B Tuning, what are the benefits and how does it change how you play?

hollisdwyer

hollisdwyer

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I just read/listened to a review of 4 fabulous Tenors (Grimes, Hannam, Kinnard and Mya Moe) tuned to B. They all sounded great.

Pardon my ignorance but I'd appreciate it if someone would explain why you would do this. The two groups that I regularly play with tune to C.

When you tune to B does it change the chord shapes. Could you use a capo to quickly bring it up to C (as you can see I don't even know what notes the 4 strings are tuned to).

I am really intrigued and would appreciate learning the potential benefits of this different tuning.

Cheers to all you helpful people in advance.
 
Could not many of these benefits accrue by using thicker composition strings?

Mea culpa: for all that I possess a number of 'ukes, most are pretty new; I haven't changed very many 'uke strings (guitars, banjos and mandos are another matter!) and I haven't surveyed the composition string market thoroughly. I assume that, as with metal, various composition gages are offered. Adding heavier strings should give warmer tones, lower tension, high-action relief, etc without detuning.

Not that I normally would need to detune anyway -- natural string-stretch handles that!
 
I use B tuning on most of my ukes, because I love the lower deeper tones most of the time..and a slightly lower range is much more comfortable for my voice when I sing alone.
 
k0k0peli said:
Could not many of these benefits accrue by using thicker composition strings?
Click to expand...

Thicker strings won't change the string frequencies if still tuned GCEA. Higher linear density strings will require more tension in GCEA, than thinner strings of the same material, so they should excite the top a bit more. But, they will sound pretty much the same from a frequency perspective.

caukulele said:
I use B tuning on most of my ukes, because I love the lower deeper tones most of the time..and a slightly lower range is much more comfortable for my voice when I sing alone.
Click to expand...

Well stated. I agree with Denise.
 
Dirk at Southcoast has written pretty extensively about the B tuning and why, sonically, they can be a perfect tuning for many tenor size instruments. I automatically start with B tuning on all new tenors I've had and go from there.
 
CTurner said:
Dirk at Southcoast has written pretty extensively about the B tuning and why, sonically, they can be a perfect tuning for many tenor size instruments. I automatically start with B tuning on all new tenors I've had and go from there.
Click to expand...

I subscribe to Dirks newsletter so will look up this info. Thanks to all who so far have provided some very interesting POV's that I will now have to get my head around.
Has any seen a published chord chart for B tuning or do you have to work it out yourself?
 
Bb is where it's at! For tenors for sure
 
I have a Treholippee that is essentially a wall hanger until Halloween when I take it down to play Season of the Witch (in costume). this past year I played the song the song on it without checking the tuning. It had changed to Bb and playing the chord shapes A7 D7 & D9 which went to actually G7 C7 & C9 worked much better on the Treholippee than the normal high G. I now leave it Bb tuned .
 
I have a concert that sounds wonderful in Bb - really deep and warm sounding. Similarly I even have a soprano in B. I personally find tenors in C tuning a bit brittle and strangled sounding. Matching the tuning to the resonance of the uke is the way to go for me.
 
If I wanted to tune my concert (which is now on C tuning) down to Bb would I need to buy different strings? It is currently strung with low G Reds.
 
whistleman123 said:
If I wanted to tune my concert (which is now on C tuning) down to Bb would I need to buy different strings? It is currently strung with low G Reds.
Click to expand...

They should be ok. It depends on your setup. Tune it down. If it doesn't buzz, you're good.
 
I've been hesitant to ask, hoping I would figure it out, but if you tune all your strings a semitone down, then you either play bar chords, or capo the first fret, to bring it back up to C tuning, where do you gain all this "warmth"?
 
As others mentioned, B or Bb tuning does often add a lot of warmth and decreases 'jangle'. It definitely depends on what sound you are looking for. But I like a very warm sound and fairly low string tension. I tune tenors and concerts down to B or Bb pretty much all of the time. Sopranos to me are generally fine in C thought I have a large body cedar top soprano which I prefer in B as well. I just play all the songs using the same fingerings so songs in the key of C are now in the key of B. I rarely play with others so this isn't an issue and it often makes them a bit easier for me to sing along with.

I am actually surprised that so many people play tenors tuned to C in re-entrant tuning. That whole setup just feels wrong to me. I normally play sopranos in re-entrant tuning but to me the point of a tenor is a deeper, warmer, richer sound which I think is best captured with softwood tops, low G tuning, and Bb tuning. But if everyone liked Vanilla then Baskin Robbins wouldn't offer so many flavors. It's all about what sounds good to you.
 
Rllink said:
I've been hesitant to ask, hoping I would figure it out, but if you tune all your strings a semitone down, then you either play bar chords, or capo the first fret, to bring it back up to C tuning, where do you gain all this "warmth"?
Click to expand...

Well, I don't use a capo. I just play in a lower key.
 
Rllink said:
I've been hesitant to ask, hoping I would figure it out, but if you tune all your strings a semitone down, then you either play bar chords, or capo the first fret, to bring it back up to C tuning, where do you gain all this "warmth"?
Click to expand...

Take a look at the attached. It was too hard to format on the screen

C to Bb.jpg
 
So I tried this on my Collings UT2 and was not instantly wowed. I need to try it playing a few different songs with a mic and my headphones to get a "listeners" perspective. Even if I stay C on that uke, it's fun for me to experiment like this as it generally provides some key learning experience.
 
Ukulele Eddie said:
So I tried this on my Collings UT2 and was not instantly wowed. I need to try it playing a few different songs with a mic and my headphones to get a "listeners" perspective. Even if I stay C on that uke, it's fun for me to experiment like this as it generally provides some key learning experience.
Click to expand...

I have had the same experience/reaction as you Eddie. I tuned my re-entrance Mya Moe down to B and some songs sounded nice while others did not sound right. I put it down to "conditioned listening".......just use to hearing something a certain way. It is fun to experiement and I do like my baritone tuned to Bb, can use my regular tenor chord shapes and a G sounds like a G.
 
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