New Member and a question about my tuner.

Nekkid

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Hi!
I've been playing my Mahalo uke for 4 weeks (although only at the weekends) and now have Twinkle Twinkle, You Are my Sunshine and Big Rock Candy Mountain under my belt! I'm currently working on Johnny Nash's I can See Clearly, which is taking time due to the more complicated strum pattern and the fact that, as others have found, it's HARD to strum and sing to different beats! What I have gathered from the forum though is that there are no shortcuts! PRACTICE! Anyway, it's fun.

I have a question about my digital tuner. I have the option of setting the 'Hz' in the range 435 to 445. Can anyone explain why I would want to change this setting and what works best with the Uke.
Thanks all!
Charley
 
I use 440 seems to work for what I want to do...hope that helps...just play around with it and see what sounds good
 
Have you ever travelled to another country with an electronic device (electric razor, laptop, etc.)? You might've found that you needed an adapter plug, because different countries use different standards for voltages.

Likewise, there are different standards for what pitch different notes are.

The setting on your tuner lets you tune to those different standards. Normally, you'd keep it at 440Hz. That "standard" is pretty normal everywhere. (It means that the note "A" vibrates at 440 cycles per second.)

On very rare occasions, that standard will be different. But you probably won't ever have to worry about it.

(Check out this wiki article on concert pitch for more info.)

JJ
 
I had a lot of trouble tuning until someone at UU said to put it at 440Hz. I also think I broke in the strings since I rarely have to tune it anymore. Anyway the really wierd thing is that the G never worked for some reason so I just held down the appropriate string and tuned the G string to A. A couple days ago the G on my tuner started working. I found that odd, but happy that it decided to work and happy that my 3 week old beautiful fabulous uke is now staying in tune.

Rox
 
tuner

Hi!
I've been playing my Mahalo uke for 4 weeks (although only at the weekends) and now have Twinkle Twinkle, You Are my Sunshine and Big Rock Candy Mountain under my belt! I'm currently working on Johnny Nash's I can See Clearly, which is taking time due to the more complicated strum pattern and the fact that, as others have found, it's HARD to strum and sing to different beats! What I have gathered from the forum though is that there are no shortcuts! PRACTICE! Anyway, it's fun.

I have a question about my digital tuner. I have the option of setting the 'Hz' in the range 435 to 445. Can anyone explain why I would want to change this setting and what works best with the Uke.
Thanks all!
Charley
Aloha Charley,
To answer your question, your tuner gives you the option to try and alternate tunings...
and a way to record them for future reference....every ukulele has a different voicing..
some people adjusts their ukulele to that...for me if a particular ukes is too bright I drop
the pitch down....and the other way around if it has too warm rich tones...
 
By the way....

Welcome to UU, you Nekkid uker, you!
 
440 Hz is the standard tuning (often referred to as "A440" as 440 Hz equals middle A on a piano). Many tuners will give you the option to calibrate it to a different frequency (in your tuner's case, 435 Hz to 445 Hz). Maybe I'm completely off base but I've always thought this was if you were tuning to play with an instrument which isn't tuned to 440 Hz such as a piano that has gone slightly out of tune.
 
440 Hz is the standard tuning (often referred to as "A440" as 440 Hz equals middle A on a piano). Many tuners will give you the option to calibrate it to a different frequency (in your tuner's case, 435 Hz to 445 Hz). Maybe I'm completely off base but I've always thought this was if you were tuning to play with an instrument which isn't tuned to 440 Hz such as a piano that has gone slightly out of tune.
Aloha Nuprin,
Yup, you're right...alternate tunings is for soloing, playing alone , or if you wish to stand out from the rest...
It wont match up with everyone.....the "A" above middle C is 440hz is considered pitch in amercia ...other countries may differ
and even in the past it was slightly different.
I use alternate tunings to fine tune my uke to it's fullest potential....of course there are pro's and con's to that
issue. While it may not be for everybody, it adjusts the ukes voicing for me and gives me what I want...
Happy strumming...MM Stan...
P.S. Check out Wiki Wiki....Alternate tunings....
 
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Why be able to recalibrate your digital tuner? How about being able to tune your uke or, for that matter, your guitar to the same pitch as a harmonica? For some unknown reason, harmonicas are pitched to 442 Hz. Can you tell the difference? Meh... Kinda sorta maybe...

--Dave E.
 
Aloha Ceviche,
For more experienced ..yes You will notice it won't match up when you play with others in a different pitch...but that's slight
I do it for say, my uke is too bright in tone, I drop it ...to get some warmer tones and the other way around
it it's too rich and want it brighter, i just raise the pitch..... just one reason...MM Stan..
 
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2 Hz is a big difference. It's two cycles per second. You may not be able to tell if playing solo, but if you play with someone tuned at 440 and you both play the same note, you'll hear a "wah wah" effect at the rate of about two beats per second.
 
Well, now I know!
Thanks for all your replies. I've set the tuner to 440, that seems as good a place as any for a beginner!
 
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