Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa
...BTW our own Earl49 runs an excellent website for uke players ( www.boiseukulelegroup.com) - highly recommended for beginning/intermediate players looking to get off to a good start...
PS: I fixed the minor typo in that link when quoting. |
Mahalo for the kind words, Steve.
The "
Buying Your First Ukulele" handout should be applicable here.
http://www.boiseukulelegroup.com/instruction.html
My primary tenor ukulele is tuned with a low G string -- GCEA, but my second tenor is tuned re-entrant with a high G as the 4th string -- gCEA. They give slightly different tone characters. I generally prefer the low G version, because it gives me three more notes on the low end when playing melodies. It also gives me a strong low note when doing boom-chuck in 3/4 rhythm while leading the group jams. But ukulele genius Jake Shimabukuro plays a high G tenor, so that tuning is not limiting in any way. I
can play the smaller ones, but the tenor just feels right to me.
We have people in our group that put slightly different strings on their tenors and tune to baritone tuning -- DGBE. It works fine, and they do it because they want to, or already have some guitar background. The big difference is that when playing in a group, baritone folks cannot just look at others to get the chord shapes. The tenor / concert / soprano "G" ukulele chord shape is the "D" chord shape on a baritone or a guitar, because the tuning is a fourth higher.
I play a tenor because of my fairly large hands, and it is less of a transition from guitar fret spacing. My wife (and many women) prefer the slightly smaller concert size. Basically
mama bear and
papa bear sizes.