Sell Me On Low G

don_b

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I have 2 Tenor ukes. I am considering throwing a Low G on the one I like less, but I'm struggling a bit to decide whether or not it's worth it.

When you add a low G, you can play everything you can on a High G uke and you also have access to Low G, Low Ab, Low A, Low Bb, and Low B. You already have access to Low C, so you're giving yourself access to 5 more notes. Seems like a trivial gain.

Of course I'm being a bit reductive in that criticism. There's the obvious difference in having the strings go from low to high when played from ceiling to floor on the Low G, instead of 2nd highest, lowest, 2nd lowest, and highest when played from floor to ceiling on High G. There's also the obvious general change in sound when moving from re-entrant to linear.

Generally, though, it feels like a trivial gain.

I want to hear from passionate Low G-ers.

**UPDATE: I bought a pack of these fremont blackline fluorocarbon low G tenor strings. I'm going to put them on my kala tri top.

It was really awesome reading everybody's thoughts on Low G. Thanks a lot.


******UPDATE
Everybody, I put my new Fremont blackline Low G set on last night and I gotta say I really do not like how floppy the Low G is. Doing some research it sounds like it's just gunna be floppy unless I get a high tension wound or something. Am I right? So far I really, really dislike the flop. But it does sound nice.
 
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Just get a Fremont soloist low G string, It's just a few bucks and an easy change. I'm not a passionate low G-er, but I do have low G on my Tenor. It works fine for playing a lot of the old rock songs, etc.
 
Nearly all my ukes are low G - those lower notes allow you to play a lot more tunes, which quite often go below middle C, plus I prefer linear, as I tend to down strum mainly. :music:
 
I have a low G on my Tenor and have for ages, I just recently ordered another Tenor now I had some money to keep in re-entrant so I can have both. For me, some songs and kinds of music just sound a bit more "natural" with low G as you don't have the super high note in there. Sure, it's also a bit less of the traditional ukulele sound but I like it. Also when playing with other instruments sometimes you don't wanna be super obvious (if you're quite a new player for example) and the low G blends in a bit more for example with a guitar. Again, this is all personal opinion and if you like it or not will vary.

The advantage of re-entrant is of course there's so many more tabs etc. available and a lot of the music you would find specifically for ukulele assumes standard tuning. So... both? I also have a soprano and when I play it for a while the Tenor sounds too low, but if I play the tenor for a while the soprano sounds too high. My ears feel like different things on different days :D

No idea if that was helpful or if I'm just rambling now, but that's my 2 cents...
 
Almost all my Ukes are Low G. I really like the broader sound, and the ability to finger pick more tunes without going too far up the fretboard. The only downside to Low G is that many TABs for Uke are written for re-entrant tuning, and they don't sound right with the Low G. I am seeing more and more TABs now that are specifically for Low G, so the situation is improving.
 
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I like having my tenor with a low G as some of the more modern pop and non traditional uke music may sound better. However, some chords such as Em may need different finger positioning from what you are used to to sound decent, so it takes a bit getting used to. Also as you noted having a few extra low notes is trivial as they are rarely used, but on the other hand you will have a lot fewer options to use upstrokes for chord melody.
 
It depends on how you play. If you're a strummer, it may not be worth it. You'll be playing the same old songs you've always played and strumming the same old chords, but the chords will be different inversions. If you are more of a picker, it is more significant. Low G turns a three-stringed instrument into a four-stringed instrument. Right now I am mostly playing pentatonic scales and modes of the harmonic minor. With re-entrant tuning I am allowed seven scales. With linear tuning I have fourteen.
 
When you add a low G, you can play everything you can on a High G uke and you also have access to Low G, Low Ab, Low A, Low Bb, and Low B. You already have access to Low C, so you're giving yourself access to 5 more notes. Seems like a trivial gain.

Ultimately, looking at it in terms of the extended range is probably not the best approach. Instead, look at it in terms of the notes you can play within a given number of frets of each other - it's not about total range of the instrument, but rather the range of notes that can be played comfortably and/or simultaneously in a given hand position or chord. Low G is more "efficient" at music that has a wider spread of notes and/or bigger runs or chords that extend past one octave.

If you're trying to play a simple chord in an arpeggio as root-3rd-5th-octave, that's a whole lot easier on low G (one note on each string, in a shape that's comfortable) than high G (where you're more likely to end up with a compromise, like repeating the root in the same octave, moving your hand halfway through, etc.).

To take this to an extreme, imagine if you had a two string ukulele, with a low string tuned to G3 and a high string tuned to A4. You'd effectively have the same total range of a low G uke but it would be absolutely no fun to play! Going from that arrangement to a "normal" 4 stringed uke, in either high G or low G wouldn't be about giving you more range, instead it's just about giving you a range that's useful and efficient for the style of music you would like to play.
 
I'm the opposite. I struggle to keep any ukulele in High-G because from my perspective you reduce your chromatic range and lose bass.

In fact, the closest I have to a high-G is a 5-string tenor.
But even that pretty much behaves like a low-G
 
I like the sound of the tenor with a Low-G. Most strummed songs sound better to me with a Linear tuning. But not all.

I am learning fingerstyle. As VegasGeorge stated, there are far more tabs written for re-entrant tuning than for linear. So, I have both.

Try Low-G and see if you like the sound. If you do great! If not, it's easy to change the string back to High-g. It's that simple. You can always return to Low-G when the added range becomes important to your playing.

Try it. You'll like it! Or not.
 
Thanks for the replies everybody. I guess there is a little more to it than I thought, specifically if I'm a picker or a strummer. I'm both, by the way. I pick more than I strum.
 
If you play melody as well as chords, those extra 5 notes can be mighty handy. As ripock says, you get more scales in more keys. Also it's nice to have the option of not playing so high on the fretboard. If you've got a high-G and want to play in the key of C, you're either going to have to fudge some notes or jump to the high octave, which might not be the sound you want.

I'm more of a chords + vocals player. I like low-G for blues, folk and country songs. Travis picking does work with high-G but the sound ain't the same. My voice (I sing soprano, play concert) benefits from a little extra support on the low end.

FWIW, I prefer high-G for jazz and the Great American Songbook. I think everybody should try both high and low G. Even if you ultimately decide you don't like low G for any application, it will have been an interesting experiment and you'll probably learn some new things about the instrument and your own particular preferences. Besides, changing a string is cheaper than buying another uke :cool:
 
Low G or High G? I believe the correct answer is BOTH! I have three Tenors: two are in High G, and one is in Low G. Some songs or styles sound better in one or the other, but I'm happy to have the option. That being said, I'm primarily a guitarist, so if I could only have one Uke it would be in High G. As noted above, it's easy to buy a single Low G string and try it on your High G Uke to see if you like it.
 
IMHO - low-G is not tremendously useful unless you are playing fingerstyle. If you do like fingerstyle, here is a good comparison of high-G vs low-G:
 
What a fun fun video. Thanks for sharing.

I'm a fingerpicker. Love, love low G. I have three tenors and a soprano and concert. At one point they were all tuned low G - even the soprano. However, once I got my KoAloha tenor, none of them could compete with it as a low G. So today, my soprano, concert, and one tenor are Hi G. The other tenor I have set up with Baritone tuning. It is the best Baritone I've ever played. I found myself either playing it or the KoAloha. It's very hard to put either of them down.

Find what speaks to you, and go with it.
 
Just get a Fremont soloist low G string, It's just a few bucks and an easy change. I'm not a passionate low G-er, but I do have low G on my Tenor. It works fine for playing a lot of the old rock songs, etc.

Is it common that the low G would be wound and the rest of my strings would be nylgut or nylon (not wound, is what I'm saying)?
 
Is it common that the low G would be wound and the rest of my strings would be nylgut or nylon (not wound, is what I'm saying)?

There are many different types of low G options and the majority will be wound. Some fluorocarbon sets have plain low G of the same material, but density of nylon or Nylgut is too low, so usually use wound string with same core material. If they are silver wound the windings may not last long. A more durable alternative are Aquila red which have similar sound and are my preference.
 
I finally set up one with lowG last year. It is okay and there are times that I prefer it to high G but never a necessity and I prefer high G for most of my chord/melody songs.

Here are a few considerations:

Low G wound strings can really really boom out and overpower the other strings. This is my experience so I went to a local shop and they sold me a single fluorocarbon one for $4 that they use and took off a large spool. This worked well.

An unwound low G is a fatter string than the wounds. This may or may not necessitate filing the nut slot a little so it seats better. Can happen with wound, but they are a little thinner.

Keep your high G string in case you dislike it and want to switch back. Or you can just replace all with a new set.
 
There are many different types of low G options and the majority will be wound. Some fluorocarbon sets have plain low G of the same material, but density of nylon or Nylgut is too low, so usually use wound string with same core material. If they are silver wound the windings may not last long. A more durable alternative are Aquila red which have similar sound and are my preference.

I guess my question is, do I need to buy all new strings if I'm currently using nylgut or will it sound just find using 3 nylgut and 1 would Low G?
 
Your mileage may vary, but in general it'll sound fine.

Most brands that sell both high g and low g string sets for the same product don't do anything different except for the g string itself.
 
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