Baritone Uke with different tuning

Kherome

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 5, 2019
Messages
91
Reaction score
0
Location
Northern US
I know that baritones are usually DGBE but I read that they can be tuned to regular uke GCEA. Out of curiosity does anyone know of a video which shows the two tunings played so I can hear how it's different? Thanks!
 
I know that baritones are usually DGBE but I read that they can be tuned to regular uke GCEA. Out of curiosity does anyone know of a video which shows the two tunings played so I can hear how it's different? Thanks!

Jake experimented with re-entrant tuning on his baritone during the recording of The Nashville Sessions. Here is link to the interview below: Jake Interview

You’ve always been dedicated to your tenor. How did you end up using several different kinds of ukuleles on this record?

The idea of layering the tenor, soprano, and baritone ukuleles came from hanging out with [resonator guitar master] Jerry Douglas immediately prior to going into the studio. We were talking about octave pedals and he turned me onto the Electro-Harmonix Micro POG, which lets you layer octave sounds and play chords. It gave me the idea to simulate the effect of the octave pedal, but by using real instruments, like the baritone to play the lower octave and the soprano to play a higher octave.

I used a Kamaka Baritone that I bought used at Dan’s Guitars in Honolulu. It’s my first baritone and it’s about 50 years old. I tuned it an octave down from my tenor, in re-entrant tuning, and used it on a lot of tunes, like “Man of Mud,” on which I played it overdriven, and on “Motown.” Casey Kamaka made the soprano for my son when he was born. It sounds so beautiful, but what I did was tune it really high, sometimes a full octave higher than normal.

 
Go to Glen Rose Jazzy Ukulele. Glen plays a baritone with GCEA low G tuning. It’s a fuller sound than a tenor tuned similarly. I think that is one advantage and the other is just whether or not you prefer the size of a baritone. The disadvantage is that frets are further apart on a baritone and therefore some chord stretches are harder.

I play baritone and tenor. I like both.

Just read the above from Jake. Dan’s is such a local shop in Honolulu. The people there are really nice. Great that Jake buys locally.
 
Last edited:
Guadalupe Strings, I believe in Los Angeles, makes a set of GCEA baritone strings tuned an octave lower than the usual ukulele GCEA. Here is a link to a Youtube video demonstrating the sound. The guy doesn't start playing until about 5:20 into the video. It's a nice bassy sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTcl2vfofBk
 
Last edited:
Guadalupe Strings, I believe in Los Angeles, makes a set of GCEA baritone strings tuned an octave lower than the usual ukulele GCEA. Here is a link to a Youtube video demonstrating the sound. The guy doesn't start playing until about 5:20 into the video. It's a nice bassy sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTcl2vfofBk

Guadalupe makes excellent strings
 
It's actually fairly common for folk in Hawaii to tune baritone ukuleles to tenor pitch ( G C E A). It's usually not for the bigger sound of the instrument but because they have big hands and need more space to finger their chords and can't afford a pricy long neck tenor. Plus, they can easily jam with their tenor/concert/soprano playing buddies. You'll need to string the baritone with thinner/lighter strings or it will sound choked and be hard to play. For example, the typical baritone wound 4th string is a .028 or .029" sliver wound string. You might want to install a .025 or .026" silver wound instead (D'Addario silver wound classical guitar string singles come in the smaller sizes). I've seen special sets at HMS for baritones to be tuned as a tenor but I've always cut my own strings.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom