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Hi Andrew, Hi everyone.
What are your opinions on Low G and High G?
What’s the benefit of Low G and High G?
When you only have one ukulele, what string would you put on?
Would Low G be easier for arranging songs for ukulele? (because of the extra five notes?)Thanks!
I have two ukuleles and I prefer the low G because the range is wider so I have more possibilities for what I personally like to do with the ukulele.
The high G can be nice because if you toggle between the A string and G string while playing a melody or a finger picking pattern the notes are more sustained then when you play a line on one string.
For achieving a traditional jolly strumming style use the high G.
Most songs in this course are written for high G so if you have to choose for your only uke, I would stick to high G for now.
It is too much headache to change the string every time.
I put a low G on my uke and very much liked the sound but decided to buy an extra uke to be able to continue following Rockclass lessons and be more versatile.
Hope this helps from a half year player. 🙂Jina is spot on!
Arranging takes a diff approach if low or high G. Neither is more difficult, but one is usually the better choice to arrange on, depending on the tune. For example, Moonlight Sonata needs the bass movement heard on the piano. So Low G was the obvious choice.
I’d recommend one of each. We hit low G lesson content hard this year and have 18 arrangements out atm.
An excuse for another uke! My main uke is my concert high G, and I bought a £70 Ortega tenor and put a low G on it, just as a backup so I could play those particular arrangements. I didn’t think I would play it as much. However..it sounded amazing when I changed the strings to living water strings. I actually play both a lot, depending on the arrangement and love both. Definitely worth buying a second instrument.
Both of my ukes (tenor) are low G. It just seems to work better for what I’m striving for. Coming from the guitar world it seems more natural and I like that the Low “G” is about where my singing voice starts. An issue is that when I go into a ukulele store and try them out (usually high G), the difference is so sticking it’s hard to play anything.
-RonIs it the case that with a set of low G string any uke can be restrung as a low G, or does it also require adjustments to the nut and/or saddle? Low G players, do you go out looking at low G ukes when you get a new one, or find you have more options looking at high Gs with the intention of restringing as a low G?
Most of the time, yes it requires adjustments to be made.
Pretty much any uke can be set up for high or low G. But some may be better for one or the other depending on scale size, nut width, etc.
I haven’t made any adjustments to my ukes, but I’ve had issues with non-wound strings. I think I would have to file the nut a bit to use them effectively. I’ve had no issues with wound strings and Aquila Red unwound low G strings.
I think it requires a bit of trial and error. See what works for you.
I’ve not had a problem. I have a tenor, purchased with high g, that I string to fluorocarbon low g with no problem.
I think at worst you take it to the shop and they spend a couple minutes widening the nut.
The Aquilla low G set will probably fit any uke and is sort of available to buy. (I tried their soprano low G set on my inexpensive soprano and it fits perfect.)
Stephen (instructor here) made a great video on the difference in sound between round wound and flat wound strings btw. Its on bass strings, but totally accurate on how the round and flat low G strings sound. (You can fast forward through the rubber string demo since it doesn’t apply but it’s interesting.) I love my flat wound low G and the video is a perfect example why lol. (I love the sound and the feel of it)
I’m on team low G. Lol. It’s a big pain in the butt (since I don’t know my stuff good yet) to play some of the high g songs on Low G, so i’d personally recommend setting up one of each, then trying string sets till you find one you personally like.
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