Compendium of ukulele alternate tunings? Compile an article for UU?

MatthewVanitas

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 28, 2010
Messages
46
Reaction score
0
I've been mucking around with various alternate ukulele tunings over time, and it struck me that it might be really cool to have a comprehensive list of the possible (practical) ukulele tunings. Does anyone think this might be something we could compile together and use to create a permanent article for UU?

A few thoughts: to focus on the distinctive possibilities, I'd suggest that transpositions of a given tuning not be given a separate entry (that is, both GCEG and ADF#A be listed together as "Open C Major and variants), perhaps ditto for re-entrant variants.

Here's a potential starting off list:

Standard: GCEA. Aka: my-dog-has-fleas, C-tuning

Old Time banjo-based tunings

Open C Major: GCEG. Aka: banjo tuning
Open C minor: GCE♭G Aka: minor banjo tuning
Sawmill: GCFG
Double-G GDGA (taken from banjo "Double C" tuning)

I did note one player on YouTube (Jack Haas) who states he uses "oud tuning" (clip here). He doesn't specify (I should write him and ask), but given that a common 5-course Egyptian oud tuning is G - A - D - G - C, it would appear that GCFB would be a likely choice, though might require slightly lighter strings on the highest two.

So far as other tunings I'm dimly aware of but haven't tried, I've heard of "wahine" tunings that are an open 7th chord.

Anyone else think that cataloging various feasible tunings, along with notes as to how they're used, whether re-stringing is required, etc. would make for a useful article?
 
Last edited:
Cool idea, but you kind of have to have a reason to use an alternate tuning. Case in point: I wanted to learn a bagpipe song, so I figured out how to get drone strings going and went to town with: AAEA.
 
Cool idea, but you kind of have to have a reason to use an alternate tuning. Case in point: I wanted to learn a bagpipe song, so I figured out how to get drone strings going and went to town with: AAEA.

Certainly, alternate tunings should have an actual application, but that's certainly the case with the ones I mention above.

A tuning provides a certain direction, shaping the playing style. I don't necessarily look on "alternate" tunings as being a "deviation" from uke tuning, as the GCEA tuning is itself a form of deliberate choice. "You can't stand still on a moving train" and all.

EDIT: On your AAEA tuning, are you slacking your C string all the way down to A, or restringing? I play a lot of Appalachian dulcimer, so pretty familiar with drone strings, just didn't know how slack a C dropped down to A is. Though I suppose if you do your melody work on the lowest A and use that middle A for drone you don't need as much tension as you would on a fingered string.

EDIT2: I'd only tried Sawmill tuning briefly on banjo in the past, and only once on uke, but I tuned up to it again today and have been having a ton of fun with it. It sounds a bit odd, and takes a little work to get your head around, but it has a very distinctive sound. I've been working on clawhammering the tune "House Carpenter" (link to a non-uke version), and it's about perfect for that dark, plaintive sound.
 
Last edited:
EDIT: On your AAEA tuning, are you slacking your C string all the way down to A, or restringing? I play a lot of Appalachian dulcimer, so pretty familiar with drone strings, just didn't know how slack a C dropped down to A is. Though I suppose if you do your melody work on the lowest A and use that middle A for drone you don't need as much tension as you would on a fingered string.

I just tuned the C down. It's not too slack, but I'm using Worths so maybe that changes things. I'm using the high A and E strings for melody and as I pick, the two drones just kind of ring - even without picking them.
 
possibly reviving a dead thread, but has anyone tried an open g tuning? GBDG? I'm going to try to convince my girlfriend to retune, and while looking for alternate tunings i found this, so figured i would ask...
 
I'm actually trying GBDG today! I just figured out it would correspond to the tuning a 2nd guitar in a guitar-based High-Life band (High-Life = really beautiful Ghanaian pop music from early to mid 20th Century - tuning of 1st guitar would correspond to our dear re-entrant GCEA). I found this thread while searching for "GBDG". Did you convince your girlfriend to try it?
 
Turns out this tuning works great for some High-Life songs, such as "All For You" by E. T. Mensah. But for most of them regular GCEA does the job.
 
How about this tuning

C:F:C:F it is a favorite giving a country sound.
 
I love the Aquila fifths tunings - GDAE for soprano uke, and CGDA for concert uke. You can cobble together a CGDA for baritones out of DGBE and GCEA sets, too. I'm not sure if there's an option for tenors. I got used to fifths on mandolin but I got tired of the slight awkwardness of doubled strings. Trying it out on uke was a revelation. It's a tuning extremely well-suited to playing melodic lines on short-scale instruments, even more so than the fourths tuning that you can easily make by slightly tweaking a low G string set(say, from GCEA to GCFBb). The downside is when you strum chords it sounds more mandoliny than ukey, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
 
i like 5ths tuning as well, but neither my fingers or ears have the strength for mandolin. I've been playing with a little guitar tuned to g2 c3 a3 e4 for the full sound and similarity to ukulele fingering, and considering switching it around to g3 c3 e4 a3 or similar. the g2 sounds too low and it muddies up the chords.
 
i like 5ths tuning as well, but neither my fingers or ears have the strength for mandolin. I've been playing with a little guitar tuned to g2 c3 a3 e4 for the full sound and similarity to ukulele fingering, and considering switching it around to g3 c3 e4 a3 or similar. the g2 sounds too low and it muddies up the chords.
You could try making the G re-entrant. Either in fifths or GCEA. When I was searching for a fifths tuning I could use on guitar, I realized that I liked chord voicings better with a re-entrant string or two on the bottom - I finally went with fcGDAE.
 
Just stumbled on this thread.

Here are a couple uke tunings I use. I generally play a tenor with a low G for these:

G-C-E-G. Great for slack key (where you'd call it "taropatch" in the keys of C and F. Also used for country blues & bottleneck, where it's called "Spanish."

G-B-E-G. A nice C Wahine slack key tuning.

G-B-D-G. Based on the D major guitar tuning called "Vastapol." Great for bottle neck. Or playing "Vastapol," if you are so inclined. :cool:

Stay tuned!
 
Sanagi, Are you playing mandolin songs on your uke? I play both and was thinking of tuning a uke to GDAE like a mandolin.
 
I've been using gCEG for a while.
I think it's great for some hawaiian style and bluegrass. You can basically "pull off" every string and let the music flow...
 
fol Gakeno

g3 d3 a3 e4 should sound lovely on a baritone ukulele, or a little guitar.

GDAD (or equivalent - fifth, fifth, fourth) is also worth a go; has a more open and suspended feel to it and gives easy access to a more useful drone on the highest string. Extremely celtic sounding. Your standard strings are a long way off this tuning, though, and some overslack and/or overtight strings are to be expected.
 
Wow, Ondrej, thank you so much for including the tabs with your videos.
I had never used open tuning on a uke, but you made it easy.
I appreciate the chord names included.

I just tried "Careless Love" on my baritone, sounds wonderful.
You have opened up a new world of possibilities for me.
:D
 
Dave, thank you for the compliment. For me open tuning ukulele was also discovered a new world. I like to share.
 
Top Bottom