high G tabs - low G tuning

dancingflee

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Hello everyone,

I need help on this. I bump into plenty of high G tabs but I have tuned my ukulele on low G which I really like. My question is .... can I play high G tabs on a low G tuned ukulele. If not, what are my options without necessarily re-tuning my ukulele.

Thank you so much for every piece of advice.
 
If the tab has a high g note (open 4th/g string) the same note can be found on the 3rd fret of the 2nd/e string.
You may need to rewrite your tab a bit, but yea you can play it.
If a tab is written for low g and has a note(s) below middle c (open 3rd string) you need a low g uke as those notes are not on a high g tuned ukulele.
 
Hi DancingFlee

Yes, as SailingUke said, you sometimes have to move the notes on the high-G string to E or A strings if it is a part of melody. In general, you can play a high-G arrangement on a low-G ukulele without much trouble. Doing a low-G song on a high-G is a little more problematic.

I'm curious - you wrote retuning. You are using the high-G string and tune it one octave lower? It works but the tension gets so low, the string gets floppy and the volume will be too low? To play a ukulele (tenor), you usually better off restringing. And once you put the low-G string on, however, you cannot tune it *uP* to high-G. The string will break under the tension.

Cheers
Chief
 
Chief..I not have a wound classical guitar G string on my ukulele (the only one available). I am happy with sound but again...is it proper or better still, did I do right?

I haven't had enough time to learn to play my ukulele with most of time spent on research and writing for my graduate school paper. I, however, find the low-G tuning easier to play than the high-G considering the years I have been playing a classical guitar. Yes, I was wondering if I need to retune from low-G to high-G depending on the music tab infront of me.

Thank you very much for any piece of advice.
 
Again, retuning is not an option. Restringing is the only real option. If you're only strumming chords you usually don't have to change anything. It's still the same chord, just one note is an octave lower. You only really have to modify your handling if the low string alters the melody.
 
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