Set up ukulele, banjo, mandolin and other fretted tracks

Write down the exact instrument, string or course count, tuning in string order, capo, re-entrant strings and the player's preferred notation. “Ukulele” can mean high-G or low-G setups and several sizes; banjos and mandolins also have variants. A generic name is not enough to guarantee useful tab.

Guitar Pro's current feature page states that fretted tracks can use three to ten strings and names ukulele among its supported uses. The tuning editor allows custom pitches, string count and saved presets. Those controls are flexible, but they still need an accurate model of the real instrument.

Start with the closest instrument template rather than a six-string guitar track. The instrument choice can affect the available sound and chord diagrams as well as the default tuning. A community ukulele question was resolved by changing the associated track instrument, not merely drawing four lines.

Then set the exact tuning and string count. Enter every open string as a test and listen from the notation as well as the tab. If the expected pitch rises on a physically upper string, as in a re-entrant setup, confirm that Guitar Pro preserves that relationship rather than silently treating the strings as a simple low-to-high sequence.

A standard mandolin has four doubled courses. For ordinary tablature, representing four courses as four tab lines is often clearer than pretending every paired physical string is an independent line; playback is then an approximation of the doubled sound. If octave courses matter, document or arrange them explicitly rather than promising exact simulation.

Five-string banjo adds a short drone string. If the available template cannot express the fifth-string starting-fret or capo convention you need, document that limitation instead of presenting a generic full-length string model as exact. Verify fret numbers and pitch on the real instrument, and mention any visual compromise in teaching or publishing material.

Enter an open-string run, a scale across strings, a common chord, the lowest and highest intended notes, and one idiomatic technique. Check standard notation, tab, chord diagrams, playback sound, capo, transposition and printed tuning labels. A correct open-string test can still hide an incorrect chord dictionary or octave convention.

Save a named preset only after this audit. Include enough detail to distinguish variants, such as instrument, string count and high- or low-pitch option. Keep a small reference score with the open strings and test chord; it is faster to validate a reused custom setup than to rediscover a tuning error in a finished arrangement.

For practice, transcription and ordinary tab, a carefully configured Guitar Pro track is often sufficient. If the deliverable requires historically specific tablature, detailed course behaviour, unusual partial fretting, or engraving conventions the track cannot display, use a specialist notation application or provide standard notation alongside a documented approximation.

Do not hide a modelling limit. A note such as “four tab lines represent four doubled mandolin courses” lets the player interpret the page correctly. Clear scope is more useful than an elaborate file that appears precise but misrepresents the instrument.