no love for the baritone ?

iamesperambient

iamesperambient

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what's with these polls including 3 sizes of ukulele?
last time I checked the Bari is part of the family of 4 sizes
as a baritone player I feel left out ( I also play concert and soprano )
but mostly I'm a baritone uker these days. who plays baritone? show some love for the left out big ukes !
 
Oh man, there's so much love for baritones on the UU. 2012 was kinda peak bari "love-in"; they aint no embarrassing uncle. More folks are playing them, sales have increased all over the map, builders are building way more than ever before. Some of these threads will put a smile back on your dial!
 
eugene ukulele said:
Oh man, there's so much love for baritones on the UU. 2012 was kinda peak bari "love-in"; they aint no embarrassing uncle. More folks are playing them, sales have increased all over the map, builders are building way more than ever before. Some of these threads will put a smile back on your dial!
Click to expand...
awesome thanks it just saddens me they left baritone out of this recent poll.
 
I apologize if I "offended' anyone, but in my original post I acknowledged not including the baritone and apologized for any offense. I the bass uke because (a) I was limited to 10 responses and that would throw me over and (b) it is tuned entirely differently. My question was focused on the three most common sizes that are generally tuned the same (with the g vs. G variation, of course).
 
james hill's baritone-influenced upcoming uke cd ought to put the baritone high up on the want list of many.

or, it'll kill it once and for all as we'll never be james hill.

either way, the baritone will always be the oft-maligned, lumbering oaf of the uke family. (and there's nothing wrong with that!)
 
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It's tuned differently and sounds different, and it almost seems to me that the baritone should have its own name. That's not an insult for baritone fans, just a matter of "at what point do you quite calling an instrument a ukulele and give it another name?". It has 4 nylon strings like a uke, but normally not re-entrant tuning, which gives a uke a very distinctive sound. Even at that, a low-g tuned tenor still sounds fairly uke-y, but to me the baritone doesn't really sound like a uke at all. I tried re-entrant tuning, even traditional C re-entrant on a baritone, and the large body just didn't seem to work with that sound.

They certainly have their advantages, lots of fret/string room, nice booming bass, and for guitar players, no transposing chords, but my 2 baritones sit mostly unused, while the other sizes get played and interchanged fairly regularly, and that's not just by me (though I have a U-bass, which is technically a baritone body, that gets played a lot). I'd really suggest not worrying about whether they're 'accepted' or not, by whoever, if you like them above other sizes for whatever reason, but I think they'll always be the 'odd man out' in uke discussions for the above reasons.
 
The Uke world has a sort of unique situation that the soprano, concert (also known as the alto), and the tenor all have the same tuning. Only until the baritone do you get a different tuning. For the families of the violin, clarinet, sax, mandolin (in days of yore), and many others, each member has it's own voice in the chorus. That can easily lead to a bias for us.

IMHO the UBass (I own one) isn't really in the uke family because of the EADG tuning.
 
vanflynn said:
The Uke world has a sort of unique situation that the soprano, concert (also known as the alto), and the tenor all have the same tuning. Only until the baritone do you get a different tuning. For the families of the violin, clarinet, sax, mandolin (in days of yore), and many others, each member has it's own voice in the chorus. That can easily lead to a bias for us.

IMHO the UBass (I own one) isn't really in the uke family because of the EADG tuning.
Click to expand...


Just to say my 2 cents. I think the baritone uke is very different from the guitar. As it still came from the ukulele family in design
and concept. It does use as its standard tuning a G linear tuning which is lower and tuned like the strings of a guitar. However
because of the nylon strings, playing style and technique and smaller body it has a much mellower tone than a guitar and a much
deep voice than a tenor. I think its a very unique instrument in it's own right, and is very much part of the ukulele family.

Same thing for a mandolin its tuned like a violin and you can even play out violin pieces on it
but it has a totally different purpose in the music its used in most of the time and has a totally
different voice and technique. If i compared my electric baritone to an electric guitar it still has
a much different voice.
 
Ukulele Eddie said:
I apologize if I "offended' anyone, but in my original post I acknowledged not including the baritone and apologized for any offense. I the bass uke because (a) I was limited to 10 responses and that would throw me over and (b) it is tuned entirely differently. My question was focused on the three most common sizes that are generally tuned the same (with the g vs. G variation, of course).
Click to expand...

originally tenor was designed to use linear
tuning. just as that people use baritones
all the time reentrant tuning. even so I don't
see what that has to do with it the chords
are the same shape and technique is the se
and it is part of the family ... if you were
going to be purist about it you should have kept
it concert and soprano only.
 
I play Bari almost exclusively. I have two, one tuned DGBE and the other tuned GCEA (both linear). I don't get the 'it's tuned differently' argument, I think in GCEA
when I play the DGBE standard tuned bari. The shapes are the same, it's just that a 'C' shape for example sounds a 'G', or a 'D' shape sounds an 'A'.
Many instruments with different home keys use this technique. A Bb trumpet when playing a 'C' sounds a Bb, and tenor Sax when playing a 'C' sounds a Bb or an alto Sax when playing a 'C' sounds an Eb (if I remember correctly).
It's just a matter of getting your head around it.
Cheers
Gary
 
Flyinby said:
It's tuned differently and sounds different, and it almost seems to me that the baritone should have its own name. That's not an insult for baritone fans, just a matter of "at what point do you quite calling an instrument a ukulele and give it another name?". It has 4 nylon strings like a uke, but normally not re-entrant tuning, which gives a uke a very distinctive sound. Even at that, a low-g tuned tenor still sounds fairly uke-y, but to me the baritone doesn't really sound like a uke at all. I tried re-entrant tuning, even traditional C re-entrant on a baritone, and the large body just didn't seem to work with that sound.
Click to expand...

If you look at other instrument families, many have much weirder members. No-one ever says 'Those tenor guitars and baritone guitars shouldn't really be called guitars.' It's a baritone ukulele, it follows the design hallmarks of the smaller ukes pretty well. the lower tuning is because, well you've got a bigger body, and a longer scale length, you might as well use it. The banjo ukulele sounds more different that a baritone ever will.
 
Just to add, you could make an argument that Sopranos should be tuned D, Concerts C, Tenors Bb and Barrys G. Which would make it more of a family of instruments, rather than 'one instrument in 3 sizes (plus an odd couple at either end)' arrangement.
 
i LOVE the baritone.

i started out with a soprano uke, and thought i'd forever be a one-uke woman. then i got an electric soprano. for kicks. but it was still all about soprano.

then i got intrigued by the low g thing you can do on a tenor - and i got one and gave it a go and i liked it.

then i started listening to people who had posted vids on youtube of them playing their baritones, and i was totally seduced by that beautiful deep sound. i got a baritone - and i actually totally adore it. i think you get that beautiful deep sound, more like a guitar perhaps, but with all the fun factor and ease of playing of a uke.

when i started to play the bari, i had to get my head around the change in the chord shapes - same shapes, different chord names, OW. i thought of it in terms of it being like a uke - but with the capo at the MINUS fifth fret! i know that doesn't really make sense but it worked for me!

i'd love the baritone just as much if it was called something different, maybe a "baby guitar" or whatever, but i might never have discovered it if it wasn't called a uke, because i discovered it THROUGH the uke universe (ukiverse?) and indeed through this forum (it was people playing bari for the seasons contests that first alerted me to its wonderfulness.) and if it wasn't a uke i couldn't play it for my seasons vids. so for many many reasons i am very glad it is a uke!

the baritone sits very nicely alongside the other uke sizes over on the seasons - it's welcomed as part of the uke family there. i like that.
 
Pundabaya said:
If you look at other instrument families, many have much weirder members. No-one ever says 'Those tenor guitars and baritone guitars shouldn't really be called guitars.' It's a baritone ukulele, it follows the design hallmarks of the smaller ukes pretty well. the lower tuning is because, well you've got a bigger body, and a longer scale length, you might as well use it. The banjo ukulele sounds more different that a baritone ever will.
Click to expand...

perfect point as a guitarist gone uker than baritone guitarist than agai
a full time converter to soprano and concert and now
I have found the perfect instrument for me baritone
ukulele the perfect middle ground in tone and size and style.
anyway I agree a banjolele sounds more like a "soprano
banjo" than it goes a ukulele. the woody tone is what you think
of when you think ukulele and banjo uke lacks all of in my opinion
the past tonal aspects of a true acoustic ukulele while baritone
still has a mellow island sound just a deeper voice of it.
it could be argued tenor guitar tuned like a tenor banjo
should be called something else being it has 4 strings and uses a banjo
tuning. as someone who played baritone electric guitar for a long time
I can say the standard voice ( b standard tuning) is much deeper but still
very much a guitar because it's played the same same technique
and if you capo you have a standard guitar
just as a capo on the faith fret of a baritone ukulele hmmm?
I think bass ukulele and tenor guitar are more in common
two instruments called something that don't share any of the
aspects of the instrument that really make up it's look and sound.
baritone guitar is to standard guitar as baritone ukulele is to soprano.
it's very much part of the family. it's odd no one says this about other siZe guitars makes you wonder...
 
bird's eye view of my ukelele said:
i LOVE the baritone.

i started out with a soprano uke, and thought i'd forever be a one-uke woman. then i got an electric soprano. for kicks. but it was still all about soprano.

then i got intrigued by the low g thing you can do on a tenor - and i got one and gave it a go and i liked it.

then i started listening to people who had posted vids on youtube of them playing their baritones, and i was totally seduced by that beautiful deep sound. i got a baritone - and i actually totally adore it. i think you get that beautiful deep sound, more like a guitar perhaps, but with all the fun factor and ease of playing of a uke.

when i started to play the bari, i had to get my head around the change in the chord shapes - same shapes, different chord names, OW. i thought of it in terms of it being like a uke - but with the capo at the MINUS fifth fret! i know that doesn't really make sense but it worked for me!

i'd love the baritone just as much if it was called something different, maybe a "baby guitar" or whatever, but i might never have discovered it if it wasn't called a uke, because i discovered it THROUGH the uke universe (ukiverse?) and indeed through this forum (it was people playing bari for the seasons contests that first alerted me to its wonderfulness.) and if it wasn't a uke i couldn't play it for my seasons vids. so for many many reasons i am very glad it is a uke!

the baritone sits very nicely alongside the other uke sizes over on the seasons - it's welcomed as part of the uke family there. i like that.
Click to expand...

there already is Parlor guitars and
travel and "baby guitars". they sound
nothing like a baritone uke their not
played I style and technique like a baritone uke.
it's part of the uke family it should be called a uke because
it is one.
 
It's not only tuning. The baritone is not nearly as percussive as a soprano, concert, or even a tenor. Long-time uke players know what I mean--short, staccato brush strokes. I love the brush strokes, and that's what a uke is all about to me.

Those who despise short, staccato, percussive strokes lean toward a baritone, or a guitar. And, that's fine, too (as long as they don't want to spend any time with me--lol).
 
Paul December said:
:eek: The Baby Hughie of the Uke Family! :D

View attachment 61909
Click to expand...

I see it more as the artsy black sheep
brother of 2 jock sons. i don't see why
it has to be "goofy" because it's bigger
there's some extremely beautiful music
played on a baritone that wouldn't sound
right with out its deep voice the plink of soprano
it's very one dimensional at times and almost sound
monotone on the high end the baritone allows a uke player to
expand and get a more diverse sound with treble and bass range
In one and with a low note that really sustains.
 
coolkayaker1 said:
It's not only tuning. The baritone is not nearly as percussive as a soprano, concert, or even a tenor. Long-time uke players know what I mean--short, staccato brush strokes. I love the brush strokes, and that's what a uke is all about to me.

Those who despise short, staccato, percussive strokes lean toward a baritone, or a guitar. And, that's fine, too (as long as they don't want to spend any time with me--lol).
Click to expand...


a technique can be used on any instrument
I play very percussively on all my ukes
it's a matter of being able to master the technique
and handle the thicker strings.
 
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