitan barcarolle (publ. Cottrau, 1849) — public domain.

How to practise this on ukulele

Santa Lucia is in C and opens on G4. This tab is arranged for the standard re-entrant High-G ukulele: the fourth string (the top of the written tab, marked g) is tuned above the two strings under it, which is why a melody can dip onto the open g and come out sounding high — that's the instrument's signature, not a misprint. If you play Low G, the app re-fingers the same melody for your tuning live.

Pick the melody with alternating thumb and index, or the index alone on slower pieces, and keep your fretting fingers curled so open strings ring clear. Set the metronome under around 96 BPM, watch the tab rather than your hands, and loop the bar your take review grades worst until it comes back clean twice in a row. By the numbers, this setting runs 49 notes across 16 bars, from D4 up to E5 in 3/4 time.

Also playable on

The same melody is graded across 6 Playsoloist instruments. See every version, with difficulty and provenance, on the Santa Lucia cross-instrument hub.

guitarkalimbapianotrumpetviolin

Keep exploring

All ukulele songsSanta Lucia across instrumentsEasy ukulele songsStrumming, explainedAloha ʻOeAlouetteLearn ukulele with Soloist Ukulele

Free on the App Store

Play Santa Lucia — and hear every note graded.

Soloist Ukulele reads this four-string ukulele tab in re-entrant High-G (gCEA) under the notation and grades your take on-device, note by note — free on iPhone, no ads, no account.

Get Ukulele on the App Store