piecomics - Posted - 08/14/2023:  05:59:31

I'm working up a setlist of songs to play on the uke in the tuning aCFG. I *think* this is analogous to a modal tuning, although I am pretty lightweight when it comes to understanding that.

So far I have:

Turtle's Dream
Over the Road I'm Bound to Go
Coleman's March

Looking for some more ideas, and/or any suggestions for how to understand the tuning better?

Jim Miller - Posted - 08/15/2023:  12:27:18

I assume that you are playing clawhammer or finger style ukulele using aCFG tuning. The top 3 strings - CFG - are in the same intervals as the top three banjo strings in double C and double D tunings. So, any fiddle tunes or songs you play in double C (double D) can be played in this tuning as long as you don't need the equivalent of the 4th banjo string for melody. You will be playing in the key of F rather than C (or D), but that would only make a difference if you were trying to play with a fiddle. In aCFG tuning the 4th ukulele string is tuned to match the first string at the second fret. Usually on the banjo the 5th string matches the first string at the 5th fret, but many people play variants with the lower tuned 5th string and lots of tunes sound great with that variant.

Some fiddle tunes you might try include:

Angeline the Baker
Cider Mill
Goodbye Liza Jane
Jack Wilson
Julie Ann Johnson
Mouth of Old Stinson
Old Molly Hare
Red Rocking Chair
Rockin' in a Weary Land
Sugar Hill

Also try:
Going Across the Sea
Hard Times Come Again No More
Davy (from the Weems String Band)

At Christmas time try:
Jingle Bells
Good King Wenceslas
We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Here is a link to my favorite song in aCFG tuning played by Jere Canote: Them Beautiful Bottles by Hank Bradley
youtube.com/watch?v=NUvacVfmmHA

Hope this is useful.

piecomics - Posted - 08/17/2023:  10:40:21

Thanks, yes, clawhammer. Sorry, I thought I had put that in my initial post. And good call on the Jere Canote song, he's the person that introduced me to it, with the song Turtle's Dream, which I really love!

Thanks for the list, I will see what I can do with them, super helpful!

etisdale - Posted - 08/17/2023:  15:33:30

My recommendation would be to start with songs you want to play, then figure out the tuning that is most appropriate. In time, your setlist will fall together.

I've not figured out many clawhammer tunes on ukulele, but two that come to mind are
Blackberry Blossom in F in aCFA tuning and Cherokee Shuffle in F in fCFA tuning. The thing I like about playing in F is that, like playing in C, it is quite natural on the ukulele. And you can easily capo or tune up to play in G.

piecomics - Posted - 08/18/2023:  05:28:21

Thanks Eric, great advice! I think part of what I struggle with is... I don't have a practical understanding of the process you are talking about. Even though I've been playing for a while and have some technical ability, I just don't seem to be able to connect that to 'what tuning is most appropriate'. I've taken a music theory course even to try to get better at this but it is beyond me.

I'll think on this, I know its good advice and is a blind spot for me. Funny, Blackberry Blossom is one of the songs I was trying to figure out. I'll definitely play with these two tunings.

etisdale - Posted - 08/18/2023:  07:15:15

What I've found to be most efficient is to use music notation software. That way you can immediately see where the lowest and highest notes of a tune's melody fall on the strings. In addition, you can modify the tuning of your instrument to see if that makes playing the tune any easier.

I use MuseScore for the most part. There is a plugin for tunes written in ABC notation, so that makes it really easy to import a tune's melody from various traditional tune sites. Once imported, I usually copy the melody into another score having linked staffs (standard and tab) for the instrument I am working with. I then transpose the melody to fit the lowest note of the melody on the bottom string. After that, it is an iterative process of modifying the tuning and transposing until you get what you're after. For ukulele, transposing tunes to C or F seems to work best.

etisdale - Posted - 08/18/2023:  07:30:15

I never quite perfected the performance (it's not easy!), but see attached.

It is based upon Ken Perlman's version in Melodic Clawhammer Banjo

Blackberry Blossom

Blackberry Blossom