Serious Question About Low G

I play a regular tuned Uke. G, C, E, A. I am curious- if I want to string it as a Low G, Does that change chord formations? Will I be able to play the same songs I know on it the same way?

Also- Do I have to modify the instrument itself in any way? I mean, do I need a new saddle? Is Low G just a heavier G string tuned to lower octave?

Thanks in advance for any and all insight you wonderful UU people can provide me with.

mendel

All your chord formations will be the same. For the most part you will be able to play the songs you know the same way. The exception is when the melody is put on the high g, playing it an octave lower on a low g will make the song sound different or sometimes wont work at all. You could just play all melody notes on the a and e strings but for some complex pieces such as some works in john kings classical book this will be impossible. Lastly when i had low g string put on i had to have the nut widened and i have heard of some saddles not being wide enough for the low g string but this is to my knowledge is quite rare.

Chord formations are the same.

As far as modifications, the only one I've ever needed to make, personally, was a slight adjustment to where the G string fits in the nut. (it sounds dirty, doesn't it?) I doubt you will need to even do that. I would say string it up!

Some uke manufacturers have removable nut, but others are glued. I strung up my Kanile'a as a low G, and it sounded great. I just let the string sit on top of the groove for the nut, since I wasn't sure if I was going to keep it as a low G instrument. In the end, I went back to high G for that uke, and I was glad I didn't change the nut. If you have a uke with a removable nut, then you can have one cut for high G and one for low G.

–Lori