8 string Tahitian Ukulele

October 27, 2006 3:19 PM

My boyfriend bought an 8-string (dual string) ukulele in Tahiti and we can't find info ANYWHERE online. Everything we find is about the traditional 4 string ukulele. Looking for any links re: chords, tutorials, tuning, charts, books, etc. on Thank you!
posted by camfys to media & arts (7 comments total)

The strings are likely doubled and in that case it can be learned and played like a regular ukulele. You can tell if this is a case because the strings will be tuned in pairs to the same note, an octave apart.
posted by fire&wings at 3:32 PM on October 27, 2006

http://www.ukuleles.com/Technology/strings.html describes some tunings. It looks like you'd tune the two lower course in octaves (so, one string of the pair would be an octave lower/higher than the other), and the upper two courses in unison. For everything else, treat it like a 4-string .
posted by hades at 3:34 PM on October 27, 2006

Ukelelia.

Connected with BoingBoing via Mark F, a Mefite.
posted by Phred182 at 4:30 PM on October 27, 2006

It may be a Taropatch or Charango. Try searching with those terms.
posted by greasy_skillet at 5:44 PM on October 27, 2006

It sounds to me like you bought something rather similar to a Jarana. Unfortunately there are very few things online about them. I have one (that I made myself, in a "Jarana making workshop) and I think I have some sort of word file with chords for it. Tell your boyfriend to email me (address in the profile) so I can have his email address and Ill send him the file when I find it.
posted by micayetoca at 5:52 PM on October 27, 2006

Go to the Flea Market Music Bulletin Board and do a search for "Tahitian." Several ukulele players that frequent that board have tahitian ukuleles and can answer any questions that you might have.
posted by calumet43 at 10:16 PM on October 27, 2006

Some pictures of Tahitian Ukes.

It is tuned like hades said which means that the chord fingerings would be the same as a traditional ukulele in "C" tuning. Any basic ukulele instruction book will work for learning the chords. The 4th peg site is another good reference for all things ukulele.
posted by calumet43 at 8:27 AM on October 28, 2006