I may be going to the dark side.

I guess I've been a denizen of the dark side of long-standing. I like my coffee black, my suits charcoal grey, my beers stout, my modes Phrygian. And I recently submitted my $500 deposit for my final ukulele, my baritone. I already have a crappy Kala baritone that I haven't even taken out of its case since 2019 or so. However I have an excellent linear uke and an excellent re-entrant uke. Having an excellent baritone will complete my arsenal.

BTW, I am not a fan of Arsenal. Aston Villa is closer to my heart.
 
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Bought one last week. DGBE tuning. And it’s great - a different sounding instrument with almost no learning curve attached from the ukulele. Or looking at it another way, another key for free.

I’ve not abandoned my other ukes, but now tend to get the baritone out as well for the same play/practice session.

I like ripock’s approach above - a small arsenal of different instruments of different types.
 
I guess I've been a denizen of the dark side of long-standing. I like my coffee black, my suits charcoal grey, my beers stout, my modes Phrygian. And I recently submitted my $500 deposit for my final ukulele, my baritone. I already have a crappy Kala baritone that I haven't even taken out of its case since 2019 or so. However I have an excellent linear uke and an excellent re-entrant uke. Having an excellent baritone will complete my arsenal.

BTW, I am not a fan of Arsenal. Aston Villa is closer to my heart.
Hahaha, that's what's coming. ;)
 
Hahaha, that's what's coming. ;)

If I had known, I would have given it to you. To be fair, it is a Kala so there's nothing wrong with it, but there's nothing right with it. This says more about me than the instrument, but I'm at a place in life where I need something special in order for me to pick it up.
 
If I had known, I would have given it to you. To be fair, it is a Kala so there's nothing wrong with it, but there's nothing right with it. This says more about me than the instrument, but I'm at a place in life where I need something special in order for me to pick it up.

All Kala's are probably not the same. I have a Kala cedar top/acacia laminate baritone that is just so sweet and plays beautifully. I drifted to the "dark side" long ago and I love it here.
 
Yah, I have a Kala all-solid Mahogany Baritone, and it's awesome. Sounds and plays great, super deep and warm!

I never wanted a Baritone uke until I worked up some nice arrangements on Tenor, and then found those songs were too high for me to sing. I tried transposing them but the arrangements didn't work as well in other keys, so I got the Kala Baritone ukulele. Now I can play and sing those songs on the Baritone, exactly as I'd learned them, and they're automagically a fourth lower, perfect for my fine Baritone voice! :D
 
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The baritone arrived Saturday and it seems to be fine. I consider it a good example of a working man's uke and that is what I like. No frills but it sounds pretty good. A uke is accompaniment for me. I don't intend to dazzle anyone with my ukulele playing, I'm hoping they will like it with my singing though. Right now I think the deeper sound will work better for me in that way.

It is a little strange playing guitar chords without bass strings, but my wife and I rehearsed for a sidewalk gig we have coming up in a few weeks and it came fast, so that is encouraging. I can go uke or guitar with that one, or both I guess. It is more a busking thing so it will be a good shakedown cruise. We will have to see how it goes. Then we have a couple in August that are most definitely uke events, so I'm hoping I'm up to full speed by then. I think I will be. Anyway, it all looks good. I'm excited.

One final note, my wife is playing the re-entrant concert and we think the two really sound good together. There is a lot there to play around with. I think we can work up some pretty good stuff.
 
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Baritones lead you to tuning you tenors to dGBE and the Tenor-tone Fremonts! Ask me how I know.

A practical challenge.

A little background. My sopranos are all strung GDAE, like mandolin and violin; tenors are strung the same pitch as a DGBE baritone with reentry 4th string "d"; Baritone is strung normal linear DGBE. (An aside: Specifically, I use CGBE, but that's just a detuned D.)

The challenge: Find a combination of strings to tune a Soprano the same pitch as tenor dGBE.

From a standard soprano set:

Moved stock #3 string (C) tuned up 1 step to be #4 re-entrant d

Used Aquila Soprano Red for #3 low G (...could also have used a clear Fremont Low G)

Used D'Addario EJ27n set's 3rd string (clear nylon) for #2 B

Moved stock #2 (E ) to be #1 E (Using EJ27n set's #2 string for *1 E also works great)

All 3 (baritone, tenor, and soprano) now play in the same "key" using baritone chord shapes and notes with tenor and soprano being reentry.
 
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Remember, Ukulele has four strings, you have four fingers, this is natural and right. A guitar has six strings. The only people I know of with six fingers are: Goliath, Humperdinck's blade in Princes Bride and the man who killed Trudy Monk. Not a nice crowd to be associated with.
 
Remember, Ukulele has four strings, you have four fingers, this is natural and right. A guitar has six strings. The only people I know of with six fingers are: Goliath, Humperdinck's blade in Princes Bride and the man who killed Trudy Monk. Not a nice crowd to be associated with.

If we're including thumbs (or pinkies), shouldn't we have something with five strings?
 
Im currently in the process of recovering from a baritone to guitar faze I never saw coming.
 
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The baritone arrived Saturday and it seems to be fine.

It is a little strange playing guitar chords without bass strings, but my wife and I rehearsed for a sidewalk gig we

Thanks for the update. Keep us posted. I find it interesting.
 
So far so good. I've done a couple group strum a longs with it. I haven't played the concert since I got it. I suppose I'm a little afraid to, as I've settled into it pretty quickly and I've been switching back and forth with the guitar fairly well. I may be creating some sort of phobia though, fear of the re'entrant. I was switching between the guitar and the concert fairly well before I got the baritone and I sort of compared it to speaking two languages, which I do. But I will admit that I've spoken two languages for a long time and my second one is not near as articulate as my first, so maybe that isn't a valid comparison to lean on. Okay, just felt a little chatty today. I have a pretty good one coming up in three weeks and they specifically want a ukulele, so I'm working on it. Hopefully the baritone will fill the bill for them.
 
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yeah, I imagine it would work in group settings. In cross harp harmonica, you play a fifth above the key. With baritone you're playing the fifth below the key (if my math is correct). In my imagination it sounds good. I'm actually hammering out the details of my bespoke baritone as we speak.
 
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