Alternate tuning

DIRTY OLD TOWN - Tenor Improvisation

Here's a little tip that I use often.

I have my uke tuned fCEA (high F). The 4th string is tuned down a full step. This means that I can use the F on the 4th string as a drone note and play in the key of F. Normally, to use the regular G 4th string as a drone you can only really play in the keys of C or G. With this tuning, everything lies under the fingers really well. It would also be great for clawhammer and not have to play in C or G.

Ken, Sounds good. Tuning stringed instruments in only one formula because "that's what everyone else does" means never getting the most out of the instrument-musician combination.

SteveZ said:

Ken, Sounds good. Tuning stringed instruments in only one formula because "that's what everyone else does" means never getting the most out of the instrument-musician combination.

Click to expand...

Thanks Steve. I certainly agree with you on that point.

That was really quite wonderful.

Does changing your tuning, up or down, effect the strings at all? In an interview I saw recently, Jake S. said that it can deaden the string when you do it. So he will have a separate uke if he wants a different tuning. If so, does that pertain to nylon and fluorocarbon strings?

hammer40 said:

That was really quite wonderful.

Does changing your tuning, up or down, effect the strings at all? In an interview I saw recently, Jake S. said that it can deaden the string when you do it. So he will have a separate uke if he wants a different tuning. If so, does that pertain to nylon and fluorocarbon strings?

Click to expand...

Thanks.

No, one string is not going to make any difference. I haven't seen the interview with Jake. I think I know what he is saying though. James Hill however, moves up and down between C and D tuning freely. I have seen him do it many times.

Ken Middleton said:

Thanks.

No, one string is not going to make any difference. I haven't seen the interview with Jake. I think I know what he is saying though. James Hill however, moves up and down between C and D tuning freely. I have seen him do it many times.

Click to expand...

Hey Ken, just in case you want to see the interview, I have a link I will post. He is asked about his tunings at around the 4:55 mark and then mentions the string issue at 6:00ish. It's an interview he did with Acoustic Nation, it's from part 3 of the interview. (Sorry, don't know how to embed the video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4wmOnzJaLM

Thanks. I will check it out.

Ken Middleton wrote:

I have my uke tuned fCEA (high F). The 4th string is tuned down a full step.

Click to expand...

Thanks for pointing that out

I'd actually "found" this option on my 5-string banjo only a couple of weeks ago, fCGBD tuning then capo on the third fret, but hadn't yet thought about it for the ukulele ... I'll have to give it a whirl

kypfer said:

Ken Middleton wrote:

Thanks for pointing that out

I'd actually "found" this option on my 5-string banjo only a couple of weeks ago, fCGBD tuning then capo on the third fret, but hadn't yet thought about it for the ukulele ... I'll have to give it a whirl

Click to expand...

Absolutely. Banjo players retune or capo the 5th string all the time. Otherwise they would end up playing in just two major keys.

Uke players tend to play in the key of C a lot. Jake, for instance, plays in the key of C more than any other other key. It is not, of course, because he doesn't know the chords in other keys or that he finds other keys too difficult. It is that the key of C gives him more possibilities: he can use the open strings more, play chords with fingers to spare to embellish them and use the 4th as a drone string on the dominant note. Retuning the 4th string just increases the possibilities.

Thanks Ken.........is it a step too far to tune the 4th string UP a whole tone to A ? (so you could play in the Key of A )
Or would that not work with then with two strings in the same pitch..........maybe tune the 1st string down to G ?
Just wondering because I believe banjo players use many different tunings.
It is is such a common key for fiddlers etc in many types of trad. music to use.

Robin Harrison said:

Thanks Ken.........is it a step too far to tune the 4th string UP a whole tone to A ? (so you could play in the Key of A )
Or would that not work with then with two strings in the same pitch..........maybe tune the 1st string down to G ?
Just wondering because I believe banjo players use many different tunings.
It is is such a common key for fiddlers etc in many types of trad. music to use.

Click to expand...

Absolutely no problem. Tuning the 4th up to A will work just fine. I regularly play in D tuning and players like James Hill play aDF#B all the time. I wouldn't go much higher on a tenor however. A 4th string on A allows easy clawhammer/drone playing in the keys of A and D, both useful keys. Both these keys use notes that can be played as useful open strings (E and A). This is the reason why tuning up or down just half a step is less user-friendly - the keys of B, Gb (F#), Db (C#) and Ab (G#) don't use many open strings. Open string are really useful, particularly in clawhammer playing. Added to this, standard tuning for most celtic, bluegrass and folk tunes tend to be in keys like G, D or A that are nice to use on the fiddle or mandolin.

Banjo players do tune their 5th string up or down a small amount, but also use a capo or railroad spike that raises the pitch of just that single drone string.

Thanks, Ken, I wrote it all down. I'm a struggling Clawhammerist. ld: