How Do I Tune a Baritone Uke?

[mso489]

A question for musical people. My wife wants a baritone ukulele for Christmas. I think she could tune it with the piano, although it hasn't been tuned in years. I see online tuning sites that provide tuning pitches; do those work well enough?

I can play old standards on the harmonica, like Home on the Range, Rule Britannia, Yesterday, and such. I can accompany string band recordings on the slide whistle providing a haphazard descant, and I have tried to teach myself the cornet, if I could ever get the fingering on the valves. But she's pretty good on the piano and accompanied hymns for two churches as a teenager. She remembers lyrics like crazy, old novelty tunes like "Never Swat A Fly (It Might Love Another Fly) ... . People really like me on the harmonica; they always ask me to play Far, Far Away ... that's an ancient joke.

 

[didimauw]

I have used YouTube for tuning instruments. It works great, if you have the ear for it.

I have a ukulele, and can mess around for hours at a time, but I know nothing about them.

 

[kg.legat0]

Hard to go wrong with a clip-on tuner a la something like this:

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Korg/PC2-Pitchclip-2-Clip-on-Tuner-Black-1500000222994.gc?source=4WWMWXGL&storeCode=&source=4WWRWXGL&gclid=Cj0KCQjwt-6LBhDlARIsAIPRQcIC0cZk6U2GskuN8yMStQtKqtTKONoD1jHgX3PKQuSWe5ZhgrDaWEUaAvjiEALw_wcB

From there, the strings are just D-G-B-E from low-to high - good luck! The baritone uke has such a lovely sound

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I have several concert ukes and a tenor, and the tenor is my fav.
I just use an app on my smartphone. Easy easy.

 

[mikethompson]

I use GuitarTuna on my tablet, but that probably won't help you much as you are MSO after all.

 

[captainsousie]

According to my mother, all you need to know to tune a uke of any kind is "my dog has fleas." Being a musician that always drove me nuts.

 

[Ahi Ka]

Love the bari. As said above it’s normally just the same tuning as the bottom (highest in pitch) 4 guitar strings. I personally prefer to do an open tuning like D - F# - A - D

 

[captainsousie]

Oh yeah, I use a tuner app on my phone. N-track tuner and the Boss tuner are both good apps. To find the proper pitch, I just use google to find which tuning I need and then tune to that using the above apps.

 

[Sweet Home Alabama]

Like a tenor or four string guitar if I remember.

 

[Ahi Ka]

According to my mother, all you need to know to tune a uke of any kind is "my dog has fleas." Being a musician that always drove me nuts.

I’ve been teaching the kids this, except we say “Bur-ley, pe-rique”.

 

[renfield]

Another vote for a clip on tuner. Extremely accurate and easy to use. I have a PolyTune I really like.

Always ready to use and no need to get out a phone and fire up an app.

 

[mso489]

My folks got me a tenor uke when I was in high school, and I learned a few chords, but found that -- seemingly to me, anyway -- I could sing most songs with about three. I guess I was adjusting and singing to the uke rather than accompanying the song. Many years later, I went home and took it off the wall, and I swear it was in tune. I have it here in N.C. now. It's probably still in tune. It is a Sears Silvertone.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

Also, if she doesn’t play guitar and is wanting to just learn the ukulele, she is limited to guitar chord structures with the baritone. She wouldn’t be able to use regular ukulele tab sheets. This makes learning to play a bit more difficult.
If she already knows how to play guitar, then no problem. The baritone would be the way to go.

For me starting on concert and tenor ukes led me to the banjo, because the tuning was the same, and chords were the same. I just had to learn new finger styles and pick’n. But, the guitar, for one who learns on a regular uke, we have to transpose the chords we learned.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

To clarify, the baritone uses the same bottom four strings tuning as a guitar.
The concert and tenor use the GCEA, same as a four string banjo.