@jesuschristgiles Amazon.com It's a no-name brand. No labels. I can see. I just bought the least expensive one with the best reviews. Worked out fine.
Not sure if I understood correctly- can you just put ordinary classical guitar strings on this and tune it to ADGCEA? Just ordered myself one and I'm not planning on keeping the strings it comes with for too long :)
I am all new to this but can you tell me what song you are playing at 5:23 or what chords they are? I play Ukulele and was thinking about getting a guitalele. Would you recommend this over a student guitar to learn? Thanks for the review..Keith
Southwest Strings in Tucson will be selling these (they might already be selling them). My wife works there, and she brought one home. It's a lot of fun to play.
Thanks for the review. It makes me feel that I made a nice choice. I bought a new one in Indonesia a few months ago at the equivalent of about US$ 50. Check out Braga Music Indonesia. I bought it for my 3yr old so he could start out with guitar. I retuned it to E....is that ok?
I ordered one of these from Thomann.de. More than two weeks ago, and it has not come yet. How long did it take to reach you?
More important to me--you said the strings that came on it were no good, so you immediately changed them. (Surprised that Yamaha would not put decent strings on an instrument.) What did you change them to? One cannot exactly buy guitalele strings. (As you say, a six-string tenor uke is something different.)
@Parecochero Factory OEM strings are usually terrible in my experience, regardless of manufacturer. I replaced them with d'darrio high tension classical guitar strings. Because of the scale length, and the tuning up 4.5 half tones, regular guitar sets work perfectly well. No special strings needed.
hi there, i'm going traveling and i want a small guitar to strap on my bike, but i don't know any songs in the weird tuning that your guitalele is tuned to, can it still be tuned to eadgbe? aka standard tuning o that i can play normal songs? thanks, great review.
@MrPocketGroover It's not any different - just like having a capo on the 5th fret. You can use the same chord shapes and scales, they just transpose up 2.5 steps. So your C shape is an F, your F is a Bb, and your D is a G... Exactly the same as playing on the 5th fret of your guitar.
As for eadgbe - standard stings would be far too loose in that tuning. I don't know what you'd need to make it work. There's no need really, it works just fine as is.
@GrumpyCoyoteTunes so i could play a chord progression of Cmaj Dmaj and Amin on my full size martin guitar and then play it again the same way on the guitalele and it would sound the same on both? thanks
@MrPocketGroover If you play the same chord shapes, you'll be playing F, A, Dmin - 2.5 steps higher than you are used to. To play the C, D, Am and get the exact same sound you would simply make G, A, and Em chord shapes.
@GrumpyCoyoteTunes@GrumpyCoyoteTunes - thanks for posting the video and helpful info. I just bought the Yamaha guitarele and am also just learning guitar - wondering if there are any books or videos that you'd suggest for this instrument. Also what was is the name of the student guitar that you compared it to? That sounded pretty good. Thanks!
@leeley99 Any guitar instruction will work. It's just like a guitar with a capo on the 5th fret.
The other instrument is not a student guitar, it's a "requinto" or soprano guitar. Often used for lead voice in mariachi music, it's also tuned like a guitar on the fifth fret. No brand name on that one... Just something I found online.
Hey grumps! I'm going to be buying one myself soon and was wondering of the strings you put on it. Are they regular tension? I'm probably going to go to Savarez or maybe even an Aquila set.
In this case I went with high tension Ddarrios. Servicable, but not perfect. I'll be picking up some Aquilla guitar strings and giving them a whirl soon too.
@GrumpyCoyoteTunes - cool. Just ordered mine as well as sets of savarez and aquila strings. Did it come with decent action or did you end up lowering it?
hi..!! i have a questions.. it is posible to tune my G1 guitalele to sound like a soprano ukulele.. cuz a G1 is the only thing i could find in my country..!! i want to learn and ukulele songs with it..!! please help me..
Almost... The GL1 is essentially in the same key as any low G ukulele - typically a uke's bottom g string is tuned an octave hight though - and the GL1 does not really suit that.
However, many people (myself included) do play ukulele in low g tuning regularly, so it's not terribly out of the ordinary.
So the top 3 strings are tuned just like a uke, the 4th is an octave low (like many ukes) and the other two are extras. Typically tuned A and D.
@GrumpyCoyoteTunes ooh.!! i see than you very much..!! so its the same only with the low G tunnig.!! so i can learn ukulele notes and cords.. and it almost sound like a tenor... right..?? thanks again..!! you ROCK..!!
Awesome review Grumpy and thanks for the shout out! Damn you play that well! I wish I could get mine to sound anything like that. I feel like I've gone back to being a total beginner every time I pick it up (which is why there are no videos yet). Can I ask what type of d'addario strings you put on it? Thank you for the review! Seeing you play it is inspiring me to learn to play it better.
And thank you! I just ordered some Pro Arte EJ46 hard tension strings. I'd like to think that will magically improve my playing too, but that's going to take more than strings!
haha, it's so funny to see what you did to get that thing. in my hometown where I lived before I moved to Berlin the only decent music instrument shop didn't really have any good Ukes (that's what I was interested in...) but always had at least one Guitalele.
I didn't know they had the 5th fret tuning though. that's cool!
Congrats on the new instrument Grumps! I actually played one of those today at a studio were they have a bunch of instruments. It's a fun little thing!
Just a small correction: the bridge and fingerboard on the GL-1 are sonokeling/ palisander. The back and side are maranti-faced laminate. Both of these woods are from south-east Asia, and both are rather attractive.
The top is spruce-faced laminate. The neck is nato.
It's nice to see the guitalele compared with the bigger thingummy (requinto?) in your video.
Thanks for that review, Grumpy. I wish they sod them in the U.S. I read, somewhere, that you could get them in Canada. I also wish they made them in the Baritone uke size. I suppose that would just be a small guitar, but, my baritone has a better tone than any of my guitars. ...Bill
couldn't agree more - great little boxes - felt so good, i bought a few to give to friends. i tune mine ADGBEA - like a baroque, five string guitar with an added A (tenor) and a missing G (bass) - abbreviated chord shapes in regular tuning.
why yamaha doesn't sell them in the states is a complete mystery.
Sure it sounds great , I 've seen it before but didn't had the opportunity to try... and you give me some ideas for my young guitar students!!! and for me too, I love the parlor Guitars!
Thanx so much for the demonstration and explanation, very interesting and you seem to have great fun with it! :°)
where did u the requinto guitar and what brand is it
jesuschristgiles 2 months ago
@jesuschristgiles Amazon.com It's a no-name brand. No labels. I can see. I just bought the least expensive one with the best reviews. Worked out fine.
GrumpyCoyoteTunes 2 months ago
Not sure if I understood correctly- can you just put ordinary classical guitar strings on this and tune it to ADGCEA? Just ordered myself one and I'm not planning on keeping the strings it comes with for too long :)
LukeGretschLuke 2 months ago
@LukeGretschLuke Yep. I use regular strings, tuned up 5 half steps.
GrumpyCoyoteTunes 2 months ago
what is the name of the song you are playing in the beginning?
scope51791 4 months ago
@scope51791 Just something I was working on at the time... an improv in Dm.
GrumpyCoyoteTunes 4 months ago
what type of strings are used??
lermenchild 4 months ago
yay! they sell these on amazon now for $100
dahnastevens 5 months ago
they are in musicians friend for 99 bucks. gettin one.
bassbugg7 5 months ago
I have one of these. Can't believe what a great travel guitar it is. Bought for $100 in U.S., in 2011.
esria 5 months ago
Does this use standard guitar tuning, or a variation on Ukulele tuning?
ZetaCron 8 months ago
@ZetaCron I should finish watching videos before I post comments. -_-;
ZetaCron 8 months ago
@JohnnyAppleTv You are half right, They are available in the US now. But that is a tenor uke scale, not a baritone.
GrumpyCoyoteTunes 8 months ago
nice playing & review! Yamaha has finally released them here in the US :-)
BillyWhiteAcre 11 months ago
I am all new to this but can you tell me what song you are playing at 5:23 or what chords they are? I play Ukulele and was thinking about getting a guitalele. Would you recommend this over a student guitar to learn? Thanks for the review..Keith
Keithava 1 year ago
I bouth mine today from one guy, perfect condition and only for 40€, what a great buy.
Kokotienko 1 year ago
yeah, they DO sell theses for $99 at Southwest Strings. Just go to their site and search for GL1
schlamorg 1 year ago
Southwest Strings in Tucson will be selling these (they might already be selling them). My wife works there, and she brought one home. It's a lot of fun to play.
schlamorg 1 year ago
Thanks for the review. It makes me feel that I made a nice choice. I bought a new one in Indonesia a few months ago at the equivalent of about US$ 50. Check out Braga Music Indonesia. I bought it for my 3yr old so he could start out with guitar. I retuned it to E....is that ok?
Nasosowonder 1 year ago
You can get hem in Canada for $95 at long and McQuade... PS. they ship to the US.
SiliconPirate 1 year ago
@SiliconPirate I bought a new one in Indonesia a few months ago at the equivalent of about US$ 50. Check out Braga Music Indonesia.
Nasosowonder 1 year ago
Yamaha USA told me yesterday that they are planning on releasing the Guitalele in the US very soon! Thanks for the review, by the way!
kentsuarez 1 year ago
Maybe this is a really stupid question, but can you play the standard guitar chords on it?
wildenboy 1 year ago
Thanks for the review. Nice playing.
I ordered one of these from Thomann.de. More than two weeks ago, and it has not come yet. How long did it take to reach you?
More important to me--you said the strings that came on it were no good, so you immediately changed them. (Surprised that Yamaha would not put decent strings on an instrument.) What did you change them to? One cannot exactly buy guitalele strings. (As you say, a six-string tenor uke is something different.)
Parecochero 1 year ago
@Parecochero Factory OEM strings are usually terrible in my experience, regardless of manufacturer. I replaced them with d'darrio high tension classical guitar strings. Because of the scale length, and the tuning up 4.5 half tones, regular guitar sets work perfectly well. No special strings needed.
GrumpyCoyoteTunes 1 year ago
You can buy these in Canada. I just bought one for around $100 in Toronto at Steves's Music.
Tinaskingdom 1 year ago
Can it be tuned in E, or will the strings be too loose then?
PaltryPete 1 year ago
@PaltryPete No, "standard" tuning would not work with these strings. I'm sure it can be done, but not with a standard set.
GrumpyCoyoteTunes 1 year ago
I'm living in Canada but got my GL-1 in South of France...nice piece
Spacemal 1 year ago
Hi I love this little instruments sound, what are the dimentions of it, please.
2MyTubes 1 year ago
Thanks for the informative review!
Tinaskingdom 1 year ago
hi there, i'm going traveling and i want a small guitar to strap on my bike, but i don't know any songs in the weird tuning that your guitalele is tuned to, can it still be tuned to eadgbe? aka standard tuning o that i can play normal songs? thanks, great review.
MrPocketGroover 1 year ago
@MrPocketGroover It's not any different - just like having a capo on the 5th fret. You can use the same chord shapes and scales, they just transpose up 2.5 steps. So your C shape is an F, your F is a Bb, and your D is a G... Exactly the same as playing on the 5th fret of your guitar.
As for eadgbe - standard stings would be far too loose in that tuning. I don't know what you'd need to make it work. There's no need really, it works just fine as is.
GrumpyCoyoteTunes 1 year ago
@GrumpyCoyoteTunes so i could play a chord progression of Cmaj Dmaj and Amin on my full size martin guitar and then play it again the same way on the guitalele and it would sound the same on both? thanks
MrPocketGroover 1 year ago
@MrPocketGroover If you play the same chord shapes, you'll be playing F, A, Dmin - 2.5 steps higher than you are used to. To play the C, D, Am and get the exact same sound you would simply make G, A, and Em chord shapes.
Simple.
GrumpyCoyoteTunes 1 year ago
Comment removed
leeley99 1 year ago
@GrumpyCoyoteTunes @GrumpyCoyoteTunes - thanks for posting the video and helpful info. I just bought the Yamaha guitarele and am also just learning guitar - wondering if there are any books or videos that you'd suggest for this instrument. Also what was is the name of the student guitar that you compared it to? That sounded pretty good. Thanks!
leeley99 1 year ago
@leeley99 Any guitar instruction will work. It's just like a guitar with a capo on the 5th fret.
The other instrument is not a student guitar, it's a "requinto" or soprano guitar. Often used for lead voice in mariachi music, it's also tuned like a guitar on the fifth fret. No brand name on that one... Just something I found online.
GrumpyCoyoteTunes 1 year ago
@GrumpyCoyoteTunes
Thanks for the info! I have some work ahead but am looking forward to it. Best!
leeley99 1 year ago
@GrumpyCoyoteTunes No its not But almost, the second G string should be tuned in E for that purpouse
KimPalme 1 year ago
Looking forward to a slack key vid!
Did you use Daddario's on all 6 strings(guitar set )or just the first 4 strings(ukulele set)? Great review.
g0dkarma1 1 year ago
@g0dkarma1 Just a regular classical guitar set for all strings - high tension.
Thanks!
GrumpyCoyoteTunes 1 year ago
Hey grumps! I'm going to be buying one myself soon and was wondering of the strings you put on it. Are they regular tension? I'm probably going to go to Savarez or maybe even an Aquila set.
psesinkclee 2 years ago
In this case I went with high tension Ddarrios. Servicable, but not perfect. I'll be picking up some Aquilla guitar strings and giving them a whirl soon too.
GrumpyCoyoteTunes 2 years ago
@GrumpyCoyoteTunes - cool. Just ordered mine as well as sets of savarez and aquila strings. Did it come with decent action or did you end up lowering it?
psesinkclee 2 years ago
Surprisingly playable action. Not perfect, but low enough and the intonation is fine.
Set ip over-all is great.
GrumpyCoyoteTunes 2 years ago
hi..!! i have a questions.. it is posible to tune my G1 guitalele to sound like a soprano ukulele.. cuz a G1 is the only thing i could find in my country..!! i want to learn and ukulele songs with it..!! please help me..
xl00lxz 2 years ago
Almost... The GL1 is essentially in the same key as any low G ukulele - typically a uke's bottom g string is tuned an octave hight though - and the GL1 does not really suit that.
However, many people (myself included) do play ukulele in low g tuning regularly, so it's not terribly out of the ordinary.
So the top 3 strings are tuned just like a uke, the 4th is an octave low (like many ukes) and the other two are extras. Typically tuned A and D.
GrumpyCoyoteTunes 2 years ago
@GrumpyCoyoteTunes ooh.!! i see than you very much..!! so its the same only with the low G tunnig.!! so i can learn ukulele notes and cords.. and it almost sound like a tenor... right..?? thanks again..!! you ROCK..!!
xl00lxz 2 years ago
I like this very much, oh I must play something on my guitarlele again :-)
Nice greetings from Anette
TanteA 2 years ago
When you said OEM, I laughed. Awesome review Grumps. I need t get my hands n one.
irvingjohn 2 years ago
sounding great :)
jessatilley 2 years ago
Awesome review Grumpy and thanks for the shout out! Damn you play that well! I wish I could get mine to sound anything like that. I feel like I've gone back to being a total beginner every time I pick it up (which is why there are no videos yet). Can I ask what type of d'addario strings you put on it? Thank you for the review! Seeing you play it is inspiring me to learn to play it better.
fourteentwelve 2 years ago
Thanks M!
Those are the Pro Arte high tension strings... I don't recall which number.
Thanks again for the tip!~
GrumpyCoyoteTunes 2 years ago
And thank you! I just ordered some Pro Arte EJ46 hard tension strings. I'd like to think that will magically improve my playing too, but that's going to take more than strings!
fourteentwelve 2 years ago
is that a lute?
boozelele 2 years ago
Sounds great Grumpy...a ukulele with bass strings - why didn't I ever think of that :)
jmmquah 2 years ago
haha, it's so funny to see what you did to get that thing. in my hometown where I lived before I moved to Berlin the only decent music instrument shop didn't really have any good Ukes (that's what I was interested in...) but always had at least one Guitalele.
I didn't know they had the 5th fret tuning though. that's cool!
HaileISela 2 years ago
Congrats on the new instrument Grumps! I actually played one of those today at a studio were they have a bunch of instruments. It's a fun little thing!
BaronK69 2 years ago
hey grumpy!
got one of those, too and just love this tiny guy.
they are inexpensive but of very decent quality.
I'm shure you'll have much fun with it!
worschd21 2 years ago
Very nice indeed :)
UnluckyMum 2 years ago
looks and sounds realy cool
krabbers 2 years ago
Just a small correction: the bridge and fingerboard on the GL-1 are sonokeling/ palisander. The back and side are maranti-faced laminate. Both of these woods are from south-east Asia, and both are rather attractive.
The top is spruce-faced laminate. The neck is nato.
It's nice to see the guitalele compared with the bigger thingummy (requinto?) in your video.
a57998 2 years ago
Thanks - I'll put the info in the sidebar.
GrumpyCoyoteTunes 2 years ago
I'm so happy to see you got one finally, Grump!! You make it sing. I wonder what Mississippi John Hurt would sound like on it.....
(request) :)
UKISOCIETY 2 years ago
sounds great grumps
ken6675 2 years ago
Thanks for that review, Grumpy. I wish they sod them in the U.S. I read, somewhere, that you could get them in Canada. I also wish they made them in the Baritone uke size. I suppose that would just be a small guitar, but, my baritone has a better tone than any of my guitars. ...Bill
cariboubill 2 years ago
Grumpy nice playing man!
We heard someone playing Baroque Music on the Guitaele the other day, such a cool little machine!!!! :) great video
kennymelodica 2 years ago
Cool!
oldnrone 2 years ago
SE Asia and China - all Yamaha's are.
GrumpyCoyoteTunes 2 years ago
Great review Coyote. Makes me want to buy one. I will manage to stop myself though.
KenMiddletonUkulele 2 years ago
great video good job on this
RickyCountryAtHeart 2 years ago
That's a beautiful sounding Guitalele!! Thanks for the great review.
thesebinextdoor 2 years ago
couldn't agree more - great little boxes - felt so good, i bought a few to give to friends. i tune mine ADGBEA - like a baroque, five string guitar with an added A (tenor) and a missing G (bass) - abbreviated chord shapes in regular tuning.
why yamaha doesn't sell them in the states is a complete mystery.
billkilpatrick 2 years ago
It sounds amazing, I want one.
Rutle 2 years ago
nice lute review Grumpy! i really like your Boozelele costume too. you forgot the squirrelly whiny voice though.
russbuss415 2 years ago
The little guitar sounds fantastic in your hands -- and you can carry it around like a mandolin too! Great video!
Mandolin1944 2 years ago
Nice review! Thanks. I was curious about the Requento too. Thanks for the size comparisons, it really clears things up a bit.
ukeKaLori 2 years ago
Cool review Grumpy! Seems like a great instrument for the price. Thanks!
degcon 2 years ago
Sure it sounds great , I 've seen it before but didn't had the opportunity to try... and you give me some ideas for my young guitar students!!! and for me too, I love the parlor Guitars!
Thanx so much for the demonstration and explanation, very interesting and you seem to have great fun with it! :°)
Little6ster 2 years ago