is the baritone uke the bad boy of ukuleles?

kjbllc

New member
Joined
Jul 3, 2020
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
I have been playing for a short while with the baritone, usually play the violin and mando, tuned to cgda . I have looked on this site for info on getting a new one, but there does not seem to be much about the baritone. I am looking to upgrade and put that info on this forum , on another section. so just curious as to the opinions on the baritone ? thanks kevin
 
I can't add much, except that I tried one and liked it a lot. I could see myself buying a baritone if my path should come across the right instrument. Because of the bassiness, you can feel the vibrations against your chest and it's quite intriguing.
 
Some consider them to be more like a guitar, especially as they are linear tuned DGBE normally, & not like a re entrant gCEA uke. :)

I like them, (I have two), but find them a bit cumbersome, (just like a small guitar ;) ), but that's just me. I don't often play mine, but when I do, I love their deep tones. :D

Check out this website,
http://humblebaritonics.blogspot.com/

& their YT channel.
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheBaritoneUkulele/discussion?disable_polymer=1

P.S. The Kala cedar top is a good one to start with, its the one of mine I like best.
 
Last edited:
I wouldn't call it the "Bad Boy", just different. My opinion here and nothing more, it doesn't fit in anywhere. It is tuned like a guitar, not like a ukulele. It lacks the two base strings of a guitar though, which for some reason I don't understand makes it a ukulele instead of a four string guitar. So it is really neither. Anyway,I like the deeper sound and around the first of the year I came really close to buying one, but then I decided that if I was going that far in that direction why not just go with the real thing and I bought a guitar instead. I still play the ukulele as well, it doesn't have to be one of the other. I just thought in for a penny, in for a pound.
 
I really like the baritone for accompanying songs, much more so than a "normal" ukulele. That's the main reason I got one, so that I could accompany my own singing better and have a wider range of music I can play. As much as I love the typical ukulele tuned to C or D tuning, it does have a fairly limited range. I mostly play my instrumental/solo stuff on a "normal" uke, but whenever I need to accompany a song I bust out the baritone. Obviously, the baritone is excellent for solo arrangements and the like as well.
 
I have all sizes of Ukuleles (as well as Guitars and Basses ;)), my Baritone was my latest purchase and I absolutely love it when I play Solo, as it adds bass which is really helpful when singing certain songs. I put a set of Worth Browns on it, as I really don't like wound strings on a Ukulele. To me it really adds something inbetween Guitars and "normal" Ukuleles.
 
I’ve been playing uke for about three years. It’s my first venture into a stringed instrument. I’ve owned all four sizes and must say my personal favorite is the baritone. I own two of them, one of them is a steel stringed bari. I love the resonance they bring and I find them easier to bar due to the length of their strings. They also just harmonize better with my wife’s stand up bass. The overtones are more apparent on them. The challenge is, in a group setting, I found it was sometimes hard to hear myself play so I usually took a tenor to group meetings. But at home, the bari is my go to guy. I really enjoy the steel stringed bari. It is more guitar-like, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
 
Yes I have not started playing out with it yet, I am looking at a pono at the moment. I played a classical ( not the style, folk type music ) for a number of years, and there is something about the nylon strings the way you can manipulate them and you can get the bluesy type of sound and bending strings , the use of all the fingers and percussion its a great combo of sounds. I think it will really open up a new sound for the duo ,just need top find a good one with a good pickup . thanks for all the replies !!
 
As kjbllc asked me via p.m. what Bariton I have, I thought it might add to the discussion to just put it out here ;).
I have the Diamond Head DU-200B deluxe natural mahogany baritone ukelele (whatever deluxe means).
I paid 56 euro for it, which I think is a steal, as it is really well made for that price.
And just for fun a seasons video with me (mis)using it:

It came without a pickup as I had some cheap Chines under saddle pickups in stock I put one of them in.
But this recording was done acoustically, and I added some effects in post production.
 
Last edited:
Coming from guitar I don't get the concept of baritone uke at all. To me it's just a partial guitar. Though when I play one and my GF hears it she always says I should buy one.
 
well for me, I have been playing mando for a while now and dropped the guitar, so with this tuned to fifths I can have fretboard I already know .
 
More like a cool older cousin.

I love both of my baritone ukuleles, on addition to my tenors. There are always a few folks who think the baritones dont belong, but they are such a great addition to this instrument's portfolio. I restrung my 1950's Harmony baritone with Living Waters reentrant strings, and the result is awesome! You get the classic ukulele voicing in the baritone range, adding yet another great layer to the possibilities of this great instrument.

BraddahIMG_20200703_221143.jpg
 
Last edited:
I don't really know what is meant by 'bad boy'; to me a bad boy is someone who dresses like a biker or a hoodlum to appeal to ladies but is in fact a post-millennial house cat. I don't know how that applies to ukuleles. I will say that I have a ukulele and tenor guitar and I treat them just like my other ukuleles. I just play them like a soprano with the understanding that I won't be playing in the key that I think I'm playing in. Does that make the baritone a bad boy? I don't know.
 
I love both of my baritone ukuleles, on addition to my tenors. There are always a few folks who think the baritones dont belong, but they are such a great addition to this instrument's portfolio. I restrung my 1950's Harmony baritone with Living Waters reentrant strings, and the result is awesome! You get the classic ukulele voicing in the baritone range, adding yet another great layer to the possibilities of this great instrument.

BraddahView attachment 128209

I'm inclined to think they don't seem like a ukulele. I still like my baritone anyway, but I see it more as a truncated guitar than a ukulele. But if I ever get around to putting a re-entrant D on it, I'll probably change my mind.
 
I play baritone ukuleles as well as tenor ukuleles. I think of baritones as ukuleles with a lower voice, not as guitars without the bass strings. Maybe that's because I play tenors with low G strings, so for me a "typical" ukulele sound is not reentrant. I think, like larger members of the violin family, baritones serve the important purpose of contributing a lower voice. In the Hawaiian music group in which I performed (before the lockdown), the baritone adds depth to, and fills out, the sound of a bunch of ukuleles playing together that are all tuned GCEA. It also makes this lower voice available to those of us who either can't or don't want to take on the challenge of the additional strings of a guitar.

I also play tenor guitars, which have an interesting history that relates to baritone ukuleles. They were developed when banjoes were losing favor to the sound of big bands. For tenor banjo players to get gigs, they began playing instruments that were tuned like tenor banjoes, so that tenor banjo players wouldn't have to learn new chord shapes, but sounded like guitars (that's where the "tenor" in tenor guitars comes from), so that the sound would fir in with the music of the period. The higher guitar-like voice of tenor guitars (without the two bass strings) became so popular that some guitarists began playing tenor guitars, retuning them to the highest-pitched strings of a guitar so that they wouldn't have to learn tenor banjo chord shapes. This DGBE tuning in tenor guitars was called Chicago tuning and appears to have influenced the tuning of baritone ukuleles.

I guess the point of the story of how tenor guitars developed is that for a very long time, musicians have understood the benefits of being able to offer the sound of a guitar without the lowest two strings. Baritnoe ukuleles sound different from guitars and they sound different from tenor/concert/soprano ukuleles. the fill a niche in the music spectrum. it's possible that those who dismiss baritone ukuleles by saying "I'll just play a guitar" don't see the need for an instrument that sounds like only the four highest-pitched strings of a guitar, but historically many people have recognized that need and the baritone ukulele fills it.
 
I'm inclined to think they don't seem like a ukulele. I still like my baritone anyway, but I see it more as a truncated guitar than a ukulele. But if I ever get around to putting a re-entrant D on it, I'll probably change my mind.

I think you'll find it a game changer. It's surprising how different it sounds.
 
I got a baritone because I saw an offer from a music shop that was closing down. £150 baritone for £55. Just over 1/3 the price so I had to go for it. Having got it I really took to it. I love the lower sound and to me, yes in a way it's like a guitar without the bass strings but never having played guitar, I found the lower pitched sound with the D worked perfectly for the way I finger pick accompany a lot of songs. It sounds better to me than finger picking a low G tenor, though I keep a tenor tuned in low G as it has it's uses.

I now have two. The second has a lute shaped body - even to having the rose in the sound hole. I bought it for accompanying some of the old songs I sing but it has a great tone and I use it for all sorts of songs.
 
Top Bottom