1926 Ukulele Course Instruction book

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  • July 20, 2019 at 12:35 pm #29057
    rickeymike
    Member

    A friend of mine gave me this 65 page booklet from 1926 that she discovered in her attic. I started looking at the beginning pages and saw the “18 most used chords”. The first chord was labeled “D” which was diagrammed as placing the ring finger on the 3rd fret of the A string. HUH? Isn’t that a “C”?

    Check out my attached – it’s the cover page and a practice page with lots of chords……but they are all wrong. Have chords changed in the last 100 years and do I need to toss this book?

    July 20, 2019 at 1:40 pm #29059
    kanae926
    Participant

    Does it say in the first 17 pages what tuning the uke is supposed to be in? Maybe it has a picture of the uke with the string names?

    July 20, 2019 at 2:00 pm #29060
    rickeymike
    Member

    Kanae, yes indeed. See my attachment. I wonder why the author chose this tuning?

    July 20, 2019 at 2:30 pm #29062
    kanae926
    Participant

    I found this article. It seems D tuning was popular in the 20s and 30s.

    July 21, 2019 at 1:45 pm #29077
    nthibode
    Member

    Check it out Rickey — I inherited my husband’s grandfather’s first ukulele (a 1956 model that his wife once sat on and he fixed it with screws and glue). His was tuned just like in the booklet (yes he wrote on his ukulele). It’s a work of art!

    • This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by nthibode.
    July 22, 2019 at 5:42 am #29090
    rickeymike
    Member

    Nat, Wow….There you go… I wonder when they changed to GCEA and why?

    • This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by rickeymike.
    July 22, 2019 at 7:44 am #29092
    lisadmh
    Participant

    Some people still play that tuning. Around here, when there’s a strumming group, they specify which tuning because lots of people use D tuning. There are lessons for it too.

    Google ukulele D6 tuning. Its a different world.

    July 22, 2019 at 1:15 pm #29094
    rickeymike
    Member

    I cannot live in a Bizzaro Universe. LOL

    July 22, 2019 at 5:47 pm #29097
    lisadmh
    Participant

    It’s called the Dark Side, Rickey.

    (Someone is obsessing on Star Wars!)

    August 27, 2019 at 6:54 am #29963
    anirbaf
    Participant

    haha i think it has benefits to try both tunings. the D6 tuning makes for a louder maybe more pronounced sound due to the tight strings. if you play by yourself you can still play the same tunes, it will all just be a whole tone higher.

    August 27, 2019 at 7:50 am #29964
    robinboyd
    Participant

    I read somewhere that each size is better with different tunings. The tunings the article recommended are as follows.

    Soprano: D6
    Concert: C6
    Tenor: Bb6
    Baritone: G6

    I assume the reason the D6 and Bb6 tunings aren’t so common anymore is because it is easier to be consistent.

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