Fingering Diagram versus Tablature
Just as pictograms&nbsp;preceded&nbsp;our phonetic written language, every ukester quickly learns to read &amp;#8220;fingering diagrams&amp;#8221; before learning tabs.
Fingering Diagrams are just pictures of the ukulele&amp;#8217;s fretboard, zoomed-in, showing where to place your fingers. They&amp;#8217;re awesomely intuitive!
Tablature (aka &amp;#8220;tabs&amp;#8221;), on the other hand, aren&amp;#8217;t immediately obvious, being a hybrid of diagram (the four lines are, in fact, your uke&amp;#8217;s four strings) plus written instructions (the column of numbers indicating the fret to press on each string).
Whereas a fingering diagram shows where to place your fingers (which frets to press down) tablature tells you which frets to press.
That&amp;#8217;s it &amp;#8212; that&amp;#8217;s the difference!
The &amp;#8220;trick&amp;#8221; for either method is to know the orientation: if you can locate the G string you&amp;#8217;ll be fine.
For fingering diagrams hold the ukulele away from your body, but facing you &amp;#8212; this will place the G string on your left (the A string&amp;#8217;s to your right). See top picture.
Now, still holding your uke at arm&amp;#8217;s length, rotate it counter-clockwise 90&deg; to a horizontal position &amp;#8212; this puts the G string on the bottom. This is how the lines in tabla