Ever wonder why your fourth string sounds higher than your third (or, for that matter, your second)? The answer goes way back to the fourteenth century or earlier, when string technology had not developed enough to produce a low note on a short string. Renaissance and Baroque guitars had this sort of re-entrant (that’s the technical name for it) tuning, and passed it on to a number of descendant instruments – including, of course, our beloved ukulele.

So once they could make a low string, why not use it? Some people do play low-G ukulele. Both re-entrant and low-G (or linear) tuning have their advantages. Stummed, re-entrant tuning has the light, trebly, bouncy sound traditionally associated with ukuleles, while low G sounds more like a little guitar. When picking melody, low G has the advantage of five more frets below re-entrant, but re-entrant gives the option of playing “campanella” style, where successive notes are played on different strings so the sound overlaps and sounds almost harp-like.

Which is better? It’s up to you and your own taste. Or maybe the answer is to have one of each!