Restrung my Kanila'e to low G today...

MadMatt

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And wow! ...what an awesome sound. I think low G tuning fits the tenor very well.

I do however have to pay more attention too how I strum the open G string as the low G is close to the frequency the body resonates in. It can sound a bit boomy if I strum it to hard but after an hour of blissfully playing I have a little more control of it.

I definitely prefer the fingerpicking sound of the Low G. Especially when picking P M P I.

It almost seems as if the Kanile'a was made for Low G :)

-M@
 
Great. Matt, what strings did you use?

I think I prefer the sound of low G sets with a wound G.
 
I used Worth browns. I also have a set of Aquila's in low G that I will also try out when the worths are played out.
 
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And wow! ...what an awesome sound. I think low G tuning fits the tenor very well.

I do however have to pay more attention too how I strum the open G string as the low G is close to the frequency the body resonates in. It can sound a bit boomy if I strum it to hard but after an hour of blissfully playing I have a little more control of it.

I definitely prefer the fingerpicking sound of the Low G. Especially when picking P M P I.

It almost seems as if the Kanile'a was made for Low G :)

-M@

What is P M P I? by the way-- I have a Kanile'a super tenor strung with low g and feel the same way. the sound is heavenly
 
I do however have to pay more attention too how I strum the open G string as the low G is close to the frequency the body resonates in. It can sound a bit boomy if I strum it to hard but after an hour of blissfully playing I have a little more control of it....
-M@

This condition is pretty much the norm on Tenors. Here's the remedy from David Hurd (toward the bottom):

http://www.ukuleles.com/SetupnCare/TenorTune.html
 
This condition is pretty much the norm on Tenors. Here's the remedy from David Hurd (toward the bottom):

http://www.ukuleles.com/SetupnCare/TenorTune.html

Thanks! Yes that is in line with what I am hearing... to be honest though, I want to stick with the standard tuning for now. My brain can not comprehend learning new chord shapes at this point. :)

What is P M P I? by the way-- I have a Kanile'a super tenor strung with low g and feel the same way. the sound is heavenly

Sorry, I should have simply wrote Thumb, middle, thumb, index. I forget what that picking style, I simply love the sound of it :eek:
 
Thanks! Yes that is in line with what I am hearing... to be honest though, I want to stick with the standard tuning for now. My brain can not comprehend learning new chord shapes at this point. :)

Matt, you may want to stick with C tuning - it's the most popular these days, but "standard tuning", is actualy the name for D tuning. It was called "Ukulele Standard Tuning" in the days when almost all ukes were sopranos. Most old sheet music is written for that key. Finally, you won't need to learn any new chord shapes. They're the same.

If you play in a group, or maybe play along with an instructional video, you'd have to learn new names for those shapes. Your C shape is now called D instead of C, for example. If you're playing solo, however, just ignore all that and play just like you do in C tuning. You'll just be tuned a little sharp.
 
You may want to try Worth CHLGHD or Fremont Flourocarbon Blacklime low g strings, I found both of those are less boomy and more balanced.
 
I have a Koaloha tenor which I keep in low g most of the time. I agree that it is particularly better for fingerstyle, which is what I play 90+% of the time. I have used both Worth clear and Alquila strings.
 
I am very new to picking and want to. My super tenor is strung low g. So, with the P M P I am I right to assume that the Middle finger is on the A, the index on the E and the thumb alternates between g and C? If not, please fill me in.

Yes, exactly that. I think they call that Travis picking.
 
Low D on a bari or Low G

Aquila has dgbe and gcea for both baritones and tenors. They are scaled for the different instruments. A tenor dGBE or DGBE is possible so are gCEA or GCEA. Fingerpicking seems to be more familiar to banjo playrs than uke players. Here is something that was like that commercial where someone slaps themself on the head and sez,"Wow! I coulda had a V-8" (instead of just tomato juice. Here's my V-* moment. Take you DGBE OR GCEA and drop the first string to the same note as the 4th string. If it is a low 4th, you have an octave difference. That is Taropatch slack key on a uke. Play it open for the I chord --barr the 5th fret for the IV and the 7th for the V. That is an open C chord. Another one I really like is drop string 4 down a full step. . pull the 2nd string up a half steo. It becomes CGCE (open c) or FCFA (open F) again IV or V are founf on the 5th or seventh fret.

When you get used to that, you can grab someone's banjo and amaze others.......and yourself at how good you are
 
I recently tried Southcoast G650 flatwound 3rd & 4th low g on my Koa Mele Tenor. Best balance of sound of every other set of strings that I tried. I'm sold on these....try'em, you'll like'em. Oh, no string squeaks is a big plus and sounds heavenly finger picking them..................................BO........................
 
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