Help me understand re-entrant tuning

I never really 'got' high G tuning. Sure, the first uke I tried was high G, but when I went shopping for my own,I found one that was low G. Playing it in the store, it just felt more natural to me. So for the first couple years of my playing I was always playing low G.

Recently, I've decided to get a small soprano because I've taken an interest to the more 'traditional' sound and the claw hammer style.

However, it just doesn't seem 'right' in my head. So I guess asking some of you reformed guitar players would help... what did you do to adjust to the re-entrant tuning?

If you're thinking of clawhammer, treat the high G like the fifth string of a banjo.

I couldn't get away with clawhammer but I like the style in others.

Otherwise when strumming, the high G means that you always end a strum on a high note. It gives a different effect than on a guitar. I have recently restrung a concert uke low G and I'm not sure about it. On some songs it seems to work but on others it just doesn't seem right to me. I reckon it's a function of what you're used to and I was not a guitar player so reentrant sounds right and for me is the "proper" ukulele sound.

As a 40 year plus guitar player, you'd think low G tuning would appeal to me. It doesn't. I've tried it MANY times, briefly. Yes, it comes in handy when playing leads and having more bass notes ... but, I like the uke because it is a higher "register" instrument in terms of sound. So, "C" is the lowest note in the leads I play on a uke. I personally prefer the re-entrant sound. That's just me, many players rely on low G tuning. When I want that kind of depth, I grab my guitar.

Count me as a re-entrant fan also. It just sounds "ukulele". Even on my baritone, I don't mind the low D / linear DGBE, but I don't love it. I have had it in re-entrant / high D dGBE and really like that too... I think I need another baritone so I can go linear and re-entrant.

I was never a guitar player, either, but I guess the general theory of arranging the strings low to high just made more sense. I then got a baritone, which I really enjoy, but it feels too much like a guitar sometimes. I'm starting to really enjoy my new soprano (the thin body Kala 'travel' uke). Just need to get used to re-entrant.

as other said, it's a matter of sound. the ukulele sounds like an ukulele due to the re-entrant tuning, with every strum ending on a high note.

So I guess asking some of you reformed guitar players would help... what did you do to adjust to the re-entrant tuning?

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well, when I first approached the ukulele, I treated it like a toy-instrument... shame on me! I never took it seriously, so I just strummed some chords following the usual construction on guitar.
I wasn't able to go past the third fret because the soprano felt so small that I thought it was impossible to play anything at all

it was five or six years ago...

on december 2015 of I decided to throw myself back to the uke, don't know exactly why. I'm a professional bass player, I sing opera and I play guitar, but the little ukulele has a powerful appeal, and I wanted to learn it to accompany while singing.
however, I still wasn't able to approach it the right way... no fingerpicking, because I couldn't figure the right patterns with the re-entrant tuning, limited range because I couldn't get my fingers in the small frets..

so I bought a book, "Ukulele Aerobics" by Chad Johnson. I knew by name the Bass version of this series, I red a bunch of reviews and it seemed to be a good book.

it was!

I learned a lot of chords forms, many fingerpicking patterns and ways to use the re-entrant tuning in solo parts. I would suggest this book to anybody, it's really a great book. I'm not even at it's half, but now I can actually "play" the ukulele, and the soprano it's not small anymore it's really a strange feeling. now I can go up the frets with ease.
I'm still not good at playing it, but since january, when I couldn't go past the third fret and just strum something in the key of G, C and F, there's an enormous difference.

however, re-entrant tuning is what makes the ukulele sound like an ukulele, and I love it.

like Jake Shimabukuro says, the ukulele has the range of a human voice, with barely two octaves (less in the soprano with 12 frets), and that's what makes it an instrument so sweet and peaceful.

farmerjones said:

I was never a guitar player, either, but I guess the general theory of arranging the strings low to high just made more sense. I then got a baritone, which I really enjoy, but it feels too much like a guitar sometimes. I'm starting to really enjoy my new soprano (the thin body Kala 'travel' uke). Just need to get used to re-entrant.

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The re-entrant tuning shows the ukulele's Portuguese and Spanish roots. The small 5-course baroque guitar was also commonly tuned re-entrant: e b g d' a'

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_guitar

But I still prefer Low G, and to my ear a uke always sounds like a uke, no matter the strings or tuning used.

I like both. Typically I get into a groove (rut?) where I'll play a lot of one for weeks or months and then switch back for no apparent reason. To me, the difference is mostly about voicing. The chords are all the same but some stuff just sounds better on one or the other. So when you say "it doesn't seem right in my head" I get that. When that happens, try this - either play the same chords on the other uke - or - change the key of the song on the uke you're holding. If you do that, I think you'll start hearing stuff that only sounds right on reentrant.

Pros of re-entrant tuning:
- strumming and especially fingerpicking sounds more complex than it actually is - as with 5-string banjos, a simple picking pattern over a chord sounds complex and uplifting.
- the soundbox (especially of a soprano) is more suited for amplifying higher register sounds (but I agree the difference is really minimal: we're talking about five steps or 3 notes lower, nothing more)
- campanella playing, like lutists and romantic guitarists can: letting notes ring throughout a melody, a bit like a delay pedal but then purely in an acoustic instrument.

Pros of linear tuning:
- logic, and therefore more intuitive to play
- a slightly larger range for melody playing

I see the appeal of both re-entrant and low-G, but I find myself using low-G pretty much 99% of the time.

It's just much more suitable for my needs. Some of my instrumentals require that low-G, and being just with a re-entrant uke kinda makes me "unable to play those songs properly".

ukulelekarcsi said:

Pros of re-entrant tuning:
- strumming and especially fingerpicking sounds more complex than it actually is - as with 5-string banjos, a simple picking pattern over a chord sounds complex and uplifting.
- the soundbox (especially of a soprano) is more suited for amplifying higher register sounds (but I agree the difference is really minimal: we're talking about five steps or 3 notes lower, nothing more)
- campanella playing, like lutists and romantic guitarists can: letting notes ring throughout a melody, a bit like a delay pedal but then purely in an acoustic instrument.

Pros of linear tuning:
- logic, and therefore more intuitive to play
- a slightly larger range for melody playing

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Great post.

Personally, I strongly prefer re-entrant tuning. It is, to me, part of what makes a ukulele a ukulele rather than just a miniature guitar with fewer strings. I also prefer the re-entrant sound. In the end, though, it all comes down to preference and what you want to play. Also, to a degree, how you want to play. High-G allows for some techniques that you can't pull off equally well (or at all) on a low-G ukulele, and vice versa. There is a HMS video where that is also nicely, if incompletely, demonstrated by Aaron (can't look up the light right now).

The linear tuning is probably more logical, particularly to people who have a guitar background, but the ukulele was my first stringed instrument (no interest in others, either), so high-G, or rather: re-entrant, is familiar to me and "feels right" (also sounds right). I've never sat there and felt that the arrangement of the strings doesn't make sense; I just accepted and experienced from the start that this is how they are arranged.

The only other instrument I'm somewhat decent with is the large family of kalimbas and marimbas, and there are numerous layouts for those, most of them not linear or "logical" in the sense a piano or keyboard player would define "logical". It stretches the mind.

if you only want to strum, low G will give you richer chords. Some chords on high G will have two of the same note, that's a waste. However fingerpicking on a re-entrant allows you to do very smooth lines due to the use of alternating strings, the notes continue to ring like playing a piano with the sustain pedal down. I also play 5 string banjo and you do the same there, it sounds very smooth. Flatpicked melodies on guitar or mandolin or uke sound more percussive and maybe a little jerky. Depends on what you are going for. But you won't be able to play that smooth style without a re-entrant string. It's having two strings tuned close together that lets you alternate strings for the next note, instead of having to use the next fret on the same string.

Mivo said:

...It is, to me, part of what makes a ukulele a ukulele rather than just a miniature guitar with fewer strings.

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What "makes a ukulele a ukulele" is its small body size and scale, and how lightly built, responsive, and more resonant it is than any modern guitar. There's no mistaking it for a "miniature guitar" to anyone with experience of both. It really has nothing to do with the tuning.

Soundbored said:

What "makes a ukulele a ukulele" is its small body size and scale, and how lightly built, responsive, and more resonant it is than any modern guitar. There's no mistaking it for a "miniature guitar" to anyone with experience of both. It really has nothing to do with the tuning.

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I certainly respect your opinion, but to me re-entrant tuning is nevertheless one of the aspects that contribute to the definition of what a ukulele is.

Re-entrant is the classic tuning for a uke, therefore part of what a uke is, no two ways about it.

My first uke was high g. I drove me nuts trying to push guitarisms into it.
So then I switched it to low G. And it made more sense.

But for learning.. I hate staff, so I always gravitate to tab. But the vast majority of stuff
is tabbed for high G. So, I got a second uke, and left it high G so I could play other people's
stuff. After a while, you stop trying to make it do what you think, and start just playing the
instrument as it is, and then the linear bias goes away, and re-entrant starts to click and becomes
natural.

Now.. I just go back and forth. If I'm working out a new to me song from my head, I pick up one
try some stuff, and pick up the other and try some stuff, and just see which one works out better.
Alot of times the low G works out better for me... but for somethings, high G sounds better and is
easier. Some songs seem to go well with a bass-ier drone, while some.. that sounds crap. It all
kinda depends.

If you're coming from guitar.. you are coming with a set of expectations that the re-entrant throws
off. But there's some really neat things about it too. Not just sound. And it's worth exploring both.

This is no more difficult to understand than having two feet. One wears a left shoe and the other wears a right shoe. Both shoes feel comfortable when worn on the correct foot. when they are reversed, both feet feel equally uncomfortable, because they are not made to fit the other foot. Even if one were to cut off one foot, the other shoe would still be uncomfortable.. If you do not have feet...you cannot understand this simple analogy. Then try it with gloves...the same logic applies. If you have no hands, it really doesn't matter because you can't play either voicing. nor can you explore DirK Wormhout's voicing of dGBe or gCEa. ( and yes, rubber gloves fit either hand) :~)

Well, I'm probably your polar opposite. I come to uke from 40+years of guitar. I am not looking for a 4-string guitar. I mostly play bari and always re-entrant. I play uke music, mostly fingerpicking, mostly campanella, which is perfect for re-entrant uke. I actually just play regular uke instrumentals on the bari and ignore that it's a fifth down.

I have a friend who was a bass player and now has taken up the uke. He strings linear and mostly plays rock stuff and no actual uke music. It's pretty clear to me that he is not interested in ukes - he just wants a guitar with fewer strings so he can play guitar stuff. That's fine if that's what he wants, but I don't "convert guitar" stuff to the uke - I play uke stuff. Otherwise just buy a tenor guitar and be done.

YMMV
sopher

Mivo said:

Great post.

Personally, I strongly prefer re-entrant tuning. It is, to me, part of what makes a ukulele a ukulele rather than just a miniature guitar with fewer strings. I also prefer the re-entrant sound. In the end, though, it all comes down to preference and what you want to play. Also, to a degree, how you want to play. High-G allows for some techniques that you can't pull off equally well (or at all) on a low-G ukulele, and vice versa. There is a HMS video where that is also nicely, if incompletely, demonstrated by Aaron (can't look up the light right now).

The linear tuning is probably more logical, particularly to people who have a guitar background, but the ukulele was my first stringed instrument (no interest in others, either), so high-G, or rather: re-entrant, is familiar to me and "feels right" (also sounds right). I've never sat there and felt that the arrangement of the strings doesn't make sense; I just accepted and experienced from the start that this is how they are arranged.

The only other instrument I'm somewhat decent with is the large family of kalimbas and marimbas, and there are numerous layouts for those, most of them not linear or "logical" in the sense a piano or keyboard player would define "logical". It stretches the mind.

Click to expand...

I have held off expressing my opinion, but Mivo has done if for me. I never really played the guitar, beyond just learning a few chords, but that was where I was headed when I discovered the ukulele. I dropped the guitar and started playing ukulele, and I've never looked back. To me, the re-entrant tuning is what it is all about. There are plenty of linear tuned instruments out there to play, the re-entrant ukulele is unique. I'm going to stick my neck out, and say that if one wants to turn their ukulele into just another linear tuned instrument, more power to them. That isn't going to be me. As far as the comment about size, shape, and four strings, there are no bounds when it comes to size, shape, and number of strings that define the ukulele.

I love re-entrant tuning. I have it on my soprano, obviously, but also on my dGBE tenor, and on my guitalele with Southcoast's 'Eddie Freeman Special' strings. On my baritone, I have linear tuning, but I enjoy my tenor more these days, due to the mellow sound of the re-entrant dGBE tuning.