Transition D -> C tuning

Back in the first half of century people use to tune their ukes on D, like Roy Smeck, right? Also is possible to see it on vintage sheets that D was the reccomended tuning.

When and why did it change? Why GCEA became the most common uke tuning. People in Hawaii used the ADF#B tuning back in that time?

I tuned my Hamano today ADF#B to try to play along with some Janet Klein's songs and it sounded very good, loud and high. It's only a bit hard to read chords, otherwise I would maintain it tuned always ADF#B.

fernandogardinali said:

When and why did it change? Why GCEA became the most common uke tuning. People in Hawaii used the ADF#B tuning back in that time?

Click to expand...

I asked this exact thing some time ago - you might be interested in some of the replies I got.

Evidently D tuning is alive and well in Canada and much of Europe, so for much of the world it never did change.

Thanks Jane!

fernandogardinali said:

Back in the first half of century people use to tune their ukes on D, like Roy Smeck, right? Also is possible to see it on vintage sheets that D was the reccomended tuning.

When and why did it change? Why GCEA became the most common uke tuning. People in Hawaii used the ADF#B tuning back in that time?

I tuned my Hamano today ADF#B to try to play along with some Janet Klein's songs and it sounded very good, loud and high. It's only a bit hard to read chords, otherwise I would maintain it tuned always ADF#B.

Click to expand...

The story I was always told was back in the day before electronics "D" was the tuning of choice to make the ukulele louder in the music halls.
Many folks prefer "D" for sopranos. The chord shapes are the same only a step higher in name. If you are playing alone you can play everything you know in "C".
If you play with others tuned in "C" you either need to figure out the new chords or just tune down a step.

C tuning has been around since the begining too. I have several early instructions books that specify this tuning. These tunings have co-exsisted for a long time.

- Steve

I keep my soprano uke tuned in D pretty much all the time. Sounds great!

JJ

It really boils down to strings and intonation. You should take one of two approaches, either of which will yield "top notch" results:

1) Select a tuning you prefer (i.e. "C" or "D") and then experiment with strings that will give you the best intonation in that tuning or...
2) Select strings you like the sound of and then experiment with tunings (C, D, Bb, etc.) that will give you good intonation on that ukulele.

Either approach is valid, though the second one is a little more difficult if you are playing with others (because you may end up with a uke tuned to Bb and have to "transpose" to uke-unfriendly fingerings to play certain keys).

The first approach is the most common - unfortunately, many players don't go so far as to experiment with strings to find sets that give good intonation for their tuning and then some of us cringe if they go above about the fourth fret.

John

If you use your uke to accompany your singing, you may find that changing the tuning might suit your voice better, while keeping to 'uke friendly' chord shapes.

It's not just a matter of making for easier chord shapes, different chord voicings have a different character and for singing I would tend to want to keep to more open chord voicings.

As it happens, I'm fairly happy with gCEa but I have certainly considered aDF#b for singing a song in D (using C shapes). I have a capo for this but I find that it gets in the way of my hand and makes fingering the chords awkward, so I tend to use standard D chords though I have considered tuning my soprano uke up a tone. However I don't want to carry too much if I go to an open mike or singaround, so have 'bottled out' so far.

Some guitarists seem to retune every other song. Does anyone retune their uke for different songs?

I was at a small coffee shop last Saturday and the solo guitarist singing original ballads moved the capo for nearly every song. He also had a pair of harmonicas, one in C and the other in D.