The rise of GCEA tuning.

hoosierhiver

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Some of you know that G C E A wasn't always the standard for tuning ukuleles. Back in the 20's it was A D F# B.

Today I'm wondering when G C E A became the standard. Presumably it wasn't overnight. Was it Ukulele Ike or someone else who changed history? anybody know?
 
I have been told that ADF#B became a standard tuning during vaudeville days in the big halls before electronics.
The higher tuning made the sopranos louder and cut through other music.
 
I'm not sure how accurate this is, but it's what I've read about the beginnings of the ukulele.

Ukulele History
The original ukuleles were a combination of several instruments from the Iberian Peninsula of Europe brought to Hawaii along with sailors and plantation workers in the 1880s. The ukulele combined elements from the Cavaquinho from Portugal and the Braguinha and Rajão from Maderia near the Canary Islands.

The Cavaquinho looks like a little guitar with four strings. The Portuguese sailors brought their cavaquinhos on their travels in the 15th and 16th centuries, spreading the instrument to other cultures, influencing the Maderia Braguinha, Brazilian Cavaquinho, and the ukulele in Hawaii. The Rajão, also from Madeira, has 5 strings and its D-G-C-E-A tuning is thought to be the root of modern ukulele tuning. Today's Hawaiian soprano ukulele has 4 strings, just like the Braguinha, but is tuned G-C-E-A just like the Rajão.
 
I was told that the originator of the gCEA tuning was firmly against any tuning fork or pitch pipe of any kind, stating that he had perfect pitch and could tune his instrument to itself quite easily.

(This is meant entirely in jest, poking fun at some previously heated posts. Meant in fun. Again, meant in fun)
 
I'm sorry if this is a silly question but is it possible to tune a soprano up to the A D F# B with the regular GCEA strings or would that put too much tension on them? It's something I've been wanting to try but I'm wary of snapped strings or putting pressure on the neck.
 
I'm sorry if this is a silly question but is it possible to tune a soprano up to the A D F# B with the regular GCEA strings or would that put too much tension on them? It's something I've been wanting to try but I'm wary of snapped strings or putting pressure on the neck.

Depends on your strings. If it's a nylon set, I doubt you'll have any issue at all. If it's a fluorocarbon set, I'd tread a bit more lightly.
 
I have been told that ADF#B became a standard tuning during vaudeville days in the big halls before electronics.
The higher tuning made the sopranos louder and cut through other music.

I've heard a similar suggestion that use of the higher tuning was due to the crude capabilities of early phonograph recordings. As recording techniques improved, maybe people reverted to 19th century standards--the earliest documented tuning for the ukulele, from an 1894 instruction manual, is gCEA.

Based on a cursory glance at the chord charts for higher tuning, gCEA looks easier to me, especially for people with little fingers--so perhaps the shift back to gCEA came during the 50s.

Does anybody have a collection of old instruction books to consult?
 
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I'm sorry if this is a silly question but is it possible to tune a soprano up to the A D F# B with the regular GCEA strings or would that put too much tension on them? It's something I've been wanting to try but I'm wary of snapped strings or putting pressure on the neck.

I'd de-tune it and take off the extra tension when you are done playing it just to be safe.
 
Depends on your strings. If it's a nylon set, I doubt you'll have any issue at all. If it's a fluorocarbon set, I'd tread a bit more lightly.

Thanks, I have an old Mahalo floating around so I'll try it on that first I think :)
 
I've wondered exactly the same thing. I have Ian's collection of vintage sheet music from the teens, 20's and 30's (that earlier teens and 20's - jeez I'm getting old) and the tunings wander all around. If nothing else, it seems those folks then might have had a lot more chord shapes under their belt than I do. I barely make my way through the mine-field of gCEA!

Some of you know that G C E A wasn't always the standard for tuning ukuleles. Back in the 20's it was A D F# B.

Today I'm wondering when G C E A became the standard. Presumably it wasn't overnight. Was it Ukulele Ike or someone else who changed history? anybody know?
 
I like the higher sounding tuning better than gcea.
 
I've wondered exactly the same thing. I have Ian's collection of vintage sheet music from the teens, 20's and 30's (that earlier teens and 20's - jeez I'm getting old) and the tunings wander all around. If nothing else, it seems those folks then might have had a lot more chord shapes under their belt than I do. I barely make my way through the mine-field of gCEA!

With GCEA and ADF#B the chord shapes are the same, but the name is different.
The higher tuning is a whole step higher.
A GCEA "C" chord shape would be a "D" in ADF#B tuning.
 
Yes, you're right. I misspoke. Chord names. Although there are some real looper odd-ball chords and chord-shapes in those old music sheets!
I love my capo.

With GCEA and ADF#B the chord shapes are the same, but the name is different.
The higher tuning is a whole step higher.
A GCEA "C" chord shape would be a "D" in ADF#B tuning.
 
Yes, you're right. I misspoke. Chord names. Although there are some real looper odd-ball chords and chord-shapes in those old music sheets!
I love my capo.

The way I handle this is learn where the root note of the chord is (under which finger), then I know the name of the chord when I move the shape.
Of course this method does not work when you leave the root out of the chord because of only having four strings.
 
I keep my Mainland mango soprano tuned up to ADF#B with concert-gage Ko'Olau Gold strings - it's been two years now with no problems.

On the other hand, if you're looking at a very valuable uke more care might be warranted.

Edit - oh, and about a year ago I converted that uke to a string-through-body. Of course, I've got even heavier strings on my Mainland mahogany soprano without having converted the bridge (though it is tuned to C, not D).

John
 
I got a cheap soprano Uke from a LIDL supermarket a while back as a beater / beach uke, etc. Even though I'd played about twenty of them in the store to find the best of the batch, it still sounded a bit flat in GCEA, even after putting better strings on. Then I remembered that the standard Uke tuning in Germany is apparently ADF#B and I thought that as Lidl is a German company, perhaps they'd got their East Asian manufacturer to build for that. I tuned her up and found I had another instrument in my hands. :cool:

You can see and hear it on my "Aristocat's Outtake" song here:
 
In decades past, I used to hear the ADF#B referred to as "Island Tuning" and the GCEA as "Mainland Tuning".
 
Some of you know that G C E A wasn't always the standard for tuning ukuleles. Back in the 20's it was A D F# B.

Today I'm wondering when G C E A became the standard. Presumably it wasn't overnight. Was it Ukulele Ike or someone else who changed history? anybody know?

Lil Rev showed us the D tuning last week. I tuned one of my ukes to it, and quickly discovered why most of us prefer to play C tuning....the chords are harder (for me). But it's really pretty, easier to sing in D than C, for me....
 
I remember reading here a year or so ago from some of our Canadian members that ADF#B is still considered "standard" at least in large parts of Canada.
 
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