Playing with Others

mhorn73

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Hey Guys,

I've been playing now for about 2 months non stop and have gotten to the point where I can play with other people to jam some. But when we are all playing, it never sounds good because of the uke even though we are playing the same chords?? I have a soprano and a tenor but it sucks cuz I can't jam with my friends! What do you think the problem is?

Also, I use a korg chromatic tuner. You can tune it to different Hz. Mine's currently on 420 Hz. What is that for? Does that have anything to do with it?
 
It should be set at 440. I couldn't even begin to explain and maybe this article can. Hopefully one of the other more knowledgeable members can put it in layman's terms.
 
I think 440 is called concert A pitch. Infact, one may wonder who would want to set it to anything but 440? Well, sometimes you have to play along with an instrument that is difficult to tune such as an old piano or organ which is in tune with itself but A is not at 440 hz. So, you can adjust your tuner to match it. Perhaps that is why your tuner was set to 420.
 
I think 440 is called concert A pitch. Infact, one may wonder who would want to set it to anything but 440?

So called "concert pitch" has been all over the map over the centuries. According to this article:

1925 On the 11th of June the American music industry adopted A440.
1936 American Standards Association adopted A440.
1939 At an international conference A440 was adopted.

The pitch of A440 has remained the standard since 1939. Pitches have risen a little, particularly in Eastern European countries, which often wish pianos to be tuned to A 444 or even a bit above. Some concert halls in the UK and European countries have two pianos on site, one tuned to A440 and one tuned to A 444. This is to keep the pianos stable, as constantly raising and lowering the pitch is not good for the piano; it makes it hard for the piano tuner to make the tuning stable.
But in general, A440 is the ticket. Set your tuner there and rock on.
 
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