guitar @ 5th fret for uke tuning -- what about the top 2 strings, nice drones?

Hi, I am very new to uke and guitar playing. I've been reading about guitar-as-ukelele, and had a few thoughts pop into my head.

So, as you know better than me I'm sure, if you put a capo on 5th fret of a guitar, then the bottom 4 strings pretty much turn it into a ukelele. What do you do with the top 2 strings?

- Do they get strummed, or is it best to try to miss them?

- I quite like drone music ... I suppose I could tune them to match the top uke string, 3rd down from the top? (or or better to restring the top two so the same gauge string is used?)

any thoughts on this?
cheers,
Charlie

judoman09 said:

What do you do with the top 2 strings?

- I quite like drone music ... I suppose I could tune them to match the top uke string, 3rd down from the top? (or or better to restring the top two so the same gauge string is used?)

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cut them off.

What you're calling the top string (6th string) can easily be tuned down a step to be an octave lower then the 4th string. On guitar this would be "drop D" tuning and is fairly common. The 5th string wouldn't have to change. The guitar tuning would be DADGBE so your super-uke tuning would be GDGCEA. You could drone in the key of G easily.

If you Google "fingerstyle guitar tunings" you'll find a gazillion other schemes guys like Michael Hedges, Nick Drake, and others used to great effect. Each tuning makes certain things magical and other things more difficult.

While you might find the note of a ukulele on a guitar the guitar as ukulele thing is misleading.

Ukuleles are so different just buy a good entry level ukulele and have at it.

~peace~

Inksplosive AL said:

While you might find the note of a ukulele on a guitar the guitar as ukulele thing is misleading.

Ukuleles are so different just buy a good entry level ukulele and have at it.

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+1

I've never played any guitar as lightly built and resonant as a ukulele, with one exception: a gut-string baroque guitar I had custom made many years ago. It was very close to a uke in some ways.

Not to mention that the size of a standard uke allows it to be much closer to the player, both the frets and soundbox - it's altogether a much more intimate experience. This is one reason I'm not interested in tenors and baritone ukes.

thank you Jim and everyone else, the advice is much appreciated

Jim Hanks said:

cut them off.

What you're calling the top string (6th string) can easily be tuned down a step to be an octave lower then the 4th string. On guitar this would be "drop D" tuning and is fairly common. The 5th string wouldn't have to change. The guitar tuning would be DADGBE so your super-uke tuning would be GDGCEA. You could drone in the key of G easily.

If you Google "fingerstyle guitar tunings" you'll find a gazillion other schemes guys like Michael Hedges, Nick Drake, and others used to great effect. Each tuning makes certain things magical and other things more difficult.

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The terminology being used here can often be confusing. I have always referred to the higher pitched strings as the top strings and the lower pitched as the bottom or lowest strings. In other words I use pitch instead of gravity, or distance from the floor. I also use pitch when talking about playing up or down the neck, but I know that some folks use gravity here as well and up the neck means closer to the nut to them.
I guess both methods are correct, but maybe there's a less confusing way of communicating what we mean. Referring to strings by number or name. Saying "towards the bridge" or "towards the nut" instead of up or down the neck?
My students and the folks I play with know and use the same terminology as I do, but on sites like this it sometimes gets confusing.

I noticed that Jim Hanks said, "What you're calling the top string. . .", perhaps indicating some confusion on his part.

+1 to what everyone else said...however I would like to add:

1. If you dont want to worry about the 6th and 5th strings of the guitar, just remove them, coil them up and put them somewhere safe, so should you want to play it as a 'guitar' again, you can just restring them and dont have to go out and buy a new string set. This way you have only 4 strings left over.

2. With only the 4 strings, if you play without a capo on the 5th or any other fret, you have by default a baritone ukulele, or tenor guitar, either with DGBE linear tuning.

3. With the capo on the 5th fret, you will technically have the starting default open string pitches for linear GCEA tuning or 'low G' tuning, and can get a sense of what a uke might SOUND like, HOWEVER, there is a huge difference in the difference of the way a ukulele neck and fretboard feels in your hand when compared to a guitar neck and fretboard.

4. The string spacing (from string-to-string on center) on MOST acoustic and electric guitars is about 8mm at the nut and about 10mm at the saddle, whereas on most ukuleles the string spacing at the nut is typically about 10mm and at the saddle about 12mm for all ukes concert scale or bigger. This also goes with the typical nut width of steel string acoustic and electric guitars being about 43mm (1.67"), and nylon string classical guitars about 51mm (2.1"), with proportional saddle string spread accordingly. So the takaway is that you will have quite a bit more room for both hands to fret notes and fingerpick the strings on a UKULELE which are effectively farther apart than the strings on any guitar, despite most ukes having a nut width anywhere from 1.1625" (soprano), 1.375" (concert & tenor) or 1.5" (most baritones)

5. Due to the longer overall scale length of a guitar, ~25" as opposed to baritone uke (~19-21") tenor uke (~17") or concert uke (~15") or soprano uke (~13"), DESPITE using a capo to shorten the active 'open' string pitch, you will still have string tension from the ~25" scale distance from the actual NUT to the saddle, and thus there will be significantly MORE string tension on the guitar. Most steel string acoustic guitars typically have ~150-175lbs of string tension, nylon string acoustic guitars ~83-110lbs of string tension, all depending upon the strings used. Whereas, a baritone ukulele will typically have about 60lbs of string tension, a tenor 45lbs, a concert 33lbs and a soprano uke about 28lbs of string tension, so overall, the actual PLAY FEEL and sustain profile is likely to differ from what a real ukulele is like, when using a guitar with a capo on the fifth fret...

But if you already have a guitar, and a capo, it's an easy way to get a feel for the pitch and sound of something similar to a ukulele, but keep in mind that a REAL ukulele will actually be MUCH EASIER to mechanically play with your hands since there is less pressure required overall, due to the much lower string tension involved.

Good luck! :rock::music:

Bill1 said:

Our uke group had a very good guitar player who had several spare guitars and he never wanted to bother buying a ukulele. He was in several well known bands in his youth. He just dusted off a nylon string guitar and restrung it with four strings, arranging the stings in the four centre slots of the guitar. So he played a super-baritone uke. He was amazing to listen to, and had no trouble playing the super-baritone. Sadly he passed away.
If you have a spare nylon string guitar gathering dust, and you want to try four strings, just restring the guitar with four strings, work out which slots you want the strings in and set it up. Tune it DGBE, as normal for a guitar. You can do it with a steel string as well, then you might have a super-tenor guitar. Either way it makes no real difference.
This set up would be a great first step if you are looking at a transition to ukulele, no outlay at all if you re-use a set of strings, or the cost of a new set of strings.

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Hey Bill1

I have a steel string acoustic that was gathering dust and I got curious about tenor guitar. So off came the two bass strings (wound E and A) and I had a super tenor guitar as you put it. I loved the sound........I loved it so much I bought a Blueridge tenor guitar.

I really like your story of the fellow who used his nylon string guitar for the same purpose. Sorry to hear he passed away, sounds like an interesting man

Bill1 said:

If you have a spare nylon string guitar gathering dust, and you want to try four strings, just restring the guitar with four strings, work out which slots you want the strings in and set it up.

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Just keep in mind that you're removing a significant mount of tension from the neck and bridge by taking away two strings. On guitars without an adjustable truss rod to compensate, you're most likely going to cause problems or even damage if you leave it that way permanently.

I would take advantage of the extra string slots somehow. As the op suggested, two sympathetic drone strings like later lutes had could work, but you might not be able to do the typical uke strums easily.