CGBD tuning - Baritone Uke - Ukulele

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CGBD tuning

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Posted: Sun Apr 5th, 2009 06:04 am

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jmddn
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Joined:	Sat Apr 4th, 2009
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Instrument Interest:	Ukulele, Clawhammer Banjo, Bluegrass Banjo, Guitar, Harmonica, Keyboards
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Hi I just found this forum and I would greatly appreciate feedback. Although I play both guitar and plectrum banjo, I am much better with the banjo (CGBD tuning.)
I know of several banjo playing persons and also several non-musical persons (including children) who are interested in playing the bari uke.

I personally find the chords with the banjo tuning (CGBD) to be much easier to play than those with the standard bari uke tuning (DGBE.) For example, it avoids the somewhat difficult fingering positions of the moveable "F" and "Bb" chord patterns.
Also, for single note solo playing, I like having the low C note on the 4th string.

My question is, why does everyone or nearly everyone use the DGBE tuning? And, is there a reason (or reasons) why the CGBD tuning should be avoided? Regardless of tuning, I think that the bari uke is a great instrument and everybody should play one :-)

Thanks in advance for prompt responses.

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Posted: Mon Apr 6th, 2009 02:51 pm

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Will
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Joined:	Wed Feb 16th, 2005
Location:	Chicago, Illinois USA
Posts:	1894
Instrument Interest:	Ukulele, Clawhammer Banjo, Guitar, Harmonica, Dulcimer, Mandolin, Autoharp, Keyboards, Other
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jmddn wrote: Hi I just found this forum and I would greatly appreciate feedback. Although I play both guitar and plectrum banjo, I am much better with the banjo (CGBD tuning.)
I know of several banjo playing persons and also several non-musical persons (including children) who are interested in playing the bari uke.

I personally find the chords with the banjo tuning (CGBD) to be much easier to play than those with the standard bari uke tuning (DGBE.) For example, it avoids the somewhat difficult fingering positions of the moveable "F" and "Bb" chord patterns.
Also, for single note solo playing, I like having the low C note on the 4th string.

My question is, why does everyone or nearly everyone use the DGBE tuning? And, is there a reason (or reasons) why the CGBD tuning should be avoided? Regardless of tuning, I think that the bari uke is a great instrument and everybody should play one :-)

Thanks in advance for prompt responses.

The reason DGBE tuning is used is because it is the tuning of the 4 highest strings of a guitar. Whereas the tenor guitar was developed after the tenor banjo and used the same CGDA tuning by former tenor banjo players, the baritone uke was developed much later than the soprano, concert and tenor ukes (specifically for radio personality Arthur Godfrey during the late 1940's), so it has no historical connection to any kind of banjo tuning.

Amongst the banjo family, plectrum banjos are outnumbered by tenors, and both kinds of 4-string banjos are greatly outnumbered by 5-string banjos. That is probably why CGBD plectrum tuning is relatively obscure today, but there is no reason why you can't tune your baritone uke to that tuning if it works for you.

Last edited on Mon Apr 6th, 2009 04:15 pm by Will

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