Baritone Ukulele

So i wanted to bought an ukulele on an auction, but my instrument lost durning a sending (Couriers in Poland are crazy guys ) But the seller wanted to be a good man and send me a more expensive model (Hooray!) Well... It's a baritone ukulele - But i am happy with it so i want to know, if learning on it is such easy as on a soprano uke. Can i play it like it's a soprano version and it will sound quite good? Do you know sites where i can learn baritone ukulele?


Ah, and it's my first post - Hi to all of us!

Hi Melcior,

Your baritone ukulele is tuned DGBE instead of GCEA, so it is in a different key, but you play it just the same.

The shape that makes a G major chord on a soprano, concert or tenor will make a D major chord on your baritone, and the shape that is C on those other sizes will be a G for you. So, the chord shapes are the same, but they will sound a 4th lower on your uke.

I started on a soprano then switched to baritone. It's just as easy to learn on. Just get a baritone ukulele chord chart and play the same chords( by name) as everyone else.

So i just have to learn chords for baritone, and then i can use soprano tabs?

Don't know if I will be explaining this correctly, but I'll give it a try.

If you know the chords for a baritone and you are looking at the chords for a song in soprano, what you play on the baritone will be correct.

Chords and tabs are a little different though. If you have the chords and lyrics for instance it will tell you to play C chord, then switch to F, then switch to G.
You would be playing this correctly.

If it is actual tabs (check out some of aldrine's videos on how to read tab), it is not telling you what chord to play. A tab tells you which string to play and where to fret that string.

Tabs are very good for solos, songs that show chord progression are good for strumming and sing-along.

If everything was written in tab, what you play will still sound fine, but if you are singing it will be in a much lower key.

The biggest problem will be if there are songs you look at for a soprano that show chords for part of the song and then show tabs for a solo. When you start the solo you will be in the wrong key. You can play the chords and it will be correct, but the solo will need to be transposed to sound correct or possibly rearranged.

If a tab shows the A string(highest string in pitch) at the 5th Fret, a baritone played on the highest string(E string) would be the same note.

Hopefully this makes some sense and doesn't scare you too much. I'm sure someone on here with a little more knowledge than me can explain it more clearly.

I play my father's Beltone baritone a lot and I've always run into the same problem. Cool thing is if you look up a guitar tab and it is a solo on the four highest strings, that is what you have with a baritone, so you can use a lot of guitar tabs.

You can play the tabs exactly as written. It'll just sound LOWER, in a different key.


Here's a baritone chord chart from UkeHunt: http://baritoneukulelehunt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/baritonechords.pdf

Notice that the shapes are similiar to standard uke tuning? Look at the bari G-chord. Its 0003. That shape is the same as a standard uku C-chord. Now look at the bari A chord, 2220. That is the same as a standard uku D-chord. Now look at the baritone D7 chord 0212. That's the same as the G7 for standadr uku. See the pattern emerging here?

A baritone is tuned exactly the same as the bottom four strings of a guitar. So it sounds more like a guitar. The chords are also different. For the tabs/chords you see around here, you'll almost always have to use different chord diagrams or transpose. It may be a bit harder for you to learn. I'd suggest you buy a set of GCEA Baritone strings. I know Aquila makes a set.

I like Alec's idea. Get a set of GCEA baritone strings, and it is just like you have a big giant low g soprano. Good call Alec!

Hah I did quite the opposite. I started with baritone and moved onto soprano, and now soprano to concert :]

Yay, I'm not the only ukulelist in Poland, good news

And here's bad news: it's a struggle to get any decent ukulele strings here. Aquillas are out of question, and fancy stuff like alternative tuning baritone Aquillas - no way.

One can get them from british online shops, but with shipping they might cost more that the uke... definitely more than the ukes to be found on polish auctions.

If you get stuck with that Have them delivered to me and I'll happily post them off to you in Poland. May work out cheaper

Wow, you really are a helpful community here. Thanks shiftysquirrel!

Fortunately, my Lanikai came with Aquillas, so I hope they last some time, until I'll have some friend returning from abroad bring me a new supply. It's good that so many Poles are in Britain these days

And speaking of Melcior's baritone, here's a beginner's dumb question: what would happen if it was tuned GCEA without changing the strings? Is it possible, would they break or something, or just sound bad? Just asking, in case I ever get a baritone too (already read about UAS...).

Hastour said:

And speaking of Melcior's baritone, here's a beginner's dumb question: what would happen if it was tuned GCEA without changing the strings? Is it possible, would they break or something, or just sound bad? Just asking, in case I ever get a baritone too (already read about UAS...).

Click to expand...

If the strings are designed to be tuned DGBE, and you try to tune it up to GCEA, something will break...
The tension will probably become too great to pull for the tuners. The bridge just may come off.

Thanks everybody for your posts - The community here is really helpful I'll try to learn baritone first and than i'll think about special strings and GCEA tune. My sister have a guitar and i've never liked the sound of the two bass string - So i can think about my uke like about a guitar with my favourite strings ^O^. Once again thanks and i hope to play something for you someday

I have my Baritone tuned to re-entrant DGBE, where the D is higher pitched.
Aquila have the string set.

It's one of my favourite tunings now
Mellower than GCEA, but still like a uke than a guitar.

If you have an extra 1st (E) string you can use that for a re-entrant 4th (D) string. It would be tuned one full tone lower than when it was used as the 1st (E) string. It pays to save old strings.

Jude