Soprano ukulele how many frets

The best option is to try the different sizes if you have a local shop to do so, and see what feels best in you hands. While we have discussed the most popular ukulele sizes here there are many other options on the market, some are variations on these sizes while some are even more unique. Here is a ukulele size chart to help you get your head around most of the options available today:.

Credit: Photo from guitartuitioncoventry. While tuned similarly, a baritone ukulele is still substantially smaller than a guitar.

Baritone uke can also serve as a great transition for ukulele players wanting to get into guitar or vice versa. While many adults find tenor to be the most comfortable there is truly no best size. People such as Tiny Tim had great careers playing almost only soprano ukuleles.

It is a common misconception that smaller instruments are not good for people with larger hands, but this is false. Any size person can play any size ukulele that they find comfortable. This depends on many different factors. For child beginners I find it best to start on a soprano instruments as the smaller scale length lends itself to smaller hands and will make the reach between frets smaller. For adult students any size ukulele can serve as a great start.

While there are many different sizes of ukulele, finding the correct size for you comes down more to personal preference than anything else. What matters even more than the size is the quality, construction, and set up of each individual instrument.

No matter what size you chose any ukulele will bring joy to your life for years to come! Christopher Davis-Shannon multi-Instrumentalist, songwriter, arranger, and educator based in Philadelphia. He maintains a steady tour schedule with his own music as well as a sideman for various acts bringing to the stage not just the pure joy of music, but a vast knowledge of the history behind the songs that he holds close to his heart.

Hi, thanks for the information, just what I needed for sizing. I did notice that your picture-size chart has inches whereas the numbers up to 74 indicate cm instead. I really don't know what his problem is. Just play up to the 12th fret. End of story Hopefully some more learned people can help us out Joined Feb 5, Messages 28, Points 0.

Aloha Allie, Not sure I need more than 12 frets on a soprano too, as eugene stated, it would be too high sounding for me too.. I haven't tried those soprano's with the concert ot tenor necks yet. Those may have a better use as the fretboard is longer and could be easier for some with longer fingers I hope it helps Have fun and Enjoy your Uke!!!

For your question, it gives you more fretboard and range MM Stan.. Last edited: Oct 10, SweetWaterBlue Active member. Joined Nov 30, Messages 2, Points I am not sure if the reference is to a regular soprano or one built with a longer neck.

Usually a soprano built generally called a super-soprano with more frets also has a longer neck and instead of stringing it with soprano strings, you would put concert or even tenor strings on it depending on the length.

It won't sound tinny above the 12th fret. Here is one of my favorites examples of one that is well played:. Aloha SWB, Bump That was sooo cool!!! MM Stan Was that your super soprano While different brands may vary on the exact specifications, generally speaking, the four classes of ukulele can be identified as follows:.

Not only do the increased scale lengths on the three larger ukuleles allow for more frets, but they also create more space in between the frets themselves.

For adult players and those with larger fingers, this extra space can make all the difference between a strained or relaxed playing experience. By increasing the scale length, however, you trade off some of the unique portability of the soprano models. Concert ukuleles are just one size up and would be the obvious choice when looking to balance size with playability. Most of us have some idea of what a soprano ukulele sounds like even if we've never played one ourselves.

They come out high pitched and jangly, with next to no bass tone and very little sustain. Perfect for creating those tropical melodies. If you imagine the sound of the soprano ukulele on one end of a scale, and that of a classical acoustic guitar on the other, then the concert, tenor and baritone ukuleles occupy the space in between.

Each step up from the soprano has a larger body which produces a deeper and more resonant tone. Since the baritone is equally large as a quarter size acoustic guitar, its sound is very similar. Many ukulele players find it strays too far from the original qualities of the soprano.

Concert and tenor ukuleles produce comparable sounds that are much closer to the soprano. Stephanie, barre chords can be difficult if your fingers forming the barre the same way you would on a guitar, but there is an easier way to barre on a uke. Instead of pressing your index finger tip at the g-string and letting your first finger joint form the barre, try pushing your index finger so the first joint slightly overhangs the g-string instead.

Pressing down is much easier and the other three fingers can easily reach the other notes of the chords. It makes playing E chords almost seem easy. I have pretty large hands and the narrower neck on the concert uke is a bit of a squeeze. Your new ukulele sounds beautiful! I find my tenor to be the perfect size for me.

I like to play it the most. I find the tenor the most versatile and comfortable to play out of all the sizes. I think you would enjoy a tenor. Lanilakis are great in any of their price ranges but are quite expensive, I own a Soprano Kohala uke and a Concert Lanilaki. I totally prefer my soprano since it was my first uke but you get the quality you pay for. Personally I would take a Lanilaki any day but if you want to stay at a lower price, try the Kohalas.

I hope that helps! Add me to the list of happy uke players looking for advice. I have a concert uke and want to buy a second instrument. I love the deeper sound of the baritone and because playing the guitar has always been a bit intimidating to me, I love the idea that a baritone uke could give me a guitar-like sound.

But is the tuning something that will be hard to overcome? Hey Meridith, for your tenor ukulele, you might choose to do a low G tuning. This means the top G string is tuned down an octave. This can give you a deeper sound, which I think sounds really great. The baritone ukulele will provide some challenges because a lot of the ukulele chord resources are for standard tuned ukuleles.

Since the baritone ukulele is tuned like the bottom four strings of a guitar, it works well to look at the guitar chords and just pay attention to the bottom four strings. HI guys!! I have decided to buy a uke for my boyfriend for his birthday but i want to keep it a surprise and therefore, cannot ask him which size he would prefer. He has big hands and plays guitar so I would assume getting him a tenor would be best but for some reason I keep leaning towards a concert. Any advise?

I really like my tenor ukulele, so I would recommend that on a gut level. This is really a great resource for anyone interested in buying a uke for themselves or someone else.

I really just want to get the least expensive set with a bag because I travel a lot. Seems like a saprano. Help me Brett! Sopranos are also cheaper too. I play uke with some friends. We were wondering how you play the Baritone alongside the Soprano? Say if a Soprano is playing C, should the Baritone also? Hey Cherie, you can definitely play a baritone alongside a soprano. If you are playing in the key of C, the baritone also needs to play in the key of C.

Because the baritone ukulele is tuned lower than a soprano by default, the chord shapes will look differently on a baritone ukulele than on a soprano ukulele. If you wanted to play a baritone with a soprano and play the same chord shapes, the baritone ukulele would need to put a capo on the 5th fret to transpose their tuning to be that of a soprano ukulele. Excellent point Brett, You can even try to learn a few chord inversions up the neck to introduce some different voicings and textures.

Working these out yourself helps you gain a better understanding of what is going on musically. I think the Tenor may fit the bill people seems to be suggested the size would be right for an adult man and the sounds is good.

He currently plays blues nad old school rock on both acoustic and electric guitar. Does it sound that a tenor would be suitable for a beginner who would be interested in taking his tab music to ukulele? I have found a pear shaped tenor ukulele called Blue Moon it is definitely striking to look at but i assume the shape will change the sound.

Would you recommend sticking with the traditional shape? I would almost consider a baritone since your Dad plays guitar. The tuning on a baritone ukulele is tuned like the bottom four strings of a guitar DGBE. This means some of his guitar chord shapes that he already knows will translate well to the baritone ukulele. A baritone ukulele is too much like a guitar to me, so as a guitar player, I enjoy the differences in a tenor ukulele.

Do you have a link? It sounds like they are putting baritone strings on it to tune it lower to the DGBE baritone tuning. A little Confused, is it actually a soprano? Excited, nevertheless! My guess is whoever wrote the description for that ukulele made a little mistake. That is, there are 14 frets before the fretboard reaches the body. Hi, i would like to know the what kind of ukulele is normally given in starter packs? I was thinking of getting either the saprano or the starter pack as a beginner.

I wanted to get the tenor but its a bit to pricey so i thought i would start of with the saprano. I would also like to know what kind of ukulele would fit a 14 year old. Hey ShaneLi, you might consider getting a tenor ukulele and skipping the starter pack. Sometimes the starter packs are a good deal, but you might be hard pressed to find one with a tenor uke at a low price.

I learned on a soprano and a soprano will always give you that classic ukulele sound. Hey guys! Ive been a guitar player since i was about 6. Im 15 now, and also have a soprano ukulele. My mom got it for me amd my brother on one of her many trips to hawaii, ive also been recently, its amazing!

At first, i didnt get into it as much, but in the past year or two ive been playing it much more. A couple weeks ago the neck snapped off, and i was really sad, but some wood glue fixed it righ up!

My little brother 11 and i are currently working on builing our own ukuleles from scratch. Hes making a soprano, and me a concert. I can play a soprano just fine, and my hands are really big. It just takes practice to get your hands used to the chord structures. Im planning on makin my concert a semihollow body electric ukulele, and think this will be amazing! Im planning to use steel strings, because i wanted to be able to make it sound like a guitar a well, so i chose an electric guitar pickup an we will see how that works.

The neck i was building was coming along nicely, but there was a bit of an accident and it got cut in a place it shouldnt have. Im having to start over, and we cut down a cedar tree from our yard about a year ago and were using part of the trunk as the neck. Im exited to get this all finished, but if it doesnt work out as good as im hoping, ill probobly just invest in either a tenor or a concert.

Please keep me updated. I have never tried the ukulele before and I really want to. I tried the guitar but the strains were just to hard for me to press down. I have no idea which size I should get or what brand or where to get one. Do u think it would be okay to get a I would be very skeptical of buying a ukulele at Target, Wal Mart, or any of those other stores.

I have heard that a bad cheap instrument can turn people off from continuing their practice — so keep that in mind if you get a cheap one just to see if you like to play…. Hey I was really stressed about which one I should get and I was leaning toward tenor but when I went to guitar center I ended up liking the concert better. Hey Clan, great choice on the ukulele! You have a lot of options for ukuleles. The best advice is get one and play it!

How much you can spend will dictate what kind of ukulele you can get. The sky is really the limit so a budget will help you find the ukulele that works for you.

I live on the island of Borneo and a few of us have taken up the Ukulele recently. I want to upgrade from my Mahalo soprano and wanted your opinion on either a Tenor or a Concert. Any suggestions? Any help will be appreciated. Keep up the excellent website! Hey Trev, thanks for the comment! It has a good tone and the added electronics are nice. I also prefer the bigger sized tenor. If you have a soprano right now, it might be nice to mix things up a little with a tenor.

Hi Brett, Thank you for creating Ukulele Tricks. It motivates me more to save money to be able to buy Uke. From what I gather, a lot of women and men too really like using a ukulele strap to stabilize and hold the ukulele. You might look into an option like that! As a long time guitar player I used to think that the Uke was just basically a toy, boy was I wrong! I found the strap to be a great solution for me.

Playing it was so much fun that soon I wanted a better one. After just two days my husband loved it so much he ordered one for himself! Now of course I want a different size to add to my collection and am vacillating between a tenor or a baritone. I actually played a baritone in the music store and really like it. It was easy to pick up since I play guitar. I have taken my concert Uke on the plane when traveling and would do the same with whatever I buy next.

Do you think a tenor would be better suited for airplane travel than a baritone? Happy strumming. Buy the way I just turned 70 recently and now I am learning to play the bells in a bell choir so you are never to old to learn a new instrument.

I am a blind musician from the Bahamas. Unfortunately, good ukuleles are hard to come by here—the only avalable ones look and play like toys. What brands would you recommend and whhat sizes? I have about average hands but quite long fingers.

Nice to bump into your website! I just bought myself a tenor 2 days back out of impulse and was having lots of fun with it. Very good information on the different types of Ukes and lessons!

Thanks for checking out Ukulele Tricks, Patrick! Appreciate your comment. Brett, A question about the baritone ukulele. Is it possible to tune a baritone to the standard or conventional tuning?

I believe standard tuning is gCEA. I heard that there are specific strings, I think the brand is Aquila , that allow one to do this. Great website. This would convert the tuning to GCEA low G tuning which would allow you to learn and follow along with the chord shapes presented on this website. My mother starting playing Soprano when she was younger and then bought a Baritone to travel with while she was in the Peace Corps. She used to sing songs to me and play her uke to help me fall asleep as a child.

As I got older, I attempted to play the guitar but had trouble with the whole not playing all of the strings for every chord thing.