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

I use Tahitian tuning on some of my home made ukes

g4 c5 e5 A4 - the two middle strings are an octave higher than standard gcea tuning making the A rather than C re-entrant. The other advantage is that stringing is done with 20lb (10kg) fishing line!

Chord fingering is therefore the same as for a standard uke but the zing of the two middle strings being an octave higher lightens the tone.
 
Reviving an old thread. A friend of mine asked me today if he could tune his Tenor to a tuning that had the same relationship as a mandolin. I told him I would consult with the wise ones (ie you lot ;) ) and the search engine turned up this topic. However, what I still need to know, after reading the whole thread, is:

a) Is it at all possible (by tuning up and down individual strings using a standard GCEA set) to produce a workable tuning that reflects the mandolin, violin relationship? (ie: fretting at the seventh fret gives you the next note across the board). I have managed a DAEB - but the bottom two sound far too slack.

If not (without breaking a string regularly or suffering from floppy string syndrome). Then:

B) What exact size strings would my friend Francesc need to add to his standard set to produce a GDAE Mandolin tuning. Obviously, the first two don't need changing, I suppose, because the C will tune up to a D as it does in ADF#B "European" tuning - which one of my sopranos is already in. But what strings would you need to replace the "E" and "A" strings with? Would the first two strings of a nylon string classical guitar set do the trick, for example?

Appreciate any feedback...
 
Bumping this because it seems to have got lost amongst the crowd. I confidently told my friend that UU was the ultimate source for all Uke knowledge. So please, help me help my friend oh wise ones ;)
 
Old thread but I've also been thinking about alternate tunings. I'm thinking you can't get to GDAE on a tenor. The reason I say this is the highest tenor string offered by Southcoast is a 'c' in the XLL set and you need another 4 semitones to get up to 'e'. You could get there on a concert using the XLL set, throwing out the third string and getting the low G from some other set. Southcoast doesn't recommend low G for concert but I had a worth brown on a Risa concert that worked.

Now go back to that XLL set (Bb Eb G C). Can you get a Eb Bb F C fifths tuning on a tenor? Yes, if you can get the low Eb from another set. But that would be a low D baritone string up a semitone - on a tenor - likely to be pretty floppy but maybe you could find something to work there?

Baritone - different story. I know I've seen Mya Moe videos with baritone in CGDA tuning so that is definitely possible.
 
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I second Bob O's recommendation. That's a great band you've got there Pete of "The Big I Am!" - Plus you've got an album available on e_music. That's just gone onto my to be downloaded list! :cool:

PS After listening to a few more tracks, I've just started downloading the album "Collecting Skies!" - In theory E-music is a legal download site, as a subscriber I'd be interested to know if you get any royalties Pete. I'd feel a lot better about my emusic membership If I knew for sure that artists were getting something for the downloads from that site.
 
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Vestapol

possibly reviving a dead thread, but has anyone tried an open g tuning? GBDG?


I've been playing exclusively in GBDG for three years. I love it. It feels really 'right' for pentatonic and blues scale stuff, especially with a slide.

I didn't know what it was called. Glad to know that I'm not alone, and that my condition has a name: Vestapol! (Thanks, Mark-o.) Nice to hear Pete using it with the Big I Am, too.
I've got extensive chord charts for that tuning, and a few songs transcribed with the chord diagrams:
http://biscuit.nfshost.com/Lilypond/fretboards/biscuit-chord-catalog-naturals.pdf
 
I was playing around today and found a new one I really like. a, C#, E, A.
Tune the high g up a step and the low c up a half step.

My all time favorite is g, B, E, A Just tuning the low c down a half step turns your uke into a Minor beast. this works well for me when I'm transposing guitar compositions onto the Ukulele.

I like tunings that do not require string changes, and do not alter the tension too much.
 
I have my Soprano tuned as a "Machete" (Or Cavaquinho or ....) to d' g' b' d''.

I find myself watching a lot of YouTube in Portuguese, as even though it's an octave above banjo in G-tuning, Cavaquinho players have different ideas about what the "right" chords are.
 
CFAD tuning.

I have my Soprano tuned as a "Machete" (Or Cavaquinho or ....) to d' g' b' d''.

I find myself watching a lot of YouTube in Portuguese, as even though it's an octave above banjo in G-tuning, Cavaquinho players have different ideas about what the "right" chords are.

I'm using CFAD tuning on one of my ukes. D'Addrio titanium strings . It all started when I restrung an old Italian mandolin with various carbon fiber and nylon strings.
The CFAD on a ukulele is beautiful.
 
My first post here on this forum.

I've come up with a very simple alternate ukulele tuning that makes playing chords extremely logical and simple. It's basically an inverted standard ukulele tuning. I tune to CEGA (Dog Has My Fleas) which is the C6 chord as you would play it on a piano. I'm actually a drummer and not much of a ukulele or guitar player as I have always struggled with memorizing the chords. With this tuning the chords are all automatically presented to me and I don't have to memorize anything.

When open strumming low to high the CEGA gives me a C6 chord laid out just like on a piano. Bar the neck at the second fret I have a D6 chord. Place my pinky up one fret and I have the D7 chord. Move the pinky up another fret I have the Dmaj7 chord. Move the 3rd string down one fret and I have the Minor chord. These fingerings are movable all the way up the fretboard. I instantly have 90% of all chords used in most music automatically right there for me to use without having to memorizing anything. With only 6 fingering positions I have all the chords simply by moving up and down the fret board. It's simple chord theory laid out instantly under your fingers!!

To set up this tuning all you need to do is swap a few strings around. The 3rd (C) moves up to the 4th. The 2nd (E) moves up to the 3rd. And the 4th (G)moves down to the 2nd. The 1st (A) stays at the 1st position. The ukulele still will sound pretty much the same but understanding the chord structure sure becomes very easy. I've struggled with chords for over 30 years but now I can play just about anything and it happened instantly!!

You can also do this same tuning one octave down on a Baritone Ukulele with the advantage that the notes are all in the middle range of the instrument giving a nice full warm tone to the sound. I find this especially great for rhythm playing. None of the higher sounding strings like would be found in the normal ukulele tuning of GCEA. You do need to use different gauge strings for the Baritone. Here is what I use:

C .037
E .033
G .030
A .028

Just buy individual strings for a classical guitar which your local music store should carry. They will be all wound strings that will give you a very full warm tone on your Baritone Ukulele. It's a wonderful sound and so so easy to play!!

Does anyone out there know if this tuning has been done before and if so does it have a name? I can't imagine that no one has ever come up with this very simple tuning structure. It should be called "Logical Tuning" as once you've experienced it you will see how easy it is to play just about any chord out there!

Looking forward to your comments!

Thanks!
 
Welcome to UU Jags. I have not heard of that tuning. I would point out that you can so the same thing with moveable chords on the standard gCEA tuning. In fact the shapes for your major, Maj7, and 7 chords will be exactly the same. Your minor shape would be different.

When I first came to the uke, I couldn't get my head around the reentrant tuning either, but I'm appreciating it for a lot of things. But yeah, whatever is working for you, works.
 
An old Roy Smeck book of mine has Bb major tuning (F, Bb, D, G), if that interests anyone. I've been considering it because of it's lower pitch.
 
Cavaquinho..

I'm using CFAD tuning on one of my ukes. D'Addrio titanium strings . It all started when I restrung an old Italian mandolin with various carbon fiber and nylon strings.
The CFAD on a ukulele is beautiful.

I've just set up a cavaquinho tuned to CFAD rather than DGBD or DGBE
I'm very happy with the results.:eek:
 
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