Seasonistas Baritone Thread

They make GCEA strings for baritones. I don't like them personally, but enough people do that they exist, BUT they are an option that you can explore for not a lot of money. Another option is to string your bari with GCEA tenor strings, but I don't advise it if you have weak fingers. The strings will be extremely tight compared to the GCEA baritone strings. I decided to use tenor strings one one of my baritones, because the bari strings seemed really loose and sloppy for my playing style. (which is why I didn't like them). However, the sound is more like a really loud tenor and lacks the rich sound of a baritone.

But, as has already been pointed out, the finger patterns don't change. The chords and notes change, but not the fingering. If you compare GCEA tuning to DGBE tuning, the fingering looks something like this:


GCEA = DGBE

C ______ G
D ______ A
E ______ B
F ______ C
G ______ D
A ______ E
B ______ F

(All the minors and 7th's are the same finger positions too.)


The reason this is important to know if you play a baritone is that the different fingerings make the chords sound very different. As you can well imagine, when you play a G chord (for instance) using 3 fingers; it sounds rather different than playing a G chord with one finger. This is precisely why I keep ukes with different tunings around.

On this chart, the B at the bottom left should be a Bb. In other words, to play an F chord on a baritone, you play a Bb tenor uke shape, not a B shape (which would be one fret up).
 
This video popped up as a suggestion - I think this guy is hilarious and brilliant with his dampening sponge for a jazzy baritone uke sound

 
this is a lil instrumental piece I wrote the other day using this uke.
it's a fairly cheap mahalo baritone mahogany laminate that I painted.
 
About to buy another because there is a hole in my soundboard, but I have to tune mine to Gcea (Melissa watches my hands to get the chords LOL)...It is still deeper, but boy do I need one strung correctly. Mine is in about every video- I dunno, you tell me. Definitely not as bright as any of my tenors...but that is how I like it.
My strings are SOuthcoast mediums
 
Adding this here for you to hear what the Guadalupe strings sound like on my tenor. The strings are a little slack on the tenor so this is tuned ADF#B. ...

... Guadalupe are for GCEA tuned an octave lower than the usual tones of a tenor. ADF#B is just tuned a whole step up to take up the slack (But still an octave lower) and you still play that tuning just as if its a GCEA. It just requires you to adjust your singing a couple notes higher. No big deal at all.

That Pono sounded wonderful and you played and sang great too! But another tuning to learn chords to! I'm just getting used to G tuning!

I've been waiting for the Worth Browns I put on my baritone to settle, to record them while I play something recognizable. I have some Worth Brown Fats that should yield a hi d and I'll try that on the Big Zebra before I get all crazy. I kind of like the re-entrant G tuning.

I may try tuning my Zebra Tenor to aDF#B. It has Brown Fats on it tuned dGBE and the strings are a little slack. Hmmm....

Like Linda & Phluffy say. You're not learning any new chords with the different tunings. You already know all the chord shapes. The relative tuning is the same whatever pitch you're tuned to. All you need to remember is which letters those shapes map on to!

If you want to know what's the optimum pitch/string configuration to make your uke sound good, check out Southcoast Mike's guide to tuning here: the Southcoast Guide to Tuning & Strings
 
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Another one should be arriving shortly. :uhoh:

I thought my UAS was over, but then I found a Lani LB70 spruce top bari being sold off for just £48!

Obviously, I ordered one, (original price was £120). :rock:
 
Another one should be arriving shortly. :uhoh:

I thought my UAS was over, but then I found a Lani LB70 spruce top bari being sold off for just £48!

Obviously, I ordered one, (original price was £120). :rock:

Lani Ukes are OK. I had a couple though I rehomed them. Nothing wrong with them, well made and good value for money, just that I was downsizing and had others I liked better.
 
That's good to know that you thought them OK.

I had been thinking of getting a laminate to go with my Kala cedar top, as I'm very 'careful' with it - & this one should take the worry away about playing & using this size of uke.
 
I decided to order the electroacoustic baritone LB55. £58 down from £145 looks like an excellent deal. I also ordered a hard shell case at half price, cheaper than the heavily padded gig bags I normally use. I've been enjoying the tone of some of the baris that I have heard on recent seasons vids so decided this was a good chance to go for one.
 
Just arrived, checked over, tuned, & played with - came with a dust cover & tuner included - but, with high D - don't think that will stay.

It has some minor marks on the top, a smallish ding in the back of the neck high up the fretboard, & a bit of glue by the binding.
No sharp frets edges, & string height seem to be OK, scale length seems to be just over 19.5".

All in all, I reckon it's a bargain! :)
 
Just arrived, checked over, tuned, & played with - came with a dust cover & tuner included - but, with high D - don't think that will stay.

It has some minor marks on the top, a smallish ding in the back of the neck high up the fretboard, & a bit of glue by the binding.
No sharp frets edges, & string height seem to be OK, scale length seems to be just over 19.5".

All in all, I reckon it's a bargain! :)

Mine arrived this afternoon. It has Aquila low D strings, two wound, two plain. Overall looks in perfect condition no blemishes. It's laminate but not overthick and sounds good - plenty of volume. I tested the pickup system briefly with my Vox mini5 Amp and it worked OK. I'll test it on my proper PA amp later and get a better feel for the tone. It came with a dust cover but I ordered a hard shell case at the same time. That's not arrived yet but hopefully won't be too long as it was on the invoice in the uke. Too large to play without a strap. I was expecting the socket for the pickup to have a strap button but it's on the bottom of the body so I've had to order some strap buttons.

Overall definitely a bargain at the price.
 
My clumsy hands can only treat a bariuke......just love the sound.And so easy to play for a guitarist. So I hope I'll never win a smaller uke in any contest. I'd have to reject my prize.
 
I was not that bothered about a Bari but then I had super offer pointed out to me so went for it. I really like it. Great for finger picking. I still like my little ones as well
 
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