Beginning Baritone Music Theory Question

TodR

Active member
Joined
Dec 31, 2020
Messages
31
Reaction score
0
I am very new to playing instruments and music theory, so forgive me if I am not making sense.

Why does The Daily Ukulele Book Leap Year Edition by Liz and Jim Beloff song book have songs with melody notes below D?

I have the The Daily Ukulele Book Leap Year Edition for standard ukes and I recently bought the baritone version. The melody notes are the same for both books. The chords are different.

But what's the point of having a baritone version of the book if you can't play the melody notes on the baritone?

Thanks in advance!
 
Can you post an image from the baritone DU-LYE book of the D note you think is too low to play on a baritone? I can't imagine the book would have any melody notes lower than what you can play on the bottom (D) string of a baritone ukulele.
 
I attached a photo of an example from the book. How do I play that note on my baritone uke?
 

Attachments

  • 20210121_124209.jpg
    20210121_124209.jpg
    82.9 KB · Views: 66
  • 20210121_125113.jpg
    20210121_125113.jpg
    87.5 KB · Views: 21
Last edited:
The book has many songs with notes below D, about 50% are that way. I know how to play those low notes with my low-G tenor. There is a statement in the book that states "the whole point of the book is to allow both C-tuned and G-tuned ukes to play together." As a beginner I don't even know what that means. It's just weird they have BARITONE in big red letters on the cover but half the songs include notes not playable on a baritone.

I was also looking at the Ukulele Fretboard Roadmaps - Baritone Ukulele by Fred Soklow & Jim Beloff. A sample page on the Hal Leonard site shows the same thing of notes below D.
 
Does the book specify that all melody lines is arranged for the ukulele?

Lots of "fake books" have lead sheets with staff music for the melody, intended for singing. And then the chords you can play on whatever instrument you prefer posted above.
This has chord diagrams for how to play the chords on the baritone. If you wanted to play whats on the staff on your ukulele, it would suit it to have some more notes than just the melody in there, so it would make a chord melody arrangement.

Anyway, if you want to play the melody on your baritone I guess you play it an octave higher.
 
Ok that makes sense. The notes on the staff are for singing and the chords are what you play to go with the singing. This book and other "fake books" are not intended for picking notes. Thanks!!!
 
It was the same for me as a tune picker, I expected to be able to play the tunes from these books, but it is only the chords for playing along with the tunes, unfortunately.

The uke is seen as an accompanying instrument, & not really as a solo instrument.
 
If the song is in the same key then the notes for melody are the same and this is independent of the instrument. I assume that the melody is provided for singing, if this was supposed to be played on uke then a tab should be provided. Also, the chords in the picture seem to be for gCEA tuned uke.
 
most (non-guitarist) will say middle C is not relative. Middle C is specific to the piano, guitars just play transposed. Actual middle C is C4 but guitars are a transposed instrument so when reading a guitar notation what looks like middle c in standard notation is actually c3 in guitar notation. This is done so as to not have to use both a bass and treble clef when using staff notation for guitar.
 
Wow! You just answered my next question. What's the deal with middle C. Now if I think of uke and piano as C3 and guitar as C4 then things make a little more sense.

Also the idea of playing my DBGE baritone as a GCEA instrument is a great idea! I just checked the relative tuning patterns and they are the same for both instruments! That is really interesting and I can not wait to try switching the playing pattern to see how they sound. I don't have plan of joining a band so playing solo in a different key wont be a problem if the tunes sound good on their own.

As for the simple format and the arrangements, I use the lyrics to help with the timing. I have a metronome but knowing the song and playing to the pace of the lyrics is fun. It's really cool when I start to hear the song come out of my fumbling with the instrument. However, I can see that after a few more months of practice those melodies won't be enough. I will most likely at that point start incorporating the chords and singing, or go to more complicated classical sheet music.

Thank you!
 
You can also buy gCEA string for banitone Ukulele. If you change the string you will be able to play along with the countless youtube videos and lesson made for gCEA tuning.
 
notation is correct

The G note you highlighted is the low G in the ukulele in a tenor ukulele, or the 3rd string in the baritone. It is written correctly.

Eugenio


I attached a photo of an example from the book. How do I play that note on my baritone uke?
 
most (non-guitarist) will say middle C is not relative. Middle C is specific to the piano, guitars just play transposed. Actual middle C is C4 but guitars are a transposed instrument so when reading a guitar notation what looks like middle c in standard notation is actually c3 in guitar notation. This is done so as to not have to use both a bass and treble clef when using staff notation for guitar.

Middle C is middle C, and that note in scientific pitch notation is C4. Sometimes, you hear people call middle C "C3", e.g. Yamaha; but that's in the small minority. For guitars, the middle C is label C4 (following scientific pitch notation); it has nothing to do with using both treble and bass clefs. The clefs are something used in staff notation (i.e. standard notation) and has nothing to do with C3 vs C4.
 
This post has asked how to play the music presented in standard notation on a baritone ukulele. The beginners here may have no idea about SPN or the other forms of notation, they just want to work out how to play the music on their baritone ukuleles as it is presented in standard notation.

On a piano the note in the middle of the keyboard is a C note that has an interval or ratio of 4 octaves from the C0 note, which I think is the lowest note on the keyboard. So its labelled C4, or middle C. So standard notation for piano is presented with the C4 note in the middle between the bass and treble. It lives on a ledger line just under the staff that has the treble clef.

On a guitar, its different. If you write music for a guitar with the middle note as C4, it looks like a mess and its hard to read. So they decided to just use the middle note as a reference and push it down an octave to C3, then the written standard notation looks much neater and easier to read. Maybe there are other reasons as well.

So the lesson is that the middle note can be relative. Even though the notation looks exactly the same, if may have been transposed by an octave.

Now if you are accompanying other instruments, you want to make sure you are playing in the right octave. This is where you can latch onto a labelling system like ABC or SPN to find out what is the right octave with some pedantic application of definitions. Old hands be able to recount endless tales of Middle C and C3 and C4 etc., but all you need to know is what octave the band or group is using so you can read the music and play along.

As this question does not seem to relate to groups or bands, I think you can be quite safe as a baritone beginner just treating the middle C as a relative centre of the music in order to decode the tunes in your songbook.

The OP's question can easily be answered if that melody was originally written for the guitar (i.e. the "you" is at the G above the low E). Book's author may have retained the original melody for singing, as the baritone uke is used in accompaniment role.

The lowest note on an 88-key piano is A0, in SPN.

C4 is the name given to middle C in scientific pitch notation. If you go by Yamaha's naming convention, then that C4 SPN is called C3 (Yamaha). I.e. they both have the same frequency and refer to the same pitch.

"Middle note" has not much meaning. It isn't the same as middle C.

Middle C isn't necessarily the middle C note on a piano; but middle C is always the C note in the middle between the treble and bass clefs.
 
Last edited:
The G note you highlighted is the low G in the ukulele in a tenor ukulele, or the 3rd string in the baritone. It is written correctly.

Eugenio

My Baritone Beginners books says an open G string is an octave higher, see attachment. But now that you said the G string on the baritone is the same as the Low G on a tenor, they sound the same.

If that is true then my beginners book is wrong? That seems weird because they are all Hal Leonard books.
 

Attachments

  • Baritone Book G note.jpg
    Baritone Book G note.jpg
    87.2 KB · Views: 11
My Baritone Beginners books says an open G string is an octave higher, see attachment. But now that you said the G string on the baritone is the same as the Low G on a tenor, they sound the same.

If that is true then my beginners book is wrong? That seems weird because they are all Hal Leonard books.

This looks correct to me. If I were to write a low G that's where I would put it too. But I see the conflict with the melody note in the first example. Obviously books like this are not perfect so you may have to live with the conflict and transpose by an octave where needed.
 
Last edited:
This looks correct to me. If I were to write a low G that's where I would put it too. But I see the conflict with the melody note in the first example. Obviously books like this are not perfect so you may have to live with the conflict and transpose by an octave where needed.

I'll try transposing by one octave on those low notes. I'm still pretty slow at finding the notes when I play so transposing on the fly will be a mind bender. Looking forward to trying it. Thanks!
 
My Baritone Beginners books says an open G string is an octave higher, see attachment. But now that you said the G string on the baritone is the same as the Low G on a tenor, they sound the same.

If that is true then my beginners book is wrong? That seems weird because they are all Hal Leonard books.

Your book is correct.

I looked at your post #3 again, and noticed that the "you" is actually a "G" note. Initially, I thought it was a "E", so what I posted earlier isn't totally correct WRT the note name; but the book's melody is like still for the guitar with just the chord charts changed for the uke.
 
Last edited:
Your book is correct.

I looked at your post #3 again, and noticed that the "you" is actually a "G" note. Initially, I thought it was a "E", so what I posted earlier isn't totally correct WRT the note name; but the book's melody is like still for the guitar with just the chord charts changed for the uke.

Thanks for the follow up. I had some buyers remorse when I revived the book but now that I understand the material a little better I'm glad I have it.
 
Top Bottom