Why do so mny hate the baritone?

ItsMrPitchy

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When i started ukulele i thought of the baritone as the oddball and thought i would never get one. However, i am now planning to buy one.

What i wonder is why so many people dislike the baritone. I know it has a different tuning and its not traditional, but why does it still get hate. Unless you are playing ukulele in traditional tuning your not being traditional and the different tuning just adds some spice to the ukulele world.

I am not trying to bash anyones opinion if you dont like the baritone that is fine with me. I just got wondering why the tenor settled so well if its not traditional just like the concert but the baritone has not. Maybe we will see some more artists endorsing the baritone in the next few years which will help it out.
 
As for me, I can't say I hate them. They just aren't my thing. Tonal wise I guess. Over the past 35 years I have played everything from electric bass, guitar, keyboard, drums, and the past two years Ukes. I guess if I were to move to a bari, I would simply go back to guitar as my main instrument of choice. I fell in love with the size, and the tones of the traditional ukulele. So, for me, it's not a "hate" thing, it is simply a "preference" thing.
 
I like baritones. I have changed to tenor, and GCEA tuning on my baritones to sound a little different from the guitars that I jam with. I never got the impression that people hate baritones, though.
 
I wasn't aware of all this baritone hate of which you speak. Hate is a pretty strong word. Ukulele people I know may prefer other scales and GCEA tuning, but I don't see people going out of their way to bash (physically or otherwise) baritones. Do you have some actual examples of real hate?
 
Sorry my bad hate was too strong a word to use for this topic. Guess what i mean is why is it that so many people prefer other ukes to the baritone?
 
The idea of any size being "traditional" is really silly to me. If this was the case, we'd all be playing machetes and braguinhas. Guitarists would be playing gut strung 5 course guitars, etc. Hell, let's all just play lutes and theorbos! ;)
 
The idea of any size being "traditional" is really silly to me. If this was the case, we'd all be playing machetes and braguinhas. Guitarists would be playing gut strung 5 course guitars, etc. Hell, let's all just play lutes and theorbos! ;)

I guess traditional in this sense simply means popular. A "traditional" uke is perhaps the sound of the soprano vs. the tenor or baritone. I think the lack of popularity of the baritone stems from the fact that the fingerings are different on a baritone to play the same note or chord. Different tuning sets it apart. I personally love the sound of them and am looking to purchase one. I do know what you are saying though.
 
Nope...I dont hate the baritone, just not for me.
 
well the ukulele is small and cute, the baritone is big,
ukulele is usually GCEA, baritones are usually different...


the sound is good but the typical barytone uke is more or less a slightly smaller guitar with the 2 lower strings removed .... i think it's closer to the guitar than to the ukulele for that reason ....
 
I agree with the fella above, I have nowt against a baritone but if I wanted to go that low I would simply pick up one of my nylon strung guitars.
 
I guess by the word "traditional" some would take that too literal. If we were all literal I guess we all would be running around in the woods in loin cloths banging rocks together.. <grin>. By "traditional" I simply mean the "traditional" modern sound that Uke is and was when we discovered it outside of the Polynesian culture. Which typically means the island plinking tones of a soprano being played by a olive dark skinned fat man in a grass skirt.. ;) Accurate or not, that is what I hear or think of when someone says "Traditional Ukulele".
 
It's definitely in the minority. No question. And often misunderstood. The misconception that it's only tuned DGBE is fairly prevalent. I play only baritone ukuleles. Exclusively. When we perform, I pay Pono baritones tuned gCEA and GCEA. I assure you they sound nothing like a guitar. In fact, they sound very much like a larger ukulele and fit my size perfectly. The larger fretboard and fret spacing allow me to work with much more complex jazz chord shapes.
 
I don't hate baritones, but I don't really have a use for one. I almost bought one when it looked like I might be leading worship for longer than a week or two a few weeks ago. Thought it would be cool to use a reentrant-tuned baritone instead of one of my guitars.

Honestly, I don't even play my tenors much. Soprano bodies just sound more "like a uke" to me - though I do prefer the concert scale for fingering convenience, thus 95% of my playing is on longneck sopranos.

When I want a deeper tone, I'll play one of my guitars. And, I know some folks claim otherwise, but as far as my ears are concerned a baritone tuned linear (which most of them are) just sounds like an anemic guitar. I have heard one or two clips of baritones tuned reentrant and they do sound a little more "ukey" but still not the "jumping flea" of the soprano.

John
 
Hate is a strong word. I just think it's tonally too similar to a guitar. I think the same of most tenors as well.

That said, if I came across a nice cheap Harmony baritone at a garage sale, I'd probably be walking away with it.
 
I wonder if baritones are more popular among ukulele players who don't play guitar than among those who do. One of the reasons I bought a baritone is to have an ukulele that DID sound more like a guitar so I could get a guitar sound, when I wanted it, without having to learn how to play a guitar or handle its too-big-for-me scale. (In fact, I bought a requinto so I could learn guitar chords without having to learn them on a full size guitar.)
 
It's definitely in the minority. No question. And often misunderstood. The misconception that it's only tuned DGBE is fairly prevalent. I play only baritone ukuleles. Exclusively. When we perform, I pay Pono baritones tuned gCEA and GCEA. I assure you they sound nothing like a guitar. In fact, they sound very much like a larger ukulele and fit my size perfectly. The larger fretboard and fret spacing allow me to work with much more complex jazz chord shapes.
In fact my Gibson bari tuned GCEA with Southcoast linear strings sounds better to me than any other uke I've had tuned GCEA.
 
I don't "hate" or even "dislike" the baritone, just don't think it's for me, feels too big, but I'm all about the soprano and it has little to do with "traditional" as you're right, I don't play to the "traditional" tuning, just prefer that size, it's a preference thing with me :D
 
The baritone uke was my introduction to the ukulele. After struggling to play guitar even poorly for years, I picked up a baritone and have never looked back at the guitar. I have since picked up, bought and played at least one of each other uke size. The Bari was my gateway uke, but I love them all.
 
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