im just learning about guitalele's and wondering the reason for it.
is it for ukulele players wanting 2 bass strings? or for guitar players wanting to play a ukulele?
For both.
It gives ukulele players those 2 bass strings. It gives guitar players something tuned in the same range as ukulele.
do I need to learn new chords to play a guitalele?
Sort of. The fingerings for the GCEA (4th to 1st) strings remain the same. You just have to learn which chords have the addition of the A and D (6th and 5th) strings being fretted.
can it be tuned EADGBE like a guitar? does it sound better that way or ADGCEA?
Due to the short scale length of the Guitalele, it would be difficult to find strings that give you enough tension for EADGBE tuning.
Furthermore, even if you did, it would sound awful because the lower pitch would not resonate with such a small body.
Lastly, if you're going to tune a Guitalele as EADGBE, you are better off just getting a guitar!!!
thanks in advance, I wish to buy one and the islander one looks like a real deal. anyone try the islander version?
The Islander version seems very good. I haven't tried one.
I own the Yamaha Guitalele and the Oscar Schmidt Guitalele.
I do not like the Yamaha - the string spacing is too narrow. Makes it hard to play, unless you have very very narrow fingers or something.
The Oscar Schmidt is better - a bit more spacing between the strings.
My overall opinion of the Guitalele as an instrument:
It doesn't quite play like an ukulele... yet it doesn't quite play like a classical guitar.
As the name implies, it is somewhere in between.
I think it leans towards feeling a bit more like playing a small classical guitar than ukulele, in terms of fingerpicking technique and feel. Doesn't feel as "bouncy" to strum as you would an ukulele. I play a bit differently when I have a tenor ukulele in hand compared to when I have a guitalele. I find myself doing classical guitar-style fingerpicking when I play guitalele. The string spacings are narrower on Guitalele compared to Ukulele - much like a guitar. The prescence of the two bass strings also changes your fingerpicking and arpeggio method, as well as strumming.
It really helped me in my transition to guitar - familiarising with 6-string chord shapes one step at a time.