how do i get my uke to sound right?

T

twtclikkie

New member
Joined
May 8, 2019
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
hi! so i've been playing the uke i have for a month and my sister messed around w/ the strings. i tuned it and the strings sound fine but the chords are all wonky. i looked around the internet and i haven't found anything to help me. i don't know the model of the uke bc i wasn't there when it was bought (it was originally for my sister but i took a liking to it). all i know is that it's a grailton and that it's a soprano. help?
 
How have you tuned it?
 
Rule Number 1 of ukulele playing: "Never let your sister (or brother) mess around with the strings." :p Just kidding! Well, sounds like you need to re-group and just make sure it's tuned accurately, which is easy after you've done it a million times! There are tons of videos online that will help you do that. Now, I'm assuming that you didn't start getting this "wonkiness" until after your sister messed around with the strings, is that correct?
 
There are alot of good free apps for tuning. I use Pano Tuner. If it is just messing around and nothing more than that, tuning should be the answer.
 
You could do with a clip on tuner, strings will stretch when new, & go out of tune after a little while of playing, so will require tuning fairly often. :)

(You can get the 'C' string into tune, & then tune the others from it.)
 
When I first started out I got one string off an octave. My tuner was showing it in tune because I had tuner on chromatic and it was not specific to the individual strings. Just throwing that out there. I'm not the only one that has happened to.
 
Where is the OP during all these good suggestions?

This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly West near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 11 solid body bass ukes, 9 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 34)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers
 
I like to think that the OP , with the aid of the helpful replies, has been able to fix his/her uke and is now busy playing. I'm sure there will be a grateful response in the fullness of time.

John Colter.
 
When you say that your sister messed with the strings, do you mean she took them off and put them on again? Or did she just change the tuning?

What method do you use to tune the ukulele, and what tuning are you trying to use? gCEA? aDF#B?

A little more information might help.
 
twtclikkie said:
hi! so i've been playing the uke i have for a month and my sister messed around w/ the strings. i tuned it and the strings sound fine but the chords are all wonky. i looked around the internet and i haven't found anything to help me. i don't know the model of the uke bc i wasn't there when it was bought (it was originally for my sister but i took a liking to it). all i know is that it's a grailton and that it's a soprano. help?
Click to expand...

Pardon me if I didn't see if you mentioned if it goes wonky when you play it. It could be the tuners need tightening. I have friction tuners on one of the family ukes and tightening the tiny screw on the tuning machine made the difference from an instrument that wouldn't hold a note - tune/tone to one that works great.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
Got my Uke but chords don't sound right
Replies
5
Views
6K
coton boy
C
Doc_J
The right uke and the right strings for a particular sound.. make all the difference.
Replies
4
Views
474
ksiegel
ksiegel
O
Does my uke sound right?
Replies
10
Views
1K
Tack
Tack
M
Sound hole size on Uke
Replies
7
Views
400
Pete Howlett
Pete Howlett
W
How to string uke bridge through sound board?
Replies
17
Views
688
spongeuke
spongeuke
Top Bottom