Playing Baritone with GCEA Ukuleles

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jimscullion

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Hi

I've come to ukulele from a guitar background. I have a baritone ukulele tuned DGBE that I really like. I'm going to be playing in a ukulele club with other instruments tuned GCEA. Can i play the same chords as them, or do i have to either transpose up four steps or put on a capo at the fifth fret?

Thanks
 
Capo at the fifth fret is your easiest option (but not your only option) I would say.
 
Same chords but different chord shapes. Since you're coming from a guitar background, one strategy is to play your guitar chord shapes leaving off the imaginary two bottom strings.

If you were coming from a uke background and had already learned the GCEA chord shapes, I would have a different answer.

FWIW, I've found capo at the fifth fret doesn't really work that well for me.
 
Thanks. I'll give it a try with guitar chord shapes without the fifth and sixth strings. ��
 
^^^ This :)

When I play my Baritone at our Uke group, I play guitar chords (obviously allowing for the absence of the E and A )
 
As said already: don't confuse chords (what you hear) with shapes (what you do). Chords remain the same, regardless of instrument, but shapes may differ.

Another option might be to tune the bari to GCEA, Aquila has a string set for that. It will be re-entrant GCEA tuning a full octave below standard; not as low as original DGBE but still way below the other ukes.
 
If you have a bari tuned DGBE and come from a guitar background, you already know the bari chords as they are the same as guitar chords without the 4th & 5th strings. On a chord chart the chord name is key, you just play the bari shape for that chord and you will be fine with a uke group even when all the others are tuned GCEA. Having a bari in a uke group, especially in linear tuning adds a mellowness because of the slightly lower overall pitch of the bari.
 
We had a baritone player at last Saturday's ukulele meeting. It sounded great amongst the standard tuned sopranos, concerts and tenors. We've also played with a guitar and banjo player. There is absolutely no problem playing your baritone in a uke group. Just play a c-chord when a c-chord is called for and all will be good.
 
Louis0815 said:
As said already: don't confuse chords (what you hear) with shapes (what you do). Chords remain the same, regardless of instrument, but shapes may differ.

Another option might be to tune the bari to GCEA, Aquila has a string set for that. It will be re-entrant GCEA tuning a full octave below standard; not as low as original DGBE but still way below the other ukes.
Click to expand...

They also have a GCEA set for tuning the bari at the same pitches as a standard uke. I've tried that one on a cheap baritone and was amazed - it was loud and had a lot of sustain.
 
PTOEguy said:
They also have a GCEA set for tuning the bari at the same pitches as a standard uke.
Click to expand...
Are you sure? The 23U set is one octave lower than standard pitch (cross-checked that with Aquila), i.e. 1st string 3rd fret on Aquila 23U is the same as 3rd string open on your tenor/concert/soprano.
 
Louis0815 said:
As said already: don't confuse chords (what you hear) with shapes (what you do). Chords remain the same, regardless of instrument, but shapes may differ.

Another option might be to tune the bari to GCEA, Aquila has a string set for that. It will be re-entrant GCEA tuning a full octave below standard; not as low as original DGBE but still way below the other ukes.
Click to expand...

For what it's worth, GCEA an octave lower than tenor uke is LOWER than standard DGBE baritone tuning. A standard DGBE baritone uke is five steps below a standard GCEA tenor ukulele. By definition, an octave lower GCEA instrument is lower than that, as a full octave is more than five steps.
 
jimscullion said:
Hi

I've come to ukulele from a guitar background. I have a baritone ukulele tuned DGBE that I really like. I'm going to be playing in a ukulele club with other instruments tuned GCEA. Can i play the same chords as them, or do i have to either transpose up four steps or put on a capo at the fifth fret?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I came from a tenor ukulele background, and now I play (and perform with) a baritone ukulele with my Hawaiian music ukulele class. Gor me, it was a matter of learning new names for chord shapes I already knew and developing new muscle memory to accommodate playing a baritone. For example, the F chord shape on a GCEA-tuned ukulele (2-0-1-0) is a C when played on a DGBE baritone. At first, I would write the tenor chord names on my music sheets when I played baritone, so I would write "F" on my sheet music where I wanted to play a "C." I ten began doing the math in my head, so that when I saw a chord name, I would count up four notes on the scale to get the shape (for example, when I saw a C I would say to myself "C, D, E, F" and play the F shape for baritone, and when I saw a G I would say to myself "G, A, B, C" to get the G shape for baritone. Now I have the brain pathways so that when I see a C while playing a baritone, I immediately go to what would be an F shape on a tenor uke.
 
mds725 said:
For what it's worth, GCEA an octave lower than tenor uke is LOWER than standard DGBE baritone tuning. A standard DGBE baritone uke is five steps below a standard GCEA tenor ukulele. By definition, an octave lower GCEA instrument is lower than that, as a full octave is more than five steps.
Click to expand...
No doubt about that, thx for pointing it out. Linear bari tuning would indeed be D3-G3-B3-E4.

Here is what I wrote to Aquila (roughly a year ago):
I have a question regarding the correct tuning of the Aquila 23U baritone strings:
Are they supposed to be tuned like a standard concert/soprano to G4-C4-E4-A4 (A4=440Hz)?
Or rather an octave lower to G3-C3-E3-A3 (A3=220Hz)?
Click to expand...
And this was the reply:
Hallo, it's an ottave lower.
Warmest regards
Daniela

Mercatino dell’ukulele
marchio registrato di
Aquila Corde Armoniche Srl
Click to expand...
 
Louis0815 said:
No doubt about that, thx for pointing it out. Linear bari tuning would indeed be D3-G3-B3-E4.

Here is what I wrote to Aquila (roughly a year ago):

I have a question regarding the correct tuning of the Aquila 23U baritone strings:
Are they supposed to be tuned like a standard concert/soprano to G4-C4-E4-A4 (A4=440Hz)?
Or rather an octave lower to G3-C3-E3-A3 (A3=220Hz)?
Click to expand...
And this was the reply:
Hallo, it's an ottave lower.
Warmest regards
Daniela

Mercatino dell’ukulele
marchio registrato di
Aquila Corde Armoniche Srl
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

I bought a baritone uke a couple of years ago that came fitted with those strings (3rd octave gCEA). Even though the neck on the bari was extra long (23" as opposed to the standard 19"), they still felt really 'baggy' - not nearly enough tension in them to drive the soundboard properly. I kept them on for a couple of weeks but switched over to DGBE strings very quickly - as soon as I could figure out whether I should be using classical guitar ADGB strings tuned up to DBGE, or just standard linear bari DGBE strings. I tried both but settled on linear DGBE bari. It's not a matter of playing preference/convenience (i.e., a preferred tuning): the uke just sounds so much better under the higher tension strings.
 
jimscullion said:
Hi

I've come to ukulele from a guitar background. I have a baritone ukulele tuned DGBE that I really like. I'm going to be playing in a ukulele club with other instruments tuned GCEA. Can i play the same chords as them, or do i have to either transpose up four steps or put on a capo at the fifth fret?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Just a suggestion Jim, for fun you may want to purchase a set of low g baritone strings. That would give you the gCEA sound. You may enjoy this, booming "ukulele sound".
 
DoctorUke.com has a ton of bari songs...just about all the songs he's done for GCEA hes done for the bari..
That might help,, just a suggestion.. He might have some of the songs your group plays.... ??
 
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