Fun factoid…. Avocados are not a vegetable. They are a berry. A single seeded berry. So if an avocado ain’t gotta be what it (obviously) is, then a ukulele can be a mandolin! That is to say that a soprano ukulele can be tuned in 5ths, just like a mandolin or violin with some help from a custom-gauge set of strings.
BUT HOW?
Since a ukulele isn’t specifically engineered to be tuned with the tension required for 5th tuning (E-A-D-G) you absolutely have to get your string gauges perfect to adapt the machine that is your ukulele to a more high-tension tuning. Aguila is one of the companies that makes a custom gauge set of string for 5th tuning, and they are fairly easy to find. SO please start by restringing your uke. As a note, it really doesn’t work well to tune the 5th tuning gauges to a standard tuning, so… you hear it coming… maybe you need to get another uke just for this experiment. I have a couple soprano ukes so I was set to go.
BUT WHY? (Here are 4 good reasons and 1 great one)
1: It gives you another voice to layer into your ukulele playing. This sounds nothing like a uke, more punchy like a mandolin, but kinda harsh like plucking a violin with a pick.
2: You will get to explore learning something new. If you don’t know anything about a mandolin, you should grab a chord chart, and maybe some tablature for some old fiddle tunes. Mando lin tablature is written on just four lines, so you wont have any trouble using it for a 5th tuned ukulele.
3: Very few other musicians, especially folk musicians, take this approach… So that means you aren’t copying ANYONE! That also you can’t do it wrong… In fact, you are the trendsetter. Getting on at the ground floor is pretty cool.
4: It is really fun to be the unique musician in a jam session, and this will a but assure that will be the case. Just before writing this blog is the first time I have tried tuning a uke in 5ths, and I can’t wait to give it a more public premier.
5: You will develop new techniques that inform and influence your playing on other instruments. This could be the best reason of all. I found that when tuned in 5ths, my soprano uke would kind of “wolf note” on any open string when soloing. So I tried to palm mute everything. This ended up sounding pleasantly “pizzicato” (when a violin is being plucked instead of bowed). After doing this I started trying to incorporate the pizzicato effect into playing the mandolin. I have always palm muted the mandolin, but not so much that the notes sounded super plucky. So, my mandolin playing evolved as a result of playing the uke tuned in 5ths.
MOVING FORWARD
If you would like to try this approach, please please please visit your favorite local music store first and pick up a set of ukulele strings designed for 5th tuning. Shopping local first is the best default strategy anytime! Please support your neighbors.
If you need to shop on the internet your favorite string shop probably has them available, and if you are an Amazon shopper, I have a link below to the strings I bought.
Also, I have a little YouTube of my 5th-tuned-uke experiment below. If you watch the video please watch through to the very end… I just really like the little cartoon of me on the very end of video – no other reason – just want to share the funny.
FREE stuff!
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Take a leisurely look at my general store where I keep some links to important things that you can buy to help your pickin’. >>> Link to NekkidMusic.com general store <<<
Thanks for stoppin’ by today! Ya’ll come back and we’ll do some pickin’.
TH