Alternative tunings

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TheCraftedCow

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I know about GCEG and FCFA, but opened two new ukuleles right from the importer tuned as EAC#A and DGBG. What a nice sound, and to have the IV chord as 2-0-1-0 and the V7 as 0-2-1-2 as well as 5-5-5-5 and 7-7-7-7 respectively. Any one else use other open tunings?
 
I use both Lo-G CEG and Lo-D GBD, and I like 'em both. But, although it's not open tuning, I really like Hi (or Lo) C GDA (5ths tuning) for finger picking and noodling.

Mostly I use open tuning for Clawhammer Banjolele/Banjo and Bluegrass Banjo. :eek:ld:
 
Not quite the same as the open tunings or fifths tunings...but

my preferred tuning for tenors is a re-entrant F-Bb-D-G or even lower with the right strings as re-entrant E-A-C#-F#

and my preferred tuning for baritone is a re-entrant C-F-A-D...

my concerts and sopranos are all re-entrant GCEA.

I want to explore fifths tuning on a tenor, but need to buy another instrument for that since I need to keep the others as they are now (do not wish to restring or retune the existing collection) - UAS never ends :)
 
ubulele said:
I have a concert in 5ths tuning; that's challenge enough. Although I play baritones and classical guitar and am used to hand stretches, I'd find a tenor in 5ths tuning a bit much to handle. The tuning change means that your fingers go from covering (on average) one fret per string to covering two.
Click to expand...

Are you using the Aquila fifths-tuning strings to get the fifths tuning on concert scale, or some others?
 
I slack the top down to gCEg on 4-string, gG-cC-EE-gg (Taropatch) on 8-string, and GGG-CCC-EEE-ggg on cuatro-menor -- nice shimmering sound on the last and its steel strings play well with a slide. I have one soprano strung in 5ths with Aquila Soprano Fifths 30u and another strung backwards and tweaked to pseudo-5ths to a# F C g or 'Irish' a# F C f which allows some nice ringing strings.

Very occasionally I'll tune my concert to 'Sawmill' EAea or GCgc for "power chord" playing. But mostly I like to explore different re-entrant possibilities, from standard gCEa to odd GcEa to cuatro-style GceA. I can combine those last two somewhat on my Kala KA6 6-string in G-cC-E-Aa by being careful of picking positions.
 
Fifths tuning just makes more sense to me. It seems to be more like a wind instrument's fingering. Especially when reading music or noodling. Maybe I'll have more trouble with it as I progress like others do, but for now, I like it.

I have my baritone tuned open because I wanna try slide with it when I have the time. I like open too. :eek:ld:
 
ubulele said:
I like 5ths tuning for melodic stuff, with maybe a harmony note thrown in here or there, but I don't like it for chord work or broken arpeggio-style fingerpicking.
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I find the reversed-strung-and-tweaked pseudo-5ths a# F C g and 'Irish' a# F C f setups are great for chording -- I must *focus* on the mando chords, still a bit alien to me after many decades of guitar. And these make for interesting and challenging re-entrant (counter)melodic picking.

Maybe I'll have to go over to the dark side: the mandolin.
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Mando is good -- my mind parallel-tracks with these small lutes and especially with all the varied stringings and tunings available. Standard "Eye-talian" GDae tuning can be dropped three semitones for Yank Rachell 'blues' tuning with a nice low E. Standard or blues can have the top course slacked a whole tone to 'Irish' tuning for simpler chords and singing drones in some keys. I plan to restring a mando with the courses in octaves rather than unison for a 12-string-guitar-like chording effect. And then there's the mandola...
 
Interesting thread Bill, thanks for it. Must admit it is all a different language to me but I enjoy reading and learning from y'all Gonna try some of these.
 
ubulele said:
Maybe I'll have to go over to the dark side: the mandolin.
Click to expand...

I was cured of this when I looked at prices of some mandolin luthiers! (Also not into metal strings, so that helped to dodge the mando bullet.)

I do love their sound, though. Amazing instruments.
 
TheCraftedCow said:
Any one else use other open tunings?
Click to expand...
I was also interested in an alternate tuning. I wrote a book, which describes 28 tuning: Open Tuning for Ukulele
It is rather a "starter's book" suitable for further exploration.
Each chapter focuses on a particular tuning and explains how to retune the instrument, useful scales and chords across the fretboard and three songs with tablature will also be presented for each tuning.
 
ubulele said:
Doubled steel strings and artificial, high gloss finish: just not the same warm, friendly, mellow vibe as ukulele. And yes, the cost for a decent one is significantly higher. But one can't deny that the mandolin is more suitably designed for fifths tuning.
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High-gloss finish can be removed; I'll do that to my cheap Rogue. [EDIT: No I won't; my lazy side wins.] The luthier-crafted Celtic mando (satin light chestnut finish, no glossy sunbursts) I bought a couple of months ago was US$650+tax, on par with some higher-end factory 'ukes. It sure gives *me* a "warm, friendly, mellow vibe".

And I find the doubled strings no tougher on my fingers than an 'uke. Doubled strings spread the pressure across fingertips more smoothly; a single thin nylon string can hurt more. Of course, I *do* have some calluses from many years on guitar. ;) But I have one mando (a cheap Soviet-made oval-hole flattop, no gloss, no sunburst) with high action that *could* be bothersome -- except I've slacked it three 1/2-steps to EBf#b 'blues' tuning with a nice low E. That lower tension, plus smooth D'Addario FT74 semi-flatwound strings, makes it easy to play.
 
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ubulele said:
The Aquilas (31U)—only set I know of.

I like 5ths tuning for melodic stuff, with maybe a harmony note thrown in here or there, but I don't like it for chord work or broken arpeggio-style fingerpicking. And with nylon-style strings, the sound doesnm't work well on such a small body. I think what is really needed is the inverse of a super concert: a super-tenor body with a concert fretboard. Maybe I'll have to go over to the dark side: the mandolin.
Click to expand...

Amother trick is to take a GCEA (low-G) string set, invert the G and C, detune the E to D and yoy have CGDA (reentrant C). That way if you don't like the feel of fifths, the strings are salvageable. The sound is pretty good, and I have it on my Lanikai tenor, Effin concert and Flea soprano. Will probably try it on the baritone as well.
 
ubulele said:
The problem is that one only gets a partial taste of 5ths tuning with a reentrant emulation.
Click to expand...
Quite right. As I mentioned a few posts back, I find my re-entrant-strung soprano useful for focusing on mando chords, not melodic playing (although I manage a bit of that too). It is certainly not as mando-like as my other soprano strung with an Aquila fifths set. (And that set is not too costly -- around seven bucks IIRC.) No, re-entrant fifths are for novelty, not playability.

I like fifths-strung sopranos -- same scale length as a mandolin but with a wider neck, easy for my big fingers to chord. I see a problem with 5ths-stringing anything much longer than a concert. Many chords on my mandola are quite a stretch. My baritone is the same scale so I will keep it in friendlier tunings. I may commission a mandola with a shorter, thinner neck. I will first try fifths-stringing my next tenor 'uke to see if that scale is comfortable.

Some pseudo-fifths tunings to consider are the 'Sawmill' (power chords) family like CGcg or GDgd (or tune up or down a whole step from those). CFcf or GCgc work also. These tuning are suitable for many fiddle tunes.
 
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