GDAE tuning?

SteveZ

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Anyone else tune their soprano and concert (or other) ukuleles GDAE?

Since I already had my mandolins, tenor guitar and tenor banjo tuned GDAE, it just seemed logical to do the same with the ukuleles. It definitely makes it easier (at least for finger-challenged me) to jump from one instrument to another.

My first ukulele was a RISA Solid Soprano. It has a reputation as a "travel mandolin alternative" when tuned GDAE and I got it for that reason. It piqued my interest in ukuleles and led to acquiring others. However, I found it a lot more comfortable to maintain one chord/key system than jump from GDAE to CGDA to GCEA, so GDAE got the nod. In doing so, it has helped performance across all the instruments, speed-wise and accuracy.
 
Anyone else tune their soprano and concert (or other) ukuleles GDAE?

Since I already had my mandolins, tenor guitar and tenor banjo tuned GDAE, it just seemed logical to do the same with the ukuleles. It definitely makes it easier (at least for finger-challenged me) to jump from one instrument to another.

My first ukulele was a RISA Solid Soprano. It has a reputation as a "travel mandolin alternative" when tuned GDAE and I got it for that reason. It piqued my interest in ukuleles and led to acquiring others. However, I found it a lot more comfortable to maintain one chord/key system than jump from GDAE to CGDA to GCEA, so GDAE got the nod. In doing so, it has helped performance across all the instruments, speed-wise and accuracy.

I understand the concept..I have grappled with the mandolin...and I get your point ..but from an opposing point of view....coming from uke, guitar and a bit of balalaika the tunings are opposite ....so I tried tuning the mando GCEA......didn't really work to my ears ...though I may be should have changed the strings (?)

I presume that the uke played GDAE sounds okay ? I may give it a whirl ....I presume it will need a low G on the G string course (soprano uke will be the "victim")

Drowsy Maggie here we come ...!
 
I've used the Aquila 30U Soprano GDAE string set with no problems other than a popped E string. My E string substitute when/if needed has been 0.018" 20lb test monofilament line and it works well.

On the concert ukuleles I use the Aquila 31U concert CGDA string set, tossing the C, using the G D A strings and the 0.018" line for the E. Have not experienced any stress problems with the substitute E and have not had one pop.
 
I understand the concept..I have grappled with the mandolin...and I get your point ..but from an opposing point of view....coming from uke, guitar and a bit of balalaika the tunings are opposite ....so I tried tuning the mando GCEA......didn't really work to my ears ...though I may be should have changed the strings (?)

I presume that the uke played GDAE sounds okay ? I may give it a whirl ....I presume it will need a low G on the G string course (soprano uke will be the "victim")

Drowsy Maggie here we come ...!

I believe aquilla might even make a set for 5ths tuning.
However i think 5ths sound awful on a ukulele. If you wanna play the uke learn to play the uke in 4ths, and if you want a mandolin play a mandolin.
 
I believe aquilla might even make a set for 5ths tuning.
However i think 5ths sound awful on a ukulele. If you wanna play the uke learn to play the uke in 4ths, and if you want a mandolin play a mandolin.

I guess how it sounds is a matter of personal choice. Aquila 5ths strings work well (to me, anyway). if I don't prefer 4ths, that's my choice. Other stringed instruments (including ukukeles) are adaptable and played in several tuning systems, and there's nothing sacred about 4ths. If you choose a 4ths-only position, that's your right, but 4ths is not an absolute for all.
 
I guess how it sounds is a matter of personal choice. Aquila 5ths strings work well (to me, anyway). if I don't prefer 4ths, that's my choice. Other stringed instruments (including ukukeles) are adaptable and played in several tuning systems, and there's nothing sacred about 4ths. If you choose a 4ths-only position, that's your right, but 4ths is not an absolute for all.

I just don't get why you would want a ukulele to make it sound like not a ukulele,
you may as well get a nice mandolin i really dont understand. If i want a mandolin
sounding instrument i'd pick up a mandolin. The tuning is what gives the instrument
its voice once you take away the tuning it really just sounds like a softer mandolin.
 
I just don't get why you would want a ukulele to make it sound like not a ukulele,
you may as well get a nice mandolin i really dont understand. If i want a mandolin
sounding instrument i'd pick up a mandolin. The tuning is what gives the instrument
its voice once you take away the tuning it really just sounds like a softer mandolin.

Ironically, the sound is not like a mandolin, at least not like any of the three mandolins currently in my stable, nor like the tenor guitar or the tenor banjo. The sound is "rounder" (wish I had a better word) and mellower than the mandolin which really sounds higher and sharper. The right-hand play is quite different, combined with the feel. the only things they have in common is to be four-string based and the string order. It's like comparing a piano and an accordian.

Had the Mele and the Loprinzi at GCEA for a while, just to be "traditional," and would have put them back to GCEA if going GDAE came out lousy sound-wise, play-wise or was a damage risk. Perhaps the quality of these instruments is such that a variety of tunings are responsive.

Earlier today I was alternating among the Loprinzi, a mandolin (Army-Navy style flat-top) and my tenor banjo, doing the same songs. The difference is like going (sound-wise and play-wise) from a motorcycle to a convertible to an SUV.
 
Ironically, the sound is not like a mandolin, at least not like any of the three mandolins currently in my stable, nor like the tenor guitar or the tenor banjo. The sound is "rounder" (wish I had a better word) and mellower than the mandolin which really sounds higher and sharper. The right-hand play is quite different, combined with the feel. the only things they have in common is to be four-string based and the string order. It's like comparing a piano and an accordian.

Had the Mele and the Loprinzi at GCEA for a while, just to be "traditional," and would have put them back to GCEA if going GDAE came out lousy sound-wise, play-wise or was a damage risk. Perhaps the quality of these instruments is such that a variety of tunings are responsive.

Earlier today I was alternating among the Loprinzi, a mandolin (Army-Navy style flat-top) and my tenor banjo, doing the same songs. The difference is like going (sound-wise and play-wise) from a motorcycle to a convertible to an SUV.


yeah i mean im sure the overall tone is different because its has a different design and nylon strings
but the HUGE part of what gives the ukulele its sound is the reentrant tuning i think with out that
it doesn't sound like a mandolin. Maybe what you really have is just a 'soprano tenor guitar' if thats even a thing
maybe it is now.

Ukulele chords i find to be just as easier to pick up if you play guitar/tenor guitar or mandolin.
I started on guitar and learned ukulele and mandolin at the same time, it was pretty easy to learn both.
I find mandolin or 5th's tuning in general less pleasing to my ears for whatever reason. I find it most pleasant on
larger instruments though such as tenor banjo, tenor guitar or octave mandolin, but a small standard mandolin
i just don't care for it's sound. but to each his own.
 
Ironically, the sound is not like a mandolin, at least not like any of the three mandolins currently in my stable, nor like the tenor guitar or the tenor banjo. The sound is "rounder" (wish I had a better word) and mellower than the mandolin which really sounds higher and sharper. The right-hand play is quite different, combined with the feel. the only things they have in common is to be four-string based and the string order. It's like comparing a piano and an accordian.

Had the Mele and the Loprinzi at GCEA for a while, just to be "traditional," and would have put them back to GCEA if going GDAE came out lousy sound-wise, play-wise or was a damage risk. Perhaps the quality of these instruments is such that a variety of tunings are responsive.

Earlier today I was alternating among the Loprinzi, a mandolin (Army-Navy style flat-top) and my tenor banjo, doing the same songs. The difference is like going (sound-wise and play-wise) from a motorcycle to a convertible to an SUV.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_P7znmhxY0

sure has hell doesn't sound like a ukulele, and their playing
them like mandolins i don't i just don't get it sorry :0
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_P7znmhxY0

sure has hell doesn't sound like a ukulele, and their playing
them like mandolins i don't i just don't get it sorry :0

I think its cool when people do non-traditional things to find their own sound. I admire the way you integrated your uke into ambient, something I hadn't heard before. I bet you saw a lot of people roll their eyes at the thought of a ukulele in ambient music, but you stuck to your guns and created something pretty interesting. People who are trying alternate tunings to find their sound are doing the same thing. They may end creating something cool, too!
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_P7znmhxY0

sure has hell doesn't sound like a ukulele, and their playing
them like mandolins i don't i just don't get it sorry :0

Like everything, it's more than a couple guys clowning around for a video.

I enjoy the fact that the playing of most of my stringed stuff helps improve left-hand action for those instruments. And I enjoy the sound, even if it isn't traditional. For now, it works.
 
I think its cool when people do non-traditional things to find their own sound. I admire the way you integrated your uke into ambient, something I hadn't heard before. I bet you saw a lot of people roll their eyes at the thought of a ukulele in ambient music, but you stuck to your guns and created something pretty interesting. People who are trying alternate tunings to find their sound are doing the same thing. They may end creating something cool, too!

GDAEing the four instrument types (maybe five, if soprano and concert are considered as separate types) started out as a "why not" experiment. The math wasn't hard, and Aquila already made it simple for soprano and concert ukuleles. GDAE (mandolin standard) tuned strings are readily found for tenor guitar and tenor banjo, and Aquila made it easy for soprano and concert ukulele with their 30U and 31U string sets.

There is a sound difference due to a difference in two strings, but what hasn't changed is right-hand techniques. Chords are chords, but what the right hand does with them is where the ukulele is really different from mandolin, banjo and guitar. That combination does make the GDAE-tuned ukulele different, almost hybrid, but it really "rocks" when doing rock 'n roll and country stuff.

I don't plan to keep both concerts GDAE. Will change one back to GCEA when I'm satisfied sound-wise which one is the better choice. Right now, the Mitchell has the edge, but that may change.

I have a Flea soprano due in this coming week and will GDAE it when it comes in. Will do a sound comparison in a while between the Flea and the Mele to see which goes back to GCEA. The RISA will stay GDAE.

It's fun (at least for me) to experiment like this. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't (GCEA and mandolin didn't). So far, this has for me.
 
I believe aquilla might even make a set for 5ths tuning.
However i think 5ths sound awful on a ukulele. If you wanna play the uke learn to play the uke in 4ths, and if you want a mandolin play a mandolin.

Hey

I have had just about enough of your posturing rudeness.....So time for a little mano a mano straight talking......if you don't get other people experimenting with different tunings and trying out different instruments in different styles and stringings and tunings ...that's okay...don't get it and leave us/them alone.

I personally don't "get" ambient droning music that I can't tap my foot to, or sing along with or hum afterwards...but until provoked I have not said anything rude ....and you have certainly provoked enough ...I rolled with the clown "gag" and insult and laughed with you and at myself...

I have a sense of humour that could flay you in public like a peeled fruit...but I will refrain....because this is grown ups talking here ...Now do me a and the others a favour ...and jog on...


I apologise to other posters if my little outburst has offended anyone else other than the intended recipient ...but it makes me so mad when people invoke the mahalo ahalo spirit (sorry if I have that wrong ) and then piss other people off willy nilly !!

CeeJay
 
I think its cool when people do non-traditional things to find their own sound. I admire the way you integrated your uke into ambient, something I hadn't heard before. I bet you saw a lot of people roll their eyes at the thought of a ukulele in ambient music, but you stuck to your guns and created something pretty interesting. People who are trying alternate tunings to find their sound are doing the same thing. They may end creating something cool, too!

thanks for the compliment !
I see what you are saying I guess it's just hard for me to understand
being I'm a multi instrumentalist and I
don't understand why people can just learn
to play but that's how art it I guess
not everyone is going to understand
same goes for what I do too.
 
Hey

I have had just about enough of your posturing rudeness.....So time for a little mano a mano straight talking......if you don't get other people experimenting with different tunings and trying out different instruments in different styles and stringings and tunings ...that's okay...don't get it and leave us/them alone.

I personally don't "get" ambient droning music that I can't tap my foot to, or sing along with or hum afterwards...but until provoked I have not said anything rude ....and you have certainly provoked enough ...I rolled with the clown "gag" and insult and laughed with you and at myself...

I have a sense of humour that could flay you in public like a peeled fruit...but I will refrain....because this is grown ups talking here ...Now do me a and the others a favour ...and jog on...


I apologise to other posters if my little outburst has offended anyone else other than the intended recipient ...but it makes me so mad when people invoke the mahalo ahalo spirit (sorry if I have that wrong ) and then piss other people off willy nilly !!

CeeJay

Heres the difference i don't give a crap if you 'get' drone music or ambient music.
I get it, i like it, i don't like taping my foot i don't like moving or dancing i like meditating
though sound, and it removes all my stress, it brings you closer to nature to the earth
and to your self. Thats what I like, and if others don't like it who cares it helps me
i enjoy listening to it and making it. I still have a right to express my opinion about
something i don't get mandolin tunings on a ukulele, it just doesn't really seem useful
again thats my opinion. And you have a right to yours if you think my music is a boring or a waste
no skin off my back I do it for me not you or anyone else.
 
This thread started out trying to see who else is having (or not having) any success with GDAE tuning on soprano and concert ukuleles. Whether anyone "gets it" or not was not the question. Whether anyone can't stand any tuning formula other than GCEA was not the question.

At this point, the question which started this thread is moot. The thread has gone from a routine inquiry to show-off smart-mouthing and elitism. So much for the "fun" of it all. The "opinions" added nothing to the discussion except dissent. You all win. Forget the question. GCEA forever!
 
This thread started out trying to see who else is having (or not having) any success with GDAE tuning on soprano and concert ukuleles. Whether anyone "gets it" or not was not the question. Whether anyone can't stand any tuning formula other than GCEA was not the question.

At this point, the question which started this thread is moot. The thread has gone from a routine inquiry to show-off smart-mouthing and elitism. So much for the "fun" of it all. The "opinions" added nothing to the discussion except dissent. You all win. Forget the question. GCEA forever!

no elitism or actual smart mouthing at all.
I'm actually just trying to understand the purpose
of tuning an instrument like another instrument when you already
own that instrument, i really am trying to grasp the point of it.
Sorry if I can off as rude not my intention. I will kindly duck out of this
discussion and leave it to everyone else who uses this tuning. good day
 
This thread started out trying to see who else is having (or not having) any success with GDAE tuning on soprano and concert ukuleles. Whether anyone "gets it" or not was not the question. Whether anyone can't stand any tuning formula other than GCEA was not the question.

At this point, the question which started this thread is moot. The thread has gone from a routine inquiry to show-off smart-mouthing and elitism. So much for the "fun" of it all. The "opinions" added nothing to the discussion except dissent. You all win. Forget the question. GCEA forever!

Nah, come back , Steve ...it's as much my fault. I was venting at iamesperambient and his attitude ...I should have acted like a grown up and ignored the comments he made....and unfortunately he and I have some history where he has been rude and disparaging in other threads ...Sorry the bubble burst here.

There is a valid point to all this messing about with different tunings though .....otherwise we would not get different or alternate and open tunings on instruments...and whilst I have not tried GDAE on a uke yet I have my eye on one of mine for a quick make over .... a little innocent slightly battered soprano....
I'll keep you posted.......
 
Nah, come back , Steve ...it's as much my fault. I was venting at iamesperambient and his attitude ...I should have acted like a grown up and ignored the comments he made....and unfortunately he and I have some history where he has been rude and disparaging in other threads ...Sorry the bubble burst here.

There is a valid point to all this messing about with different tunings though .....otherwise we would not get different or alternate and open tunings on instruments...and whilst I have not tried GDAE on a uke yet I have my eye on one of mine for a quick make over .... a little innocent slightly battered soprano....
I'll keep you posted.......


Having an opinion and being 'rude' are two different things sorry you can not separate the two from one another.
 
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