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CipherMeister
Aloha
USA
19 Posts |
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catheglass
Lokahi
USA
312 Posts |
 Posted - 04/09/2003 : 02:14:02 AM
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Aloha Roger...
Is this information specific to soprano, concert, tenor 'ukuleles, or will it work for my lonely baritone as well? :::keeping fingers crossed::: |
cathe |
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CipherMeister
Aloha
USA
19 Posts |
Posted - 04/09/2003 : 04:16:05 AM
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Hi Catheglass;
Yes, it definately works with Baritone (and Tenor) directly -- any Ukulele with an all-ascending tuning pattern like guitar (meaning no octave G string).
The Soprano and Concert are the odd-balls -- having the octave G string. My feeling is that any Uke player should study chord theory on one of the more convertionally tuned (guitar-like) Ukes first. Later, when they want to get fancy, (tune the G up one octave), they'll be able to understand what's going on under the hood.
Below, is the preface I recently added to the Ukulele section regarding the octave G ukes.
[Anyone please feel free to correct me on any point or assumption I'm getting wrong therein.]
Thanks
Hope it's useful to you, let me know ;')
Roger
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From the web site preface (re octave G-string ukes);
http://www.thecipher.com/ukulele-cipher.html
Special note; There are four sizes of ukulele’s, from smallest to largest: soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone. The two smallest and two largest in the family can be grouped together conceptually by the way they are tuned:
The two bigger ukulele’s, tenor and baritone, can be conceptualized as guitars — without the guitar’s two lowest pitched strings and still having an all-ascending tuning pattern.
Soprano and concert ukulele’s however, are slightly different birds. They use a slightly different tuning where the 1st string (using common sense string numbers) is actually higher in pitch than the 2nd string!
In the following table (on the web site), compare the standard “C” ukulele tuning G C E A between the tenor and soprano/concert ukuleles. Pitches are given in Hertz or CPS (cycles per second). You should already be familiar with A=440 (4th string). But look at the G strings (1st string): Tenor G = 196 cps, Soprano/Concert G = 392 cps. That later G note is actually higher in pitch than the instruments 2nd string (C note). And that G note is one octave higher than the G on the tenor ukulele.
In the end, from a practical perspective and the perspective of music theory and chord construction generally, these two tuning-pattern variations in the ukulele family really don’t change the results very much. For example, all ukulele’s are used primarily for chording and chordal accompaniment. The chord voicings generated by these two different tunings (two different octaves of G string) will sound slightly different, but they still use the same chord names, same notes and numbers (in standard chord analysis), same fingering patterns (diamonds and dots on the fretboard), same letters on a spelled fretboard chart, and the same (or essentially the same) pattern of unisons and octaves, etc.
The one thing that would change however is the calculation line (and possibly the string numbering order) in the Cipher System. The calculation line for the Soprano and Concert ukulele’s is not uniform ascending fourths. In fact, it would be difficult to use a calculation line at all with this tuning — being mixed descending and ascending! But then, even in standard procedure this is a difficult tuning to get your head around and conceptualize generally, and to conceptualize from the perspective of standard chord construction and standard string instrument chord voicing theory and practice.
For anyone who really wants to understand and conceptualize how (any/all) ukulele fretboards work though, I would (still) probably suggest they start by studying the guitar-like tenor ukulele tuning with the all-ascending fourths Five Degree Calculation Line, and the resulting fretboard patterns and chord voicings. After all, historically, I’m quite sure that’s how it happened in the first place. The guitar-like tuning must have come first, and only later did folks decided to use the octave G string. In other words, the first ukulele players were conceptualizing and playing “guitar” essentially, and they were benefiting from their knowledge of guitar and the relative conceptual ease of an all-ascending tuning pattern.
So I don’t think it wouldn’t be “cheating” or incorrect if you did the same thing, followed the same evolutionary progression of string tuning pattern, fretboard logic, learning, conceptualizing, playing, and finally modifying (by tuning the G string up one octave). This makes the most sense to me, but it’s up to you.
At any rate, all that follows here of The Cipher for Ukulele uses the guitar-like all-ascending tuning pattern and the all-ascending Five Degree Calculation Line (of tenor and baritone ukulele theory).
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http://www.TheCipher.com
"Blumberg's Music Theory Cipher
for Guitar and other Stringed Instruments"
[Free online tutorials for Guitar, Bass,
Mandolin, Banjo, Ukulele, and more]
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