Tuningsforthe

4StringTenor

Ithinkthatthe4stringtenorukuleleisprobablyoneofthebestinstrumentsthatImake.It'salso
oneofmyfavoritestolistento,soIwantedtospendalittletimetalkingaboutseveralwaysthatthe
instrumentcanbetuned.
Thesedays,atleastinHawaii,themostcommontuningforthe4stringtenorisG(4th),C(3rd),

E(2nd),A(1st).Historically,thisiscalledthe"C"tuning,perhapsbecauseCwasthelowestnotein
thesopranotuning.Let'sfirstgetyouuptospeedwiththetenortuningandthendiscusstwoother
tuningsafterthat.
IuseSavarezAlliancestandardtensions(redcard)formysoprano,concertandtenortreble

strings:541RfortheA,542RfortheEand543RfortheC.IuseD'AddarioProArteSPLightD
strings(YBJ4304)forboththelowGandlowAbassstrings.
Unlikethesoprano(alsocalledstandard)andconcertsizedukuleles,theGintheGCEAtuning

forthetenorislowerthantheCnote.HereisasoundfileoftheopenGstring:
openGtune.wav(todownloaddoubleclickoroptionclick).Thesoundfilesareeachabout250K
andmaytakealittlewhiletodownload.
Playthefileandadjustthefourthstring(usuallyasilvercoloredone)sothatitsoundsthesame

toyou.AlternativelyifyouhaveasopranoukulelepitchpipewithgCEAnotesonit,pressthefourth
stringdownatthe12thfretandtunethestringsothatit'sthesameasthegonthepitchpipe.

NowthatwehavetheopenG

stringtuned,let'smoveontotheC
stringadjacenttoit.Inthisfirstphoto

weseethecarefullyplacedfingerof
mygoodfriendKimoGeraldresting
onthefifthfretofthefourthstring.
ThisfrettednotewillbemiddleCif
wehavetunedtheopenstring
correctly.ThesoundfileCtune.wav
willgiveboththefrettednote(first)
andtheopenCstring(second)for
comparison.Youcanalsousethe
sopranopitchpipeCnoteforthis
string.

NowthatwehavetheopenC
stringtuned,let'smoveontotheE
stringadjacenttoit.Inthissecond
photoweagainseeKimo'scarefully
placedfingerofrestingonthefourth
fretofthethirdstring.Thisfretted
notewillbeEabovemiddleC.The
soundfileEtune.wavwillgiveboth
thefrettednoteandtheopenEstring
forcomparison.Youcanalsouse
thesopranopitchpipeEnoteforthis
string.

NowthatwehavetheopenE
stringtuned,let'smoveontotheA
stringadjacenttoit.Inthisthird
photoweagainseeKimo'scarefully
placedfingerofrestingonthefifth
fretofthesecondstring.Thisfretted
notewillbeAabovemiddleC.The
soundfileAtune.wavwillgiveboth
thefrettednoteandtheopenAstring
forcomparison.Youcanalsouse
thesopranopitchpipeAnoteforthis
string.

ThenicethingabouttheGCEAtuningisthatlotsofchordmusicfortheukuleleiswrittenwiththis
tuninginmind.Inprinciple,itwouldalsobepossibletotunetheGnoteaboveCanddroptheA
noteanoctave.ThechordingwouldbethesamebutlowGandG#wouldn'tbeavailablefor
playingandfingerstyleworkmightbesomewhatmoredifficult...
Interestinglyenough,ifyouputacapoorbaracrossthefifthfretoftheguitarthefirstfourstrings

havethenotesGCEAjustlikethetenorukuleletuningdescribedabove.Well,whatifyouhave
alwaysplayedguitarandarenewtotheukulele?SincetheGCEAtuningisjustahigherfrequency
ofthesamenoterelationships,whycan'twetunethetenorukulelelikeaguitar,thatisDGBE?We
can,andsuchatuningwasverypopularinthe1940'sand1950'sandisusedbythefamous
ukuleleplayerLyleRitzonhisalbums.Forthetenor,however,itisusualtohavetheDnotebe
higherthantheGnoteanalogouslytosopranoukuleletuning.SotheGnoteisthelowestnotein
thistuningjustasitwasinthe"C"tuning.
ForthistuningIsuggestamixofSavarezAlliancestandard(redcardR)andhightensions(blue

cardJ)forthetenortreblestrings:542RfortheE(asabove),543RfortheBand543JfortheD.
UseD'AddarioProArteSPLightDstrings(YBJ4304)forthelowGbassstring.
HerearethesoundfilesforDaboveG(Dtune.wav)openG(openGtune.wav)BaboveG(

Btune.wav)andEaboveG(Etune.wav).
Table1belowshowsthenotesandfrequenciesofeachnoteforthetwotuningsmentionedthus

far,andthe"D"tuningaswell.

FirstCourse
SecondCourse
ThirdCourse

Table1.CommonTenorUkuleleTunings
"C"tuning
"G"Tuning
"D"tuning
A(440Hz)
E(329.6Hz)
B(493.9Hz)
E(329.6Hz)
C(261.6Hz)

B(246.9Hz)
G(192Hz)

F#(370Hz)
D(293.7Hz)

FourthCourse

G(196Hz)

D(293.7Hz)

A(220Hz)

ButifallwehavearemusicinstructionmanualsinGCEAtuning,howcanweuseourdGBE

tuningandgettherightchords?Table2belowshowshowtogoaboutit.Whatifwewanttoplaya
Gchordinthe"G"tuningbutonlyknowthe"C"tuningchordpositions?LookingabovetheletterG
inthe"G"tuningrow,weseethatweneedtofingertheCchordthewaywelearneditin"C"togeta
GchordinGtuning.Ofcourseguitarplayersalreadyknowallthe"G"tuningchordsandjusthave
togetusedtonothavingtwobassstringstoplayon.
Table2.Changingfromonetuning/keytoanother
"C"tuning
"G"tuning
"D"tuning

A
E
B

A#
F
C

B
F#
C#

C
G
D

C#
G#
D#

D
A
E

D#
A#
F

E
B
F#

F
C
G

F#
C#
G#

G
D
A

G#
D#
A#

Butwhyshouldwebeinterestedinthe"D"tuning?Itsometimeshappensthattheairresonance

ofthebodywillcoincidewithoneofthelowestfrequencynotes,makingitsoundmore"thunky"or
percussivethantheothernotes.Inmytenors,theairresonanceisusuallynearlowG#.Thisis
shownfortwotenorsinthesomewhatgaudypresentationbelow.Thegraphisadisplayofpeak
amplitudeversusfrequency.IgeneratedthegraphusingtheprogramSpectraPLUS.Each
instrumentwastappedatthebridgecenterandthetapdeconvolvedintoitsrespectivefrequencies
usinganFFTroutinewithinSpectraPLUS.Thetwopeaksjusttotherightofthevertical200Hzline
representtheairresonancesfortwoofmy4stringtenors.Theredpeakvalueis211Hzandthe
blackpeakvalueis214Hz.Curvesfurthertotherightrepresentthefirstfundamentalsofthetop
andbackandperhapsasecondfundamentalofthetop.Moreregardingthoseatanothertime.

Byraisingthetuningfrom"C"tuningto"D"tuning,noneofthelownotescoincidewiththeair

resonanceandthe"thunkiness"isreduced.AsshowninTable2,allofthechordsremain
analogousbutarenowindifferentkeys.Soplayingthe"C"tuningpositionforaCchordwillnow
makeaDchordinthe"D"tuning.Ofcourseit'salsopossibletochangethelowGnotetoahighG
soastostillplaythe"C"tuning,butthenyou'veturnedthetenorukuleleintoaconcertwithnoneof
thelovelylownotesthatthetenorshouldhave.
ForthistuninguseSavarezAlliancestandardtensions(redcard)forthetenortreblestrings:

541RfortheB,542RfortheF#and543RfortheD.Again,useD'AddarioProArteSPLightD
strings(YBJ4304)forthelowAbassstring.
HerearethesoundfilesforopenA(LowAtune.wav)DaboveA(Dtune.wav)F#aboveD(

F#tune.wav)andBaboveF#(Btune.wav).Matchingthenotesfromstringtostringwouldbe
thesameasintheGCEAphotographs.
Table3isaddedforuserinterestandconvenience,givingthetwooctaverangeoffrequenciesfor

themostcommonlyplayednotesonthetenorukulele.
Table3.Frequenciesofatwooctaverangeoftenorukulelenotes
Note
freq,
Hz
freq,
Hz

G#

196

207.7

220

392

415.3

440

A#

C#

D#

F#

233.1 246.9 261.6 277.2 293.7 311.1 329.6 349.2

370

392

466.2 493.9 523.5 554.3 587.3 622.2 659.3 698.5

740

784

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fromme.
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