Tenor Tuning help

I was wondering if someone could clarify something for me. I am learning to play by using sites like this but am also taking lessons. My instructor is mainly a guitar teacher-he is very nice and a great guitar player but I feel he teaches me from a guitar aspect. I am playing a Bushman Jenny Tenor and my instructor has me tuning to DGBE. It sounds fine, but is a little frustrating as all the chords I learn in standard tuning (GCEA) have to be translated into the tenor chords of DGBE. When I am in class, I am fine because I have the instruction. But when I am playing at home, I get myself lost. I want to be able to watch a video or read a chord book and start playing the same chords as are being taught in said videos/books etc.
So my question is: am I tuning correctly by using DGBE or can I tune my tenor to the standard GCEA? I have used my electric tuner and have just tuned it to GCEA and it sounds ok, but I don't have the ear yet to know if what I am doing is right or wrong.

I hope that I am making sense as I am starting to confuse myself. I want to just play and not have to overthink things too much, but I don't think I can do that until I am tuned up correctly.

Thanks for your help, I do appreciate it.

I don't know if I'm doing it right, but I have my tenor tuned to GCEA, with the G an octave up (that's what my book told me to do).

I doubt that answered your question; I just wanted to tack my own question onto yours.

Am I doing this tuning thing right?

Welcome Hankthetank.

Your teacher is definitely teaching from a Guitar perspective. The reason he/she has you tuned DGBE is because (unless I am compeletely wrong) that is the same tuning for the bottom fours strings of a guitar. I only hear of Baritone Ukuleles that are tuned that way, but I guess you can still tune a tenor that way too. I'm guessing you teacher asked you to tune it that way because she would automaitcally know how to teach it to you without learning the chords for a Uke tuned GCEA.

While tuning it to DGBE is not necessarily bad, if you really want to be playing it the way most Ukulele players play it (or make it sound like ours) you would have to tune it to GCEA. Your tenor is tunable to GCEA, that's the way my two tenors are tuned ( and I thing most people's too. )

The bad thing is you are going to have to learn new names for the chords you are being taught... the good news is that you can go to sites like this and everything will make better sense.

I hope that helped, other more experienced members shouls be giving their opinion too... good luck and have fun.

Baritone ukes are tuned DGBE, tenors & concerts are tuned GCEA and referred to as re-entrant tuning. Most of the songs here and other sites as well are based on GCEA tuning. As you have mentioned the chord positions and holdings are entirely different, hence the confusion. Hopefully, some of the other guys will chime in and offer more info/advice.

GCEA and gCEA

I've got two tenors, one tuned GCEA and the other tuned gCEA. The small "g" means that it has a thinner fourth string that is tuned an octave higher. The gCEA is referred to as reentrant tuning. If I were you I would keep my uke tuned to GCEA and ask your teacher to put a capo on her guitar at the fifth fret for your lessons. That way her guitar would have the same tuning on the first four guitar strings (GCEA).
Jude

Tenor ukes can be tuned DGBE or dGBE. But most people use a C-tuning for tenors. And most of the books/lessons/tabs/etc. will be for that.

I have a feeling that your teacher is probably trying to make it easier for him to teach, rather than making it easy for you to learn.

You should definitely make sure you have the right strings for the tuning you're using.

My husband's main uke is a Bushman Jenny Tenor tuned dGBE (Aquila strings). He started out on a soprano but fell in love with the baritone sound when I got him a Jenny baritone. Unfortunately, the baritone was a little too big (we live on a boat), so I got him his Jenny Tenor which is just right.

My main uke is a concert tuned gCEA. We both can play either tuning, but it definitely takes some work, and occasionally I get brain overload on challenging songs. And just to make things really confusing, I have recently retuned one of my ukes to aDF#B.

SailQwest said:

Tenor ukes can be tuned DGBE or dGBE. But most people use a C-tuning for tenors. And most of the books/lessons/tabs/etc. will be for that.

I have a feeling that your teacher is probably trying to make it easier for him to teach, rather than making it easy for you to learn.

You should definitely make sure you have the right strings for the tuning you're using.

My husband's main uke is a Bushman Jenny Tenor tuned dGBE (Aquila strings). He started out on a soprano but fell in love with the baritone sound when I got him a Jenny baritone. Unfortunately, the baritone was a little too big (we live on a boat), so I got him his Jenny Tenor which is just right.

My main uke is a concert tuned gCEA. We both can play either tuning, but it definitely takes some work, and occasionally I get brain overload on challenging songs. And just to make things really confusing, I have recently retuned one of my ukes to aDF#B.

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I have tuned my tenor (using an electric tuner) to GCEA and it sounds fine.
I know the strings are Aquila strings but I have no idea which kind. I called where I purchased my uke from and they had no idea what strings were on there other than that they are Aquila strings.
But I feel better knowing that I can tune it to GCEA and play like everyone else instead of having to translate GCEA chords to DGBE.
Again, thanks so much for the help!
Henry

There are several different sets available; all nylgut, G wound, C wound, low G wound. If you don't have any wound strings, you probably have the all nylgut set.

Kanaka916 said:

There are several different sets available; all nylgut, G wound, C wound, low G wound. If you don't have any wound strings, you probably have the all nylgut set.

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Yes, it is the Nylgut. I don't have any wound strings at all. Thanks

I have a couple of song books that have "Tenor" tuning as the DGBE tuning, drove me crazy, I got them when I first started playing till I asked the Guy at my Uke store what was going on.
One of my Lyle Ritz books has both the gCEA and the DGBE chord shapes for each song and calls the DGBE "Tenor" tuning too.

I learned to play on a soprano hilo from books printed in the the 30's, and back then ukes in the states were tuned to ADF#B. So for 3 years I learned the chords shapes/names based on this tuning. Then last year I got a Tenor, which sounds better tuned to GCEA. I tried transposing in my head what the names of the chords were when I played with my friends (who played guitars and piano) and my head nearly exploded. Since playing with others is a priority of mine, and all current instruction and books are based on the GCEA tuning, I have committed myself to forgetting the names of the chords in ADFB tuning. My fingers still know where to go, but I have to try thinking of the new chord name instead of the old. Does that make sense? The change I've been trying to make, though, is not nearly as radical as the switching your guitar teacher is asking you to do. I feel like your learning progress will go much smoother if you stick with just one set tuning. Good luck.:rock::rock:

Have your teacher think of the guitar being capo'd at the fifth fret. The cords are the same (fingering and names). The main difference is the D(G at the guitar 5TH FRET) is equivalent to the G on the uke's 2nd string third fret. This is reentrant tuning ( a term I haven't heard since retiring from programming) It gives the ukulele that distinctive sound. There is a set low G strings that map exactly to the capo'd guitar.

Personally I play a tenor uke tune to dGBE; Aquila offers a tenor strings in the key of G/baritone key.

i have an bari and its tuned to DGBE and my other ukes are GCEA.. it does get confusing when switching back and forth but you will get better at it. i agree with saliQ about your teacher making it easier for himself.. but dont fret.. unlucky07 is right in saying that you can also go to sites like this to help you in learning which ever way you decide to play.. just remember to get the right strings.

Forgive me if I am wrong, but aren't the chord shapes for baritone & soprano uke exactly the same? Just moved up 4 spots?
So the G chord on soprano is the D chord on the baritone, etc.
SO if you played a song on your baritone using the fingerings you already know from GCEA tuning, you will be able to play the same song & have it sound the same, you will just have transposed it from the key of C to the key of F!
S.

to add to the confusion

freedive135 said:

I have a couple of song books that have "Tenor" tuning as the DGBE tuning, drove me crazy, I got them when I first started playing till I asked the Guy at my Uke store what was going on.
One of my Lyle Ritz books has both the gCEA and the DGBE chord shapes for each song and calls the DGBE "Tenor" tuning too.

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Maybe in this case they were referring to Tenor Guitars. Tenor Guitars (have 4 strings too) are a little bigger than Baritone Ukuleles. There are so many different versions of Guitars and Ukuleles. It is pretty overwhelming when you look into it. Look up Requinto Guitar on Wikipedia, and you get what is basically an oversized 6 string uke.

–Lori