This was the consideration when we tried to fingerpick Ashoken Farewell in key of D on uke. See this blog post for my Ashoken Farewell TUTORIAL. It has links to playalong tracks and sheet music.
Guitar players often play 'drop D' tuning. (There are other atypical tunings as well.) This means the lowest, thickest string, which is usually tuned to low E, gets tuned down 2 semi-tones to a lower D.
The trick is that you have to remember that all notes played on the lower pitched string will be found 2 frets up the finger board.
The same principle could apply to uke. But the problem is that 4th G string loses responsiveness when it's tuned close to an octave lower. It doesn't stay in tune.
I tuned an old uke down as far as it could go, which seemed to be an A. The song in question features low Bs, low As and a low G. It sort of worked to adapt the sheet music and drop the low G, instead playing a couple of Bs, and then the A.
I tried this re-tuning also on a newer uke. It wouldn't tune down to A. Only to B. But honestly, it worked as well, to tune to low B. You can't get the low A. But it works to just hit the high open A.
I did a video of the experiment. There's a false start after the initial tuning sequence, at around the 2 minute mark of the attached VIDEO.
Conventional wisdom seems to be to use something like a D string from a classical guitar to get the low G. But the student may not be ready for the restringing operation at tis point. (That involves buying a D string, figuring out how to restring, and perhaps leaving the uke strung that way, while you may not be sure that's what you want to do.)
Another option is having 2 ukes, each with distinct tuning. I suppose if you can come by a free or cheap 2nd uke, this is an ok plan. Again, not optimal perhaps for beginners.
Drop tuning offers a workaround while the student decides whether or not to commit to re-stringing for low G.
If this ancient uke with strings from who knows when (likely the '60s. I think i restrung this instrument at one point. But i honestly can't remember) can do it, any uke can.
There are a couple more steps i should try to complete this experiment. Maybe a thicker string for the 4th might hold a lower tuning. (either classical guitar D string or low g uke string.)*
*Low string tuning up experiment. I have a uke outfitted with D classical guitar string. Well settled. It doesnt tune up to high G. I only tried this to a certain degree. There was lot of tension on the string and instrument, and i didnt want it to pop, and break pieces off the uke. *Need to try tuning up low g made for uke string.But i suspect the string companies would rather you buy more strings than fewer.
Also, would another brand of string also both hold upper and lower tunings better. I will report on this in future?**
**Better string experiment result - i tried this with a fresh new good quality high G string. Gave it a couple of weeks to settle. It still doesnt tune far enough down to the low g.
This solution described here, which we'll call 'Tune 4th string as low as it will go,' is meant as a workaround for an on the spot adaptation to fingerpicking lower notes on a soprano uke, which doesn't require getting new strings or a re-stringing exercise.
Post script 1 - i've gone thru a couple of beginner to intermediate uke books lately. They seem to be written without needing to play lower than a low C note. So a student likely can avoid encountering this problem for a while.
Post script 2 - Is changing strings such a bad idea? No - players are going to have to change them anyway if they break. What might be the 2nd best option is if a low g might tune up to and hold a high G, a player would have the opportunity to upgrade to a better quality string from off the shelf, and only do it once (at the beginning) and have a wider range of tones and options. But i mean, even if you change to a low g, you can still get the high G range out of the 2nd (highest) string. Changing to log g string for uke might be the most logical option.
Post script 3 - I have put on a bona fide for uke low g string. Aquila red. A wrapped nylgut string. You will read that it's expensive. I dunno. It was around $10. It settles faster. Has a better sound than classical guitar D. To be honest, i would immediately add this string to a new instrument.
