Baritone Ukulele Lesson–Drawing Inspiration from the Larger Sound and Deeper Tuning

BY SARAH MAISEL | FROM THE WINTER 2024 ISSUE OF UKULELE

Baritone ukulele rarely gets an opportunity to shine. For example, most festivals and workshops are geared toward the standard-tuned soprano, concert, and tenor instruments. But it’s becoming more popular, and having a baritone or bari-tuned uke in your musical toolbox can give you inspiration. In this lesson, I’ll explore what makes this versatile instrument so special and give some examples of what you can do with it both as a solo instrument and in a duet or group setting.

Size and Tuning

The baritone is the largest member of the ukulele family. The scale of the neck is usually 19–20 inches. This is approximately three inches longer than a standard tenor neck. One benefit to this larger scale is more space for your fingers within the frets. If you find that you have larger hands, this size might be easier for you to play. More space requires a bit more stretching to reach some of your notes, but that usually gets easier with practice over time.

Baritone tuning is different than standard tuning. Traditional baritone is linear D-G-B-E (the G on the baritone is the same found in low-G standard tuning). These deeper notes give the baritone that rich sound, and the larger body gives substantially more sustain than even a tenor size uke.

Some will write off the baritone as just a guitar missing two strings, but I disagree. Yes, it has the same tuning as the first four strings of a guitar, and you can use some guitar techniques, obviously. Those who started with guitar will also often have an easier time transitioning to baritone ukulele. However, I feel that in the end the baritone uke is its own instrument and should be treated as such. When you pair a standard uke with a baritone, the harmonies and timbre really shine together. I feel you have to be a lot more careful when pairing an ukulele with a guitar, as the guitar can really take over in volume. 

Reentrant baritone tuning is also gaining popularity. This is the same D-G-B-E tuning, but with a high D string. (Keep in mind that you will need a different string for the high D. You can’t just tune up your low D string, as this could damage your instrument.) 

This tuning may seem new, but it was actually around in the 1950s and ’60s. At that time, it was sometimes referred to as tenor tuning, since many tenor ukuleles were tuned this way. If you listen to the Lyle Ritz jazz album How Bout Uke, you’ll hear that reentrant baritone tuning. The beautiful thing about this tuning is that it still has that Hawaiian sound, and you can utilize the high D string in the same way you would a high G.

Recently, more options have been coming out for string sets that allow you to tune a tenor ukulele to reentrant baritone tuning. This is a lovely way to reset your musical palate and give you a moment to rethink ideas musically. When my partner, Craig Chee, and I first started using reentrant baritone tuning on our tenor ukuleles, we discovered that it inspired song ideas we might not have thought of in standard tuning. Even playing songs we already knew and loved in a new tuning brought out a different sound and take on those songs. 

Make sure when purchasing these strings that they are baritone (or reentrant baritone) for a tenor size instrument, as standard baritone strings will be floppy on your tenor. On the other side, there are also string sets out there that will allow you to tune your baritone to standard tuning. Those should also be sized appropriately.

Same but Different

The number system is a great way to get a better understanding of chords, how progressions are made, and more. If you’ve ever been nervous about trying another tuning, baritone tuning (either high- or low-D) works great with the number system.

Let’s say you have a I–vi–IV–V progression for your standard-tuned ukulele in the key of C. If you were to play this progression with the exact same fingering, but different tuning, it would still sound lovely. Because baritone tuning is a fifth away from standard, instead of playing in the key of C you would actually be playing in the key of G with your new tuning.

To get that Hawaiian sound, as mentioned, we can take a lick commonly used as a Hawaiian vamp and try it out on reentrant baritone. This can almost produce a slack-key effect, as it sounds similar to guitar. Example 1 shows two vamps, one for reentrant baritone and the other for linear, with a similar feel. Remember that you are now in the key of G in these examples, instead of C.

When Craig and I first started playing reentrant baritone, we would think in numbers. He would be playing standard-tuned ukulele thinking in the key of C, whereas I would play the reentrant baritone, thinking in the key of G (Example 2). This meant that I did not need to re-learn my chords, since I could think in my standard shapes and just use the Roman numeral system. This approach may make transitioning over to baritone easy at first, but you will inevitably want to really learn the fretboard in that tuning to make the most of it.

If you are lucky enough to have a playing partner, have one of you play baritone for a few songs. Even with the same standard chords played together on both instruments, you’ll hear a richer sound. You can take that a step further and try harmonizing lines or arpeggiations, as shown in Examples 3–4, similar to what Craig and I do when we perform.

With the linear baritone, don’t discount adding in a bass line when playing solo or with a standard-tuned ukulele. It can be fun to add this in a simple doo-wop progression as it adds some fullness to your arrangement. In Example 5, notice how we are moving around with single notes on our low D string, but playing full chords to help solidify the changes. 

If you don’t have someone to play with, these examples are still great to try out and add to your own baritone playing.

Try It Out

Even if you don’t have a traditional baritone size uke, allowing yourself to try out baritone tuning on an old tenor you may have lying around can be a great way to re-inspire your playing. And vocalists might discover they prefer the baritone sound under their voices. If you’ve ever been bari-curious, I highly recommend giving it a try. You never know how this new tuning might inspire your ear.