Tuning question

harrylime

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I was recently given a George Formby Songbook. Now forgive a complete novice question but why would it say at the start of every song "tune uke key C (GCEA)" or "tune uke key D (ADf#B) " or "Tune uke Eb (BbEbGC)" I was under the impression that a Uke tuned as mine is to key C (GCEA) would simply be used following whatever key the song was written in and by shaping the chords accordingly but not by re tuning the uke! PLEASE!! point me in the right direction here!:confused:
 
This is a way of using lots of different tunings without having to relearn all your chord shapes with different names. Tune to the given tuning, play the shape indicated, and everything else takes care of itself.

The result is that in terms of absolute pitch you'll actually be playing a different chord - you're transposing using a different tuning.

I'm not sure about your particular book, but generally the C (GCEA) tuning is taken as the reference. So they say to tune to ADF#B. If the song says to play F, play your regular F shape (2,0,1,0), but in terms of actual pitch it will come out as a G - because you've tuned the whole uke up one whole tone!

So you think "play F", your fingers "play F", but the actual sound is "G".

The point of this is to play it the way George himself would have. I think he generally had a few ukes on stage to handle the different tunings. If you don't want to retune all the time you can ignore this, and just play the tunes as written without the retuning. You may end up playing the tune a little lower than George, but that's no harm unless you need to play along to his recordings.

Another option is to use a capo instead - for ADF#B capo at the second fret. For BbEbGC, capo at the third fret.
 
You don't have to retune your uke every time. It's so you can use the same chords you've learned but the will actually sound right according to the song. But if you don't want the hassle of constantly retuning your uke it should still sound fine without doing it.
 
Thanks guys, it's kind of what I thought. So if leave my uke tuned as it is and play the chord names as they are written ignoring the chord 'shapes' that should do it. Sort of begs the question then, how many people have a number of ukes tuned differently and how many just play their ukes tuned to one setting i.e. C (GCEA)?
 

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If you could post a picture of the "Sitting On The Top Of Blackpool Tower" one that includes the next couple of lines I can help you out more. Do the chord boxes match the given chord names? (i.e. is that how you would play those chords in GCEA?)
 
If you could post a picture of the "Sitting On The Top Of Blackpool Tower" one that includes the next couple of lines I can help you out more. Do the chord boxes match the given chord names? (i.e. is that how you would play those chords in GCEA?)
Thanks, here it is.
 

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OK, that clears it up a lot. They've written the chords as they sound - so your C shape (0003) gives a D, and that's what they've written.

You have a few choices:

1. Don't retune
  • Play the chord names and ignore the boxes - you'll be in the intended key.
  • Play the chord shapes and ignore the names - you'll be in a lower key.

2. Retune
  • Play the chord shapes and ignore the names - you'll be in the correct key.
  • Play the chord names and ignore the boxes - you'll be in a higher key.
 
OK, that clears it up a lot. They've written the chords as they sound - so your C shape (0003) gives a D, and that's what they've written.

You have a few choices:

1. Don't retune
  • Play the chord names and ignore the boxes - you'll be in the intended key.
  • Play the chord shapes and ignore the names - you'll be in a lower key.

2. Retune
  • Play the chord shapes and ignore the names - you'll be in the correct key.
  • Play the chord names and ignore the boxes - you'll be in a higher key.

Thank you so much I understand it now!!:worship: I really am enjoying practicing the 'boot camp' method on here and like to have a dabble at a few simple tunes in between. Thanks again:music:
 
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