Yamaha GL1 played as a uke

Badger uke · May 10, 2020

Does anyone play a Yamaha GL1 as a uke with 2 extra bass strings as it has a 17” scale , and what is the string spacing of the lower 4 strings I’m probably wrong but the thought of the 2 bass strings would sound good occasionally.

anthonyg · May 10, 2020

I have played the Yamaha GL1 and have toyed wit the idea of returning to play a six string however I never really got on with them. The string spacing is quite narrow compared to ukuleles and to be honest the sound from them never did anything for me.

kissing · May 10, 2020

More broadly speaking, guitar is played like an ukulele with 2 additional bass strings

Peter Frary · May 10, 2020

One nice thing about playing a guilele using only 4 strings is the reverb like overtones set off in the unused bass strings. I often play my Romero Creation Tiny Tenor 6 that way and love the ambience of the ringing harmonics. Yes, guilele string spacing is narrow compared to a tenor ukulele but you can get used to it with practice.

drbekken · May 11, 2020

...and then there is the Eddie Freeman Special tuning, which was introduced by the late Dirk Wormhoudt of Southcoast Ukuleles in Louisiana. E to E like a regular guitar, but with strings 4,5,6 one octave up. It gives the guitalele a wonderful re-entrant voice... Sounds like this:
https://youtu.be/reQFGfmyqXU (Yamaha GL-1 here)

Jim Hanks · May 11, 2020

"uke with 2 extra bass strings" is accurate. It's been so long since I played real guitar that I try to treat my 6-strings as if they were in ADGCEA tuning (even if they aren't). So I do think of 320003 as my "C" chord (which it is with standard guilele tuning), not "G" like it would be on guitar.

There are also variants of Dr. B's Eddie Freeman Special tuning that are easier to come by now that the Southcoast sets are unavailable. I've done it in G-to-G and B-to-B (with different strings of course), but not A-to-A.

Peter Frary · May 11, 2020

I think that tuning is commonly called Nashville tuning due to decades of use by session musicians for C&W backing tracking tracks. When I played 5-course Baroque guitar in college, it was tuned re-entrant according to the 17th and 18th century custom.

drbekken said:
...and then there is the Eddie Freeman Special tuning, which was introduced by the late Dirk Wormhoudt of Southcoast Ukuleles in Louisiana. E to E like a regular guitar, but with strings 4,5,6 one octave up. It gives the guitalele a wonderful re-entrant voice... Sounds like this:
https://youtu.be/reQFGfmyqXU (Yamaha GL-1 here)

Jim Hanks · May 12, 2020

Well, according to Wikipedia, Nashville tuning generally has the bottom 4 strings an octave higher, not the bottom 3. Possible of course, but the C5 third string is tricky.

If I wanted to try A-to-A EFS tuning, I would start with the World of Ukes Clarity set which I currently have tuned to e4 A3 C#4 F#4. Just need a regular A4 and C4 to get A3 D4 G4 C4 E4 A4

drbekken · May 12, 2020

gochugogi said:
I think that tuning is commonly called Nashville tuning due to decades of use by session musicians for C&W backing tracking tracks. When I played 5-course Baroque guitar in college, it was tuned re-entrant according to the 17th and 18th century custom.

Yes, you’re right. Sometimes though, Nashville tuning means only the 5th and 6th strings are raised an octave (correct me if I’m wrong), the EFS means 4,5,6 are raised. Anyway, it’s a pretty cool way to tune the guitalele! I absolutely love it.

stanat20 · May 12, 2020

I keep my yamaha gl1 in G tuning(E to E) using savarez prodigy 38.So when I need to transpose a tune from C to G to suit my voice.I just play ukulele C shapes on the top four strings of the Guitalele and Voila instant transposition from C to G.Sound sample in the Video

Yamaha GL1 played as a uke

Badger uke

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anthonyg

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kissing

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Peter Frary

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drbekken

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Jim Hanks

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