Guitalele?

zeraOne

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Okay well i'm not a beginner at the ukulele but I am with the guitar. I can only learn by ear so I don't know anything about octives or whatever. But anyway, I was thinking about getting a guitalele. I know this might sound like a dumb question but can I just play it like a guitar? Like I know the regular chords you play won't have the same tone but can you still play it that way? I don't really want to get a guitar because it hurts my fingers when I press down and I want to get something small and portable.

Is it a guitar but has the sound of the ukulele?

btw, I haven't been playing both of them for long. I've been playing the ukulele for 3 years I just learned how to play guitar over the summer.
 
They are uke sized guitars in the way that a Ubass is a bass, not a uke. I gave my Cordoba to my son who plays guitar. Since you can now get them for the same price as the Yamaha, I feel they are much better in every way. Some Yamaha owners may disagree, but a direct comparison should settle it. better models available from top makers. Good luck.
 
...I know this might sound like a dumb question but can I just play it like a guitar? Like I know the regular chords you play won't have the same tone but can you still play it that way? I don't really want to get a guitar because it hurts my fingers when I press down and I want to get something small and portable.

Is it a guitar but has the sound of the ukulele?

btw, I haven't been playing both of them for long. I've been playing the ukulele for 3 years I just learned how to play guitar over the summer.

The tuning of the guitalele is like putting a capo on the 5th fret of a guitar. So, yes, you can play it like a guitar. It won't have the re-entrant sound of standard uke tuning, but it won't really sound like a guitar either. It is like playing a uke tuned to low G and adding two lower strings.

–Lori
 
A guitalele is an awesome instrument! Yes, you can play it like a guitar and yes, it just sounds like a capo-ed guitar but that doesn't mean it doesn't sound like an uke...It will sound like a low G ukulele.

If you're looking at some solid wood options, you should check out taisamlu on ebay. I won one of his guitaleles (solid mahogany) with an awesome laser etched design for only 80 dollars (and 70 dollars shipping).
 
Hi, I can't speak for all of those other options, but I got a Yamaha used and I adore it.

Yes, you can play it just like a guitar-- the original owner of mine even used a pick. (He also upgraded to some Martin classical strings, and I recommend this also.)

Some people even tune their guitaleles to match full-sized guitars. It's possible. It just isn't the optimum sound or tension for the size of the instrument. Whichever notes you choose to tune it to, you'll find that it is harder on your fingers than a ukulele, but much easier on them than a guitar. (It took me a few months of guitalele to build up to bar chords that I'd mastered on the ukulele, for example.) Best wishes!
 
I went by guitar center today for some reason or another and saw 5! (yes five) yamaha gl1s. Two of them outside with the laminate ukes and three in the climate controlled guitar room. Two sunburst and 3 natural. On all 5 the nut seemed a bit high. One thing I can say for certain, the "naturals" clearly resonated better than the sunburst finished models. One of the naturals was just about perfect at the 12th fret, another was clearly off. I was a bit disappointed, the string spacing seemed very close, closer than what I was hoping (pulling 'g' chords, etc was very tight).

Are there any full nylon/fluoro sets available for these or you must get wound for the lowest strings?
 
Any classical guitar set would work for a guitalele since it's being tuned higher. If you want a colored set, Aurora strings makes colored classical strings to use (http://stringsbyaurora.com/). I can't really say much for their classical guitar strings but their bass strings are awesome!
 
I found my Yamaha guitalele to be like a transvestite; not too great at being either thing.
 
And more interesting stuff. Here today it's sunny and almost 70F so I went out for a nice walk. Of all places into BestBuy. They had 2 cordoba gp100s there in addition to a pair of cordoba concert ukuleles and some other nasty steel guitars. The gp100 I pulled out of the box and checked, very good at the 12th fret and first fret (although the first fret still felt a bit high to me). The cordoba gp100 seems slightly nicer than the yamaha gl1. They had fret markers along the side of the fretboard (compared to none on the yamaha). Gig bag just okay, very slightly padded and also comes with a tuner although I dunno how good that one is. But I'm not convinced I can make any sort of crossover.
 
Are you playing a steel-stringed guitar, and if so, why not just find a parlor or 3/4-sized nylon stringed guitar? They're no harder on the fingers than a uke's nylon strings, and while the spacing might be a little tighter, the necks are generally pretty wide on a classical guitar. Certainly they're larger than ukes, but they also give some variety to your playing.

Alternatively a baritone uke will let you use the same chords as a guitar, minus of course the bottom strings, with a wide string spacing, and if you really want it to be a uke, that may be an option. (For me they're too big to have the uke sound I like (even with re-entrant c tuning) and still don't fill the bill for a guitar, but that's just me). But guitars are good too...and the larger body gives you more volume and richness of bass tones. Nothing wrong with having and playing both, rather than trying to find something that covers both categories, which will still be a compromise no matter how you do it.
 
Are you playing a steel-stringed guitar, and if so, why not just find a parlor or 3/4-sized nylon stringed guitar? They're no harder on the fingers than a uke's nylon strings, and while the spacing might be a little tighter, the necks are generally pretty wide on a classical guitar. Certainly they're larger than ukes, but they also give some variety to your playing.

Alternatively a baritone uke will let you use the same chords as a guitar, minus of course the bottom strings, with a wide string spacing, and if you really want it to be a uke, that may be an option. (For me they're too big to have the uke sound I like (even with re-entrant c tuning) and still don't fill the bill for a guitar, but that's just me). But guitars are good too...and the larger body gives you more volume and richness of bass tones. Nothing wrong with having and playing both, rather than trying to find something that covers both categories, which will still be a compromise no matter how you do it.

If this is for me (meaning I hijacked the thread), I'm in the same situation as OP. Only play ukulele and no experience or desire for full sized guitar. I currently have a lanikai bari string cuatro-c which I do find to be useful at times. I think it's pretty gigantic. I do have a small string student guitar we bought some time ago before I started playing uke. I was hoping my oldest daughter would play when staying with us (she took lessons at one time) but she didn't stay with it. I really, really dislike it.
 
I think the guitalele is a fun little instrument; certainly worth exploring. However, the thing to understand is that it is neither a guitar nor a ukulele. The guitalele is a guitalele. It is good for many types of music, as anyone can see on youtube. I like the fact that I can play guitar type music on a small, portable instrument. If I had to make a choice between a ukulele and a guitalele and a guitar, I'd go with the uke (any size).
 
Any classical guitar set would work for a guitalele since it's being tuned higher. If you want a colored set, Aurora strings makes colored classical strings to use (http://stringsbyaurora.com/). I can't really say much for their classical guitar strings but their bass strings are awesome!

They would be thicker... But essentially would be fine... You can buy sets that would be better if you search for requinto strings, Requintos and Guitaleles are both tuned ADGCEA and therefore use the same strings! IN FACT! Requinto strings allow you to turn a 3/4 and 1/2 size guitar into a Guitalele (OK so it's technically a requinto but same tuning, call it what you want! ;))
 
If this is for me (meaning I hijacked the thread), I'm in the same situation as OP. Only play ukulele and no experience or desire for full sized guitar. I currently have a lanikai bari string cuatro-c which I do find to be useful at times. I think it's pretty gigantic. I do have a small string student guitar we bought some time ago before I started playing uke. I was hoping my oldest daughter would play when staying with us (she took lessons at one time) but she didn't stay with it. I really, really dislike it.

The OP had been playing both...the uke for several years and the guitar just recently, and that was the reason for suggesting a guitar. For someone who only likes ukes, there's no reason a guitalele wouldn't be the answer, but that didn't sound like the case. I don't think one has to necessarily like playing only one or the other, guitars and ukes are different instruments, and the similarities lend themselves to migrating from one to the other, either way.
 
I started out playing guitar when I was in 4th grade. I had at that time a 1/2 size classical guitar. This would in my opinion be the perfect instrument for an ukulele player to try playing guitar. It is not too big so as to seem unwieldy to an ukulele player, yet the string spacing will still be similar to an ukulele. When I pick up my guitar now (as I have been playing ukulele pretty much exclusively the last five years) the string spacing on my Fender acoustic seems impossibly narrow now, and I have trouble playing. I wish I still had my old 1/2 size classical, I bet I could rip on that sucker now!

The descriptions of the nut being too high or too difficult to play would be easily solved by taking your instrument to a "real" guitar shop, not guitar center or Best Buy, but a local music shop with someone there who can adjust the action for you. It will make a world of difference in your playing and your ability to play easily.
Best of luck on your musical journey!
 
The descriptions of the nut being too high or too difficult to play would be easily solved by taking your instrument to a "real" guitar shop, not guitar center or Best Buy, but a local music shop with someone there who can adjust the action for you. It will make a world of difference in your playing and your ability to play easily.
Best of luck on your musical journey!

The current guitar shop is my garage which has so far seen ukuleles shredded in some way or another. I assume the action at the nut on a guitalele or bari will need to be somewhat higher than a soprano ukulele. just something to live with. If the intonation is spot on I really wonder if the action needs to be adjusted. Its nice to sneak in your own tuner when checking over an instrument.

Just an update. That day (11/19) I actually bought one at best buy. I played it for the first time for a bit quietly at the office and left it there. Then I was gone for business and wasn't in around thanksgiving. Yesterday I picked it up and noticed it buzzing. Shaking it around I heard something under the bridge. So back with the cordoba gp100!

I wanted to exchange it with the other gp100 in store but that one the nut was VERY high. Currently at best buy the cordoba gp100 is going for 69.99 which might explain why there is only one in stock at all the best buys in my area. I'm sad, I really liked playing some of the classical tabs I had downloaded.
 
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I was curious about these Gui(ta)lele things, but I wasn't sure I wanted to spend around $100 USD on an instrument that I might not really take to. But then today I found the Cordoba GP100 pack on amazon.ca for $70 CAN (~$55 USD), so I bought one. I think that I can't go wrong for that price. I'm looking forward to trying it out. Maybe it will be stepping stone to taking up the guitar (which I don't play, yet).
 
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