Estimated reading time 6 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Do you want your ukulele to sound like the Hawaiian players? How you tune impacts your ukulele’s sound. Read more to learn how to tune your ukulele like a Hawaiian.
This article uses technical musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
Tune Your Ukulele Like a Hawaiian: Authentic Tuning Needed
The Early 20th Century Ukulele Fad
Before we talk about how to tune the ukulele like a Hawaiian, you have to understand that the ukulele has been popular in both Hawaii and on the mainland.
- Also, at the beginning of the 20th century, Hawaiian music had become a fad, and the ukulele had become a fad instrument.
- Open a song book and you’ll find that guitar chord frames often get inserted into the piano arrangements of today’s popular songs.
- Likewise, many piano arrangements of popular songs from the 1920’s and 1930’s had ukulele chord frames printed in the scores.
Stillman talks about the widespread effect of the fad:
After the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, a Hawaiian-music fad swept the mainland… The international popularity of Hawaiian music after 1915 contributed to an explosion of publication.
Composers in New York’s Tin Pan Alley churned out pseudo-Hawaiian songs, whose influence was felt as far away as Australia. The ‘ukulele and the Hawaiian-guitar fads sparked publication of instructional books in Honolulu, New York, San Francisco, and even Cleveland. (“East Polynesia” 922)
In 1914, N.B. Bailey introduced his ukulele method book A Practical Method for Self Instruction on the Ukulele and Banjo Ukulele. The book came out just before the ukulele fad that would sweep the U.S. in just a year after the method’s publication.
Bailey talks about the popularity of the ukulele on the west coast of the United Sates in 1914:
From [1879] to [1914] the Ukulele has reigned supreme in Hawaii and has invaded the Pacific coast states to such an extent that one is sure to hear its soft tones wherever young people congregate. In one university alone there are over one thousand of these charming little instruments. (4)
Popular Today
Just as the ukulele had gained widespread popularity a hundred years ago, so it has gained widespread popularity in the present. However, despite its enduring popularity, not enough people know the authentic way to tune. Namely, how to tune the ukulele like the Hawaiians do.
Bailey’s Ukulele Method and Tuning Your Ukulele Like a Hawaiian
Bailey describes how to tune the ukulele like a Hawaiian. He gives two tunings for the ukulele:
- G4, C3, E2, A1
- A4, D3, F#2, B1
- Also, he mentions two systems for tuning.
- The first is similar to the guitar where the ukulele can be tuned using unison fretted notes compared with the open strings.
- In the second tuning method, Bailey teaches how to tune to an open chord.
I have reproduced the following pages from Bailey’s method:
“My Dog Has Fleas” and Tuning Your Ukulele Like a Hawaiian
I recall my first exposure to the ukulele back in the mid 1980’s. I had been playing guitar for a number of years at that point.
A friend had a party, and he had a ukulele, so I asked him how to tune it.
- I expected him to show me which frets I’d use to tune the ukulele. In other words, I expected it to be tuned in the same manner as the guitar.
- Instead, he said, “My dog has fleas.”
- And I said, “No, seriously, how do you tune it.”
He picked up the instrument and played the strings in reverse order from four to one while singing, “My dog has fleas.”
- My got sung to the note G, Dog to the note C, Has to the note E, and Fleas to the note A.
- He let the open strings ring as he tuned the instrument with his left hand, and he didn’t fret any notes while tuning. Notice the similarity to Bailey’s Do, Mi, Sol, Do way of tuning the ukulele.
- I have to admit the confusion I felt. I had tuned the guitar using frets, and also using the 5th and 7th fret harmonics, but I had never before seen anyone tune the open strings of a fretted instrument without using fret references or harmonics.
Yet, this is the secret to tuning the ukulele like a Hawaiian. The following video shows how it works.
My Dog Has Fleas Video
Cents, Equal Temperament, and Tuning Your Ukulele Like a Hawaiian
To understand the impact of tuning the ukulele like a Hawaiian, you have to know about cents. (And, no, I don’t mean money.)
- When talking about tuning, we break the sound of each fretted note into 100 pieces.
- We call each part a cent.
- Thus, a C note would be 0 cents (we haven’t gone any where yet).
If we then start from C:
- C#/Db = 100 cents
- D = 200 cents
- D#/Eb = 300 cents
- E = 400 cents
- F = 500 cents
- F#/Gb = 600 cents
- G = 700 cents
- G#/Ab = 800 cents
- A = 900 cents
- A#/Bb = 1000 cents
- B = 1100 cents
The ukulele notes have (mostly) these cents values when tuned using frets. This puts the ukulele approximately in equal temperament. When tuning without using frets, you get different cents values than these.
Tune Your Ukulele Like a Hawaiian: What Happens with the Tuning When Tuned Without Frets
In theory, when tuning the ukulele like a Hawaiian, the string tuning should look like this:
A1 = 900 cents (when stopped on the 3rd fret the C will equal 0 cents)
E2 = 386 cents
C3 = 0 cents
G4 = 702 cents
When I tuned the ukulele using Bailey’s instructions, I actually got:
A1 = 902 cents
E2 = 387 cents
C3 = 0 cents
G4 = 709 cents
Look at the notes in my test tuning example.
- Some have larger cents values and others have smaller cent values than the equal temperament example above (see the previous section).
- Particularly, you will see that the E has a smaller cent value than the fret tuned ukulele.
- This makes the C chord sound better than the fret tuned version.
Not comfortable tuning the ukulele without using the frets? You can tune the ukulele with a free online tuner.
Do Hawaiians Really Tune the Ukulele This Way?
Now, I cannot claim to be Hawaiian. So that begs the question, do Hawaiians really tune the ukulele this way?
- The first video below shows Israel Kamakawiwo’ole singing “Ahi Wela” while playing ukulele.
- At the beginning of the video, you can see he plucks each adjacent open string. As he plucks, he lets the strings ring.
- Then, he makes a final check by strumming a C chord.
You can see that Kamakawiwo’ole checked the ukulele using essentially a cross between the “my dog has fleas” and Bailey’s tuning methods.
- However, he did not sing “my dog has fleas.”
- Nor did he do “Do, Mi, Sol, Do.”
- When I did my test tuning, I basically did the same thing he did.
In addition, on the Facebook Xenharmonic Alliance group Richie Greene – who went to King Kekaulike High School in Makawao, Hawaii – made this comment on the post you’re reading:
… this is very real. I was born and raised in Hawaii. Maui elementary schools definitely used the ‘my dog has fleas’ method.
He then goes on to say:
Uku’ (in an elementary school context) meant ‘Lice’ though just as likely was synonymous with ‘Flea,’ as ‘Lele’ is ‘to jump.’ It’s said earlier Polynesians and Hawaiians thought the plucked strings sounded like fleas jumping!
So, the answer is “yes.” You need to use some form of the My-Dog-Has-Fleas method if you want to tune your ukulele like a Hawaiian.
However, if you’re not comfortable tuning the ukulele without using the frets, you can tune the ukulele with the free “My Dog Has Fleas” online tuner.
In the final video you will learn, “Aloha ‘Oe.”
Ahi Wela Video
Learn Aloha 'Oe (Farewell to Thee) Video
Conclusion
Both the ukulele and the Hawaiian slack key guitar tune using adjacent open strings. Hawaiian slack key guitarist Keola Beamer talks about the impact of this type of tuning method:
That is what the Hawaiian slack key guitar is… that beautiful open sound. There’s no sound really quite like it in the guitar world that I know of. You get a great modal tuning thing going and the melody notes have a sort of halo around them because of the sympathetic vibration. (Beamer and Nelson 70).
There you have it, the true impact of tuning the ukulele (or guitar) like a Hawaiian.
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© 2021 Geoffrey Keith
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