only Only ONLY low G ?

Icelander53

Icelander53

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How many here prefer their ukes in Low G tuning? How many have most or all of their ukes in low G tuning? Why do you prefer low G? Do you have any problems with playing with others or doing most songs if you are in low G?

I've just started playing in low G and now reentrant sounds kind of strange and weak.
 
I love low G for certain songs or certain kinds of playing. In a group, it helps to have some low G's to make the sound fuller if you don't have any baritones or if you don't have a Ubass. I still play my reentrants mostly. And that may very well be due to the fact that our only low G is a tenor and I'm a concert/soprano player. But I do enjoy the sound when I get my low G tenor out. I don't think my concert or soprano sounds strange or weak, but each of them have a pretty full and lustrous tone with good sustain. My concert has better sustain than my little soprano, but it is a small body soprano. Still love the jangly sound of it though. I'm talking in circles, aren't I. But, it is kind of cyclical - I play whatever instrument to suit my mood I guess.
 
You have ventured far into the dark side young skywalker.

I am the opposite..........sort of.:)I love the sound of low G when someone else is playing it, when I play one it really bugs me. Maybe my string selection was not optimum for the one uke I had set up low G. More than likely the songs I play and ALL my ukes are reentrant so MY ears are conditioned to hear that sound when I am playing.

When the twin brother to your Pono lands in my hands I might give it another honest try. How is the ebony cedar sounding now that you have had it a while, still marvelous?
 
I don't own a uke strung with a low G. Everyone is on their own journey. My journey is with reentrant tuning. For me, playing within that tuning is a challenge in itself, and it is where I'm going. Low G sounds nice, and it has its advantages, but that just isn't where I'm going. So that is just me.
 
DownUpDave said:
I am the opposite..........sort of.:)I love the sound of low G when someone else is playing it, when I play one it really bugs me. Maybe my string selection was not optimum for the one uke I had set up low G. More than likely the songs I play and ALL my ukes are reentrant so MY ears are conditioned to hear that sound when I am playing.
Click to expand...

My sentiments exactly. I plan eventually to pick a handful of songs to play low G and then give it a serious try for about six months, likely keeping one uke re-entrant and the other low G. Well, that's my plan and I'll either stick to it or I won't. ;-)
 
I will probably never be only low G or only reentrant. I like the sounds of both and like many genres of music, some of which will lean one way more than the other.
 
I regularly use both tunings, each has their place. For just playing chords in a uke group it doesn't matter which you use.
 
DownUpDave said:
You have ventured far into the dark side young skywalker.

I am the opposite..........sort of.:)I love the sound of low G when someone else is playing it, when I play one it really bugs me. Maybe my string selection was not optimum for the one uke I had set up low G. More than likely the songs I play and ALL my ukes are reentrant so MY ears are conditioned to hear that sound when I am playing.




When the twin brother to your Pono lands in my hands I might give it another honest try. How is the ebony cedar sounding now that you have had it a while, still marvelous?
Click to expand...

Can't say enough good things about it and in low G with south coast strings I love the way it sounds and plays to my own ear. Donna love's it too and hers should be here today actually. She's gone low G also. I like the low G so much I'm thinking of restringing my other Pono. Hence this thread. I'll still have the Gretsch in reentrant.
 
On any given day all of my ukuleles are tuned low-G (G3) GDAE or CGDA with low-G with "reentrant" C (C4). I just like the sound and they chord-up just the same as my other stringed instruments. The convenience of one chording pattern across several instrument types/sizes works for me.
 
I had a low G until the ol' red string broke. It was all right I guess. I liked the extra three notes it gave me, but that was when I was trying not to fingerpick. I like my Lo-DGBE baritone though which is of course similar. :eek:ld:
 
I play mostly in low G. Or in my case its low E or F. It suits my fingerpicking style and its a better accompaniment to my voice. I get the feeling some people are trying to kid themselves by repeating the mantra that its "only 3 lower notes" When your playing chords its an octave difference compared to the reentrant tuning which has the bass note an octave higher and it makes quite a difference. A ukulele is not the instrument I would pick to play solo bass note runs.

Anthony
 
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DownUpDave said:
You have ventured far into the dark side young skywalker.

I am the opposite..........sort of.:)I love the sound of low G when someone else is playing it, when I play one it really bugs me. Maybe my string selection was not optimum for the one uke I had set up low G. More than likely the songs I play and ALL my ukes are reentrant so MY ears are conditioned to hear that sound when I am playing.




When the twin brother to your Pono lands in my hands I might give it another honest try. How is the ebony cedar sounding now that you have had it a while, still marvelous?
Click to expand...
Just heard from Donna on her new Pono cedar/ebony cutaway in log G. Big thumbs up.
 
I play both low G and reentrant. I keep one uke strung with low G, the others are reentrant. Overall I prefer reentrant because the high g string is good for for melody notes. But there are some jazz tune arrangements that really need that low G to get the chords to sound nice. My right hand style changes with the tuning. In low G, I play more low-to-high arpeggios, and in reentrant, I rely on strumming for rhythm. Also when I strum in low G, I only lightly touch the low G string when I strum. That's my low G secret - keep the low string quiet when strumming. Even while picking, muting the low string is a must. It overpowers the little guys.
 
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only Only ONLY HIGH G for me...any ukes with low G sound boomy to me!
 
Great topic!

Basically, I loved playing the uke at first for its interesting re-entrant tuning. It confused my ear (musical hearing) at first with that high G sounding as I would try to sing while strumming chords. That forced me to try to do chord inversions to counteract that effect because I found that the high G caused me to sing the wrong melody notes (usually ones in harmony though!). hehe

Finally, after years, I worked it out. My musical brain is finally used to hearing that re-entrant tuning. That being said, I have some tenors and I will go low G on my new Martin 2K once I finish my review of it. Why? I already have a concert re-entrant uke if I want more steam and sound, and I want to explore flamenco techniques with the low G on the tenor. I've noticed by practicing some flamenco stuff on the tenor with re-entrant tuning that it really misses the low register.

I guess it really depends what you intend to play and in what key. I guess I'm saying I can appreciate the need for a low G tenor uke now. :cool:

Petey
 
I'm primarily a fingerpicker. Some arrangements really need the low G to sound right. It extends the uke's range a bit. For strumming, it doesn't make that much difference, although re-entrant sounds a bit more traditional for that.

Of my seven tenors, two are in low G.
 
Playing for only a year hi G, a couple of weeks ago I picked up a solid body steel string electric and went low G on it (getting ready to do a sample video). It's still strange sounding to me and I'm not sure I'm going to keep it that way.
 
Right now my Soprano, and Concert Ukes are all re-entrant tuning, and my Tenor is strung with a Aquila Red low G. I like the low G on the Tenor, but prefer the re-entrant tuning on the smaller body Ukes with brighter tone quality. I tend to strum the smaller Ukes more, and pick the Tenor more. So, somehow the low G seems right for the Tenor. But I think it's entirely subjective, and that's just my way of doing it.
 
It took two or three attempts for me to successfully maintain a low g on a uke. But once I finally went to the low g side, I never went back. I can't carry a tune in a bucket, and since I can't sing, I play only fingerpicking instrumentals. In that realm, low g is great. When I do strum, it is usually a jazz song. and low g colors those chords nicely.

I have four ukes - two low g (my primary player and backup) and two high g (kept that way in case I feel like playing a high g uke). But if I am being honest, for me it is low g 99.9% of the time.
 
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