I'd been playing with my new Tom Pocket Uke tuned to GCEA for a few days and I was liking it, but not loving it. The strings were mushy and there wasn't a whole lot of resonance or happiness coming out of it. Someone suggested that I try some alternate tunings and I ultimately ended up with CFAD. Now I am addicted to this little bugger, like I was when I got my first soprano a few years back.
If anybody has bought one of these and is playing it at GCEA, I urge you to try CFAD tuning. At first, you will feel like the strings are going to break or the neck is going to snap right off, but I can assure you that mine has survived and is holding up very well. I have no idea what chords I am playing now, but when I apply the same fingering as I did with GCEA tuning, the instrument just sings out like an amusement park carousel.
My conclusion is that the pocket uke is not designed to be just a smaller version of the uke you play at home. It's a unique instrument by itself, and it's a happier, more childlike sound than other uke models. I was trying to fight that, but I gave in and now I am smiling from my toes every time I pick it up.
Try it, pocket ukers!
If anybody has bought one of these and is playing it at GCEA, I urge you to try CFAD tuning. At first, you will feel like the strings are going to break or the neck is going to snap right off, but I can assure you that mine has survived and is holding up very well. I have no idea what chords I am playing now, but when I apply the same fingering as I did with GCEA tuning, the instrument just sings out like an amusement park carousel.
My conclusion is that the pocket uke is not designed to be just a smaller version of the uke you play at home. It's a unique instrument by itself, and it's a happier, more childlike sound than other uke models. I was trying to fight that, but I gave in and now I am smiling from my toes every time I pick it up.
Try it, pocket ukers!