Mel Ott
Active member
Aloha! I tried a little experiment with my Stratocaster last night, and I thought some folks here might be interested in what I did.
First, I took off the high and low E strings.
Then I tuned the A, D, G, and B strings to G, C, E, and A (respectively).
The result is (just like the thread title says) a guitar tuned like a (low-G) uke. I want to be clear that it sounds nothing like a ukulele (that's why I didn't title the thread "I turned my Stratocaster into a ukulele"). It's just an electric guitar in a weird alternate tuning, and that's exactly what it sounds like.
There are some advantages, though. If (like me) you're a frustrated guitar player who loves the ukulele tuning but nonetheless wants to play around with amplification, effects pedals, etc. (and can't afford an electric uke), and you have an old electric guitar lying around, well... good news! You can apply your ukulele skills directly to your old guitar without transposing.
The strings, being under lower tension than a standard tuning, are very easy to bend (something I've never been any good at). Because the high and low E strings are gone, you also have a little more real estate on the neck for bending your strings. I suspect that it's great for blues. I was afraid the strings might be too loose, but they were totally playable.
As I said, it sounds nothing like a ukulele, although I do wonder whether tuning it reentrant might recapture a little uke flavor. And of course it's still a full-size electric guitar, so it's not nearly as portable as a real uke. But I had a lot of fun with it last night!
First, I took off the high and low E strings.
Then I tuned the A, D, G, and B strings to G, C, E, and A (respectively).
The result is (just like the thread title says) a guitar tuned like a (low-G) uke. I want to be clear that it sounds nothing like a ukulele (that's why I didn't title the thread "I turned my Stratocaster into a ukulele"). It's just an electric guitar in a weird alternate tuning, and that's exactly what it sounds like.
There are some advantages, though. If (like me) you're a frustrated guitar player who loves the ukulele tuning but nonetheless wants to play around with amplification, effects pedals, etc. (and can't afford an electric uke), and you have an old electric guitar lying around, well... good news! You can apply your ukulele skills directly to your old guitar without transposing.
The strings, being under lower tension than a standard tuning, are very easy to bend (something I've never been any good at). Because the high and low E strings are gone, you also have a little more real estate on the neck for bending your strings. I suspect that it's great for blues. I was afraid the strings might be too loose, but they were totally playable.
As I said, it sounds nothing like a ukulele, although I do wonder whether tuning it reentrant might recapture a little uke flavor. And of course it's still a full-size electric guitar, so it's not nearly as portable as a real uke. But I had a lot of fun with it last night!