Turn a guitar into a Ukulele

[Jerryc41]

Aren't the bottom four strings of a guitar the same notes as the strings on a uke? Could you remove the top two strings and have a very large ukulele?

 

[mikelz777]

When I first started entertaining the idea of a ukulele I used a guitar with a capo on the 5th fret and played the bottom 4 strings to see if I would like it. It turns out I did and here I am!

 

[rustydusty]

Actually the bottom four strings of a guitar are the same tuning as a baritone ukulele. DGBE…
Basically what you would have would be a tenor guitar in “Chicago” tuning.

 

[Canada Jim]

The terms "bottom/top" "low/high" "up/down" are confusing when talking about stringed instruments.
Some folks, like Jerryc41, mikelz777 and rustydusty, seem to use gravity to describe stringed instrument terminology.
Other folks like Jim Yates prefer to use pitch.
To me, the bottom four strings are the lowest pitched strings rather than the closest to the floor. I also use "low/high" to describe the pitch. I also mean close to the bridge when I say "up the neck"and closer to the nut when I say "down the neck".
Both gravity and pitch are legitimate forms of terminology, but we should know which form a person is using in order to understand. I always explained my terminology to my students early in the lesson process.

To me, the lowest four strings of a guitar are one octave above a bass guitar.

 

[don_b]

Aren't the bottom four strings of a guitar the same notes as the strings on a uke? Could you remove the top two strings and have a very large ukulele?

They are not.

 

[mikelz777]

Aren't the bottom four strings of a guitar the same notes as the strings on a uke? Could you remove the top two strings and have a very large ukulele?

They are not.

They are if you place a capo on the 5th fret.

 

[don_b]

They are if you place a capo on the 5th fret.

They are.

 

[ksiegel]

A guitar is tuned EADGBE, with the first E being the lowest pitch bass string.

A linear-tuned [soprano, concert, tenor] ukulele is tuned GCEA, with G the deepest pitch.

Using re-entrant tuning, that same [soprano, concert, tenor] ukulele is tuned gCEA, with g the highest pitch, and C the deepest pitch. (Standard C6 tuning, y'all)

Most Baritone ukuleles are tuned in a linear fashion, DGBE, with the D being the lowest pitch string.

As stated earlier in the thread, placing a capo on the 5th fret of a guitar or Baritone Uke (Assuming they use the tuning conventions noted earlier) will change the pitch of the higher pitched stings to match those of a linear-tuned [soprano, concert, tenor] ukulele, or if all 6 strings are on the guitar, tuned like a guilele.

If you use the older standard D uke tuning, then the re-entrant tuning is aDF#B, and you can ignore everything I just said.

(g)

-Kurt​

 

[kissing]

As someone who plays both guitar and ukulele, I no longer even consider them to be different instruments.

Guitars are just big ukuleles with 2 bass strings. Ukuleles are just small guitars with 4 strings.

I have both in my arsenal for musical jams and gigs. I choose whichever is better suited to the music.
Typically I would show up to a jam with 1 guitar and 1 ukulele and switch between.

 

[Joe Strummer]

I just play finger style on the top 4 strings of my girlfriend’s guitar and pretend it is a baritone. She’s amazed at my guitar skills.

 

[Jerryc41]

I just play finger style on the top 4 strings of my girlfriend’s guitar and pretend it is a baritone. She’s amazed at my guitar skills.

I envy you. I wish I had a girlfriend.

 

[ripock]

They are not.

The bottom four are EADG. What I do is alter it to EAC#F# and that is parallel to GCEA. That's how I tune my cigar box guitar using the bottom 4 strings of a guitar. When using the top 4 strings I naturally use chicago tuning.

 

[don_b]

The bottom four are EADG. What I do is alter it to EAC#F# and that is parallel to GCEA. That's how I tune my cigar box guitar using the bottom 4 strings of a guitar. When using the top 4 strings I naturally use chicago tuning.

I have never heard of Chicago tuning. Does it come with a seeded roll, and a pickle?

 

[ripock]

I have never heard of Chicago tuning. Does it come with a seeded roll, and a pickle?

and a pizza that's more like a casserole. Seriously chicago tuning is just what they call DGBE in the world of tenor guitars and I just borrowed it for this discussion. perhaps I shouldn't have, but it seemed more economical than trying some other periphrastic phrasing.

 

[don_b]

I just play finger style on the top 4 strings of my girlfriend’s guitar and pretend it is a baritone. She’s amazed at my guitar skills.

Nice, girlfriend is very lucky.

 

[70sSanO]

Before I bought a ukulele years ago, I took a classical guitar pulled off the 5th an 6th strings, and replaced the 4th, D, with another 1st, E.

Tuned it to re-entrant dGBE, capoed the 5th fret and played it for a while to see if I liked it.

John