Nothing Else Matters cover with the Guitalele

I started learning the guitar earlier this year, and attempting to sing.... here is Metallica's Nothing Else Matters acoustic cover, using a Guitalele



Yamaha GL-1 Guitalele is a $100, 6 string guitar-ukelele hybrid, tuned A-A. With a lot of experimentation, and searching guitar/ukulele forums, I was able to get it to tune E-E, standard guitar tuning. I did this by using standard tension nylon strings, removing the highest string, and shifting the remaining strings down, and adding the lowest string with an extra high tension low E string. It stays in tune well, after a couple weeks of letting the strings settle in. Obviously this isn't what the Guitalele is made for, so do at at your own risk. The low E string is slack, and the rest of the strings aren't tuned up much higher than before, so overall pull on the neck isn't very different, I think. Mine's been working out great for a few months now, but again.... your milage my vary, and do it at your own risk. A-A tuning on the Guitalele actually sounded great, very sweet and ukulele sounding, and you can play and practice like a guitar... But I wanted to learn to sing with it, and my unfortunate limited vocal range  just can't go that many steps up, otherwise I'd just stayed with the A-A.

I've also replaced the saddle with a tusk saddle, but I don't hear an improvement there, so I wouldn't recommend going through the trouble. Overall it's a great travel guitar, couch guitar, and just something fun to play with, it's so cute! It is very small, and feels very cramped because of the super short neck scale, but it has very good nut width. The string spacing at the saddle is where it feels very tight for finger style, and I wished that it was spaced out more there. Still, it is pretty fun to mess around and practice with.

This video was recorded on the iphone, using Movie Pro app, with the remote app. I also used a usb mic, the Samson CO1U Pro, and USB to Lightning connector.