Comparing Baritone tabs to Low G Uke tabs

I am not sure Baritone suddenly becomes popular in UU or I am just noticing it after I bought one. There seems to be a lot more posts regarding Baritone this past weeks.

Here is one more:
Pls note when I say tabs I means finger style not chords.

I compare some Baritone tabs to Ukulele Low G arrangements, they seem to be very similar.
Am I right to say that you can play pretty much all Low G arrangements on Baritone ?
As long as you are not using chords, Baritone is no difference from regular size uke therefore there is nothing new to learn ! Correct?

You just have a few more lower notes, (& a few less higher), on a bari compared to a low G setup, so yes, basically, you can play them all.

I think you'll find the sudden interest is from people relatively new here, like myself.

N.B. You can play the chords on a bari.

SoloRule said:

...I compare some Baritone tabs to Ukulele Low G arrangements, they seem to be very similar.
Am I right to say that you can play pretty much all Low G arrangements on Baritone ?
As long as you are not using chords, Baritone is no difference from regular size uke therefore there is nothing new to learn ! Correct?...

Click to expand...

You can play them whether they are finger style or chords. Your finger position is the same, but the chord has a different name. That doesn't matter. What matters is the sound coming out of your sweet baritone! ;-)

Note that you can also play a lot of High G (Re-Entrant C) tabs on a Low G (Linear C) or Low D (Linear G) ukulele. Sometimes it requires no tweaking at all. Sometimes you need to find an alternative way to play certain notes (e.g., instead of playing an open 4th string G which would be an octive too low, play the 2nd string fretted at the third fret which is the same octive G as on a Re-Entrant C uke). And sometimes it doesn't work well at all. It depends on the arrangement.

BTW, most of us without musical backgrounds were all confused/surprised by this at some point. I borrowed a baritone uke from a fellow member and just played a few songs that I knew. They sounded fine, except in a few cases where the active note was off (e.g., there was a melody note on the 4th string). At first, I was thoroughly confused because I "assumed" I would have to learn all new chord shapes. So, hang in there and have fun exploring!

If one fingerpicks Low G arrangements (tabs) on a Lo D GBE baritone, they'll sound all right but be lower pitched and in a different key.

Do you fingerpick without chords? ld:

I'm pretty sure that you can use tabs on either, it's just you'll be playing in a different key or note. It will sound Okay, unless you're playing with others who are in C6. I'm not a note picker, but I play my bari like it was a Concert using the same chord forms and it is just a fourth lower (4th right?), on some songs as shifting to Bari forms to stay in key is a bit hard for me at this time, though I am learning to play in proper keys for other songs.

I play my dGBE Tenors mostly as the Bari is a little big and my concerts are too high for me to sing with.

I think the baritone topics were always here (I dug up quite a few when reading up on baritone-y matters over the past week), but I had never noticed them before as I had not been interested in the size until I spontaneously bought one. Like you, I'm quite under its spell right now. (I changed mine to high-d today, though, as I found the linear tuning too boom-y.)

The only complaint I have with the Baritone is the high notes that goes pass fret 10 . They are not as clean as a tenor.
The frets height are actually easier than the other sizes even with my small hands. Somehow less mistake shown when not fretting properly.
Yes it is a great sounding instrument but I must remind myself not to love my tenors less. LOL
Back to the topic of this thread. I found the huge difference is with classical pieces. For those , I pretty much have to stick with the arrangement suggested key tuning.

Slightly off topic.

SoloRule said:

Yes it is a great sounding instrument but I must remind myself not to love my tenors less. LOL

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You might like to consider trying Concert scale Low G string set tuned to (low) D G B E on a Tenor, I have my old one set up this way.

I have Low G tenors
If I tune it to DGBE the strings may be too loose for finger picking. No?

SoloRule said:

I have Low G tenors
If I tune it to DGBE the strings may be too loose for finger picking. No?

Click to expand...

I'm using Concert length strings.

Edit: Aquila with Red Low G.

uke1950 said:

I'm using Concert length strings.

Edit: Aquila with Red Low G.

Click to expand...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THOSE RED.....if they don't snap.

Today I just realized that the 4 strings on Baritone have the same pitch relationship as the strings on Low G. On both Baritone and Low G, the count of half-tones between the 4 strings are 5 (between G and C on Low G), 4 (between C and E), and 5 (between E and A). The only difference is Baritone pitch is 5 half-tones lower than Low G.

So I think Baritone and Low G tablatures (not sheet scores) can be exchanged nearly perfectly. Of course the pitch and the chord names are different. That means I can play Baritone tabs on Low G.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
If I'm correct, I think I find a "new land" and I won't ignore Baritone tabs any more...

BTW, I think it's OK to reply to such an old thread on this forum, right?

I play lots of chord melody or fingerstyle notes plus chords. I play tabs written for low G on my baritone without issue, just in a different key. Many ukulele tabs are in the key of C which translates to G on my baritone and that seems quite pleasing to my ear. Often tabs arranged for gCEA will work fine too.

No, you're right. Check out those baritone tabs, too.
I think it makes more sense to consider tabs for reentrant ukulele vs linear ukulele.
The only considerations not to play 'baritone' tabs on a low G instrument or (more likely) vice versa, is the reach you need. If your fingers have to splay out from the first to the fourth fret, that is quite a stretch on my 20" baritone. That is a lot easier on the tenor.

SoloRule said:

I am not sure Baritone suddenly becomes popular in UU or I am just noticing it after I bought one. There seems to be a lot more posts regarding Baritone this past weeks.

Here is one more:
Pls note when I say tabs I means finger style not chords.

I compare some Baritone tabs to Ukulele Low G arrangements, they seem to be very similar.
Am I right to say that you can play pretty much all Low G arrangements on Baritone ?
As long as you are not using chords, Baritone is no difference from regular size uke therefore there is nothing new to learn ! Correct?

Click to expand...

It is strange how many ways people on the internet use the word "tab". Yours is a new one for me.

My definition of tab (short for tablature) is a way of showing where to put your fingers to play a song. This would not be limited to chords, finger style, flat picking or clawhammer. The most common way of notating tab is with four lines to show the strings and numbers to show the frets. The timing uses the same symbols as standard notation. Some put the number right over the line and some put it on top of the line as in A in the photo.
A shows how chords would be notated.
B shows how a finger style measure would be notated.
C shows a flat picked measure (a bar of Blackberry Blossom) This could be played with thumb-index.
D shows a sample of clawhammer or up-picked notation.
E shows a chord melody passage that could be played with fingers or thumb or even a pick.