What ukulele should i buy

Trust me, a quality instrument will make you want to keep playing. If you already have a ukulele , buy one of another size. They all have something different to offer. With price comes better build and sound quality. The different wood types offer different tonal options. Something like mahogany is going to be darker than maple, which will be brighter.

What it should mean is a quality instrument at an affordable price. A quality instrument on the other hand is inspiring. These brands tend to have higher quality standards, regardless of price point. Brands like Bondi, Luna, Kala, Cordoba, and Ohana all have a long history of making quality instruments. Check out this link for a full list of excellent ukuleles for beginners. Honestly, when I was starting out, I just picked the one that looked the coolest. Our Tenor XL models come with a longer neck, a longer body, and a wider lower bout than traditional tenor ukuleles.

The Tenor XL also has a deeper and warmer sound with more resonance due to its increased lower bout size. Another benefit of this size increase is excellent string spacing and louder projection than traditional tenor sized ukuleles. Baritone is the next step up from the tenor in size. The baritone ukulele has the longest scale - about three inches longer than the tenor - with the widest fret spacing of all the sizes we offer. The neck on a baritone is also wider than the tenor.

All of these characteristics make the baritone great type of ukulele for fingerpicking. The baritone size is great for all skill and experience levels, but especially for those with large hands and fingers. The baritone ukulele has the deepest, fullest sound with the most low end, sounding similar to an acoustic guitar. Hopefully this helps you get an idea of the characteristics and differences of the different sizes of ukulele we offer!

Check out our other posts for more great ukulele guides and don't hesitate to ask us questions! However, the best place to start is deciding on which size to go for. This guide will tell you the different sizes available and what to expect from them. Sopranos are probably the size which most people view as the classic, archetypal ukulele, both in terms of appearance and sound. They are usually 21 inches approx. Due to their smaller size, they offer exceptional portability and also tend to be the size that children will begin to learn on.

A Soprano can be a great ukulele to learn on, but it is important not to think of it merely as a starter instrument as you will also see many professional musicians making it their ukulele size of choice.

Concert ukuleles have been around since the s and with their longer scale and larger body, give more volume and sustain and a fuller sound than a Soprano. They usually measure around 23 inches approx. Some players favour the Concert size ukulele, deeming it to be a more versatile instrument than either the Soprano or Tenor. As far as entry-level ukes, I would actually recommend the Luna Tattoo series. I have the concert size, but the soprano size has a honu etched around the soundhole, while their pineapple soprano and their concert size have polynesian waves along the bottom.

I bought a Luna concert last week. I am troubled with the intonation on the first 2 frets. Ukes have trouble with intonation, which is a shame. Ah bummer. It sounds like you got a sour one.

Is there anything you can do to help make this better? Also, you might try putting fresh new strings. If the intonation problems still persist, you might try to exchange the uke for another Luna concert to see if you just got a lemon.

Or you might jump up in price range for a nicer uke, but I know for me, I do like to have a uke around that I feel like I can beat around a little bit. I have a Luna Concert size. Eventually, I would like a solid wood bod, but I am making myself get better first. I work in a preschool and use it to sing to the kids and everyone just adores the whole experience,.

The intonation , sound and playability is very good. My husband who as been playing uke for 3 yrs or so also has been playing guitar for many years helped me pick it out.

My Lanikai is defiantly not top of the line but is still a great one. I my listening experience they are the best. May be giving it to my nephew if he like the class I will be taking him to.

My house hold has a wide selection o f ukes already. Glad you are enjoying the book too! Thanks for your comment, Deanna! I bought a Makala MK-C as my first foray into ukes. Went for the concert over the soprano because I found it easier to play with my clumsy guitarist fingers! If I get good enough I might plump for a more expensive, decent instrument one day!

But first I must master the dreaded E chord! Sounds like you made a good choice for getting started. I imagine you probably have done this tho. Thanks for your comment! I know a lot of people in search of a ukulele will find it helpful. Rank beginner here. I knowingly bought a too-cheap ukulele yesterday just to find out if learning might be fun. Five-O brand, laminate, made in China. A very gentle sandpapering of the next fret helped to reduce the double contact! I just bought a Luna brand, concert size, acoustic-electric ukulele and I love it.

Not only is it beautiful has traditional Hawaiian tattoo designs carved in the face and around the sound hole , but it has excellent tone and what seem to be high quality strings.

I not only got this beautiful instrument, but a gig bag, which is great. The last thing I want is a dusty, or broken, ukulele. Thanks for this website, I was so happy to find it. You are very welcome! Thanks for posting your comment and sharing the ukulele recommendation to help others out.

Hi Brett! I mean, do I risk it breaks in the shipping? Musicians Friend, Sweetwater you will be okay. I had no reason at all not to mention them.

It was really hard to narrow it down to 5 ukuleles, but there are many great concert ukuleles out there too. For example, the Kala tenor ukulele also comes in a concert version as well which is worth checking out. It is solid mahogany. I am very pleased with it. I am a beginner but I wanted a decent instrument I could use for a while. Joan, I almost bought a Mainland concert mahogany ukulele.

I also like that you can customize the ukulele a little bit too when you purchase it. I spent about an hour at the Kiwaya shop in Tokyo yesterday. They make Kiwaya called Famous in Japan and Luna brands. The decorated and laminates are made for the export market only. I started playing famous concert models and was almost ready make a buy, when I decided to try a equivalent Luna. The clerk in the store was really helpful and let me try 5 identical ukuleles from stock and pick the one I liked best as there was bit of rattle in the floor demo model.

I highly recommend trying two or three of the same instrument before you decide. It sounds fantastic for begginers. All solid wood, beautiful decorations. Look it up on the Youtube. What do you think of the Ibanez brand. I have a deposit down on one. It looks beautiful, and I have read nothing but good reviews on it.

I got to play it a little in the store. Not sure about it until I play for awhile. The Kohala HUby Lanakai is an excellent beginner uke for anyone it only about60 dollars it is very sturdy and keeps in tune which is all you need. My first uke purchased was a concert size Lanakai S series solid spruce top and mahogany sides.

I imagine it to be a real nice uke! I would try to play one if you can before you buy it. Maybe some other people here have some experience with the Ohana too. I just like the extra resonance and the pronounced twang of a banjo ukulele.

This really is a great site. I bought a makala concert ukulele. Its my first and i am happy with it. Feels good sounds good and i hear alot about ukuleles being hard to keep in tune i play mine alot set it down and pick it up and still in tune. What i really want is a national steel body ukulele. It was always one of my dream guitars but as a ukulele is much more obtainable.

I recently purchased a Korala Beginners Soprano ukulele and I love it, I re-strung it with Aquilla Nygut Strings and that has made a huge difference to the sound..

I know this is off topic, but do you have any tips on how to paint this ukulele? Imogen, I have actually have never painted a ukulele before! Does anyone else have any tips? Maybe a Kala Or a Hilo. I would recommend looking at a concert or tenor ukulele if you have bigger hands.

You can learn more about the ukulele sizes here. The important thing is to get a ukulele and start playing! And one night I was hanging out with a friend at his house and he had a few ukuleles and I commented on how I wish I had one and so right then and there he gave one to me!

So thanks! Mines a soprano, not a tenor. The quality of the Kala is very good. It comes with Aquila strings which stabilized in about 2 days and has a nice mellow sound. It is a bit challenging trying to stuff my fingers between those small fret spaces. Still a newbie but intend to carry on, long arms so my soprano too short, concert size seems fine. I just wanted to say that you need to try the Firefly Banjo Uku. I was able to get one of these and it is a blast to play. Tuned just like a regular ukulele, but louder and sounds just like a banjo..

And you can never have to many ukuleles.. Replace with good strings helped the sound right away. Stays in tune very well. I also had a Lanakai LU and It sounds good, but has two frets that buzz…they appear to be slightly raised.

Disappointed with it. And finally I have a Luna Koa Tide concert size uke. Very very nice sound best of all of my ukes , but I worry about it too much to bring out. Question: Is it recommended to practice on one size soprano, for example all the time, or is it ok to switch to concert size then soprano, back and forth? Would I still make progress in chords and strumming? I would try to switch up your practice between different ukuleles.

Started playing the ukulele earlier this year and I am now totally hooked!! Just purchased an Anuenue Lani Tenor which is absolutley amazing! Wonderful tone, aquila strings and good to look at too! My wife who is also nuts on the uke has an Anuenue Papa Concert which she loves!!!! Find your website really informative, thanks for the advice. Regards from your neigbours in England. Hey Bret, im 15 years old, currently i have a Diamond Head Ukulele.

I was hoping you could help me out with that. By the way your website helped me SO much! That sounds really cool! Plays really nice. I had to tighten up the tuning and put Aquila strings on. Love you web site. I think the tuning issue could be a couple things. I play for hours a day. What a wonderful site. The Kala KA-C was my first ukulele.

What a wonderful uke. Very playable and a lovely tone. Very nice website. I am a fairly new player, 1. I have purchased 11 so far.

I did give 5 away to friends and family. They range from a Fluke to a Kanile in price, but have had excellent results with KALA products 6 ukes were made by them. It was cute but sounded horrible, like the strings were fishing line. I changed out the strings to some Martin M and the difference was amazing, it completely improved the sound of the ukulele.

I have now put these strings on 5 other Soprano and concert models and had similar results. The ukulele set up make a huge difference. There are some sellers that do a setup on everyone they sell. I can personally recommend Hawaiian Music supply because they do a professional quality setup on every uke they sell, and sell them online.

Thanks again for your site and Merry Christmas to all. Would this be suitable for a complete beginner? I will eventually upgrade but for 80 bucks this uke is a great starter. Nice sound, quality hardware and construction. Neck is about as straight as you can get without a truss rod.

Highly recommended! I found them to be a surprising little instrument for those who are looking to get started with ukulele. Thanks for the review! See which ones you like the best! Makala makes some good ukuleles in that price range. Any of those brands are pretty good! Thanks for the many useful tips in getting an ukulele.

Anyway, I think I was lucky of getting a friendly instrument. Best wishes for all! I have a Kala Soprano all solid mahogany. It is a wonderful ukulele that has a warmtone and is pretty loud but with good dynamics. My first uke was a Lanikai concert. It had a decent tone but horrible intonation. The neck was attached slightly crooked. I bought and returned an all Koa Lanikai soprano and it was horrible. Either a bad neck or action too low.

No dynamics, buzzed, no volume, tiny sound, bad finish. So no more Lanikai for me. I just ordered a solid mahogany soprano Islander from Hawaii Music Supply. Comparable in price to Kala. I will let you know how it is once it arrives.

Hawaii Music supply has a great web site — lessons, lots of video samples etc…. No body has a Cordoba? The fit and finish are awesome after about a week of play it almost never came out of tune again and it has great sound quality. Has anyone else had a Cordoba? The main differences is that the Dolphin is made out of plastic and the Makala is made out of a wood laminate. Both will sound pretty similar.

Some people might make fun of me for it, but for me, there is something inspiring about playing a beautiful instrument, so if you like the look of the Makala, you should go with it! Especially since they are so similar. Hey Gerry, I did teach the course using a tenor ukulele tuned to standard tuning, so this will be a different tuning from your baritone. However, the majority of the course is spent focusing on strumming and rhythm, so these techniques will be able to be applied to your baritone ukulele.

Some people who have baritone ukulele will use a capo on the 5th fret to follow along. By placing a capo on the 5th fret, you are easily transposing your baritone ukulele to the equivalent of standard tuning. This would be a solution if you wanted to purchase the course.

A while back my daughters in another state took a community college uke class that included a uke in the price. I soooo wanted to go. My little Hibiscus sounds great comparing with the 14 others and stays in tune. I love the felt pick that came with it and the little shaker doodad I got to put on my finger for a rhythm toy. The ukulele group is an excellent idea. Hey Brett-Yeah, I got a Luna, because of the look and the nifty tattoo.

However, my very first love is a Kamaka Tenor. It was a present, I love it then and love it now!! Thanks for the site! The open-style tuners keep the instrument in precise tuning and the onboard preamp provides easy amplification that can be dialed in quickly. Luna ukuleles are great! This ukulele will be good if you ever want to plug it in to an amplifier since it has an onboard preamp.

Hi, i have recently bought a second hand lazy ukulele, and i am really happy with it. Hi Sarah, you could try removing the nut and sanding the bottom of it down. This will lower it.

However, this project is probably one better suited for a luthier at a local music shop. Thank u everybody! Even for just after Christmas. Welcome to Ukulele Tricks. Learning the ukulele sounds like an awesome way to honor the memory of your grandmother!

Hello, How about a Flea ukulele for a total beginner? Thanks for your great job helping people. Enjoy your ukulele and play the heck out of it! Hey Mark, I imagine the strings need a little bit of time to settle. The Grover tuner shaft fits into the inside drilled hole in the headstock, which acts as a support bearing for the tuning shaft. This hole was far to big allowing the shaft to pull downwards towards the bridge when putting tension on the string.

In doing so It pulls the mounting screws out of the wood and stripping the wood away so the screws cannot be retightened. If you have one ,You can check yours by unwinding the string, and using a finger from underneath, pushing the shaft towards the bridge. If the bearing hole is too big,This will allow downward movement,causing the mtg plate to pull away from the head stock. When tuning, the leverage pressure will strip the wood from the mounting screws so you may not be able to tighten them.

A expensive Ukuleles should not have passed a good quality check,of a manufacturing defect like this. I really loved my Kala , and felt very sad that I had to return it. Hopefully mine is a isolated case, and this does not affect others, of the production run.

By the way , I am 77 and love music. Hey John, thanks for your comment. That is very unfortunate and frustrating about your ukulele. I hate when that stuff happens. So Far It sound great, gives me a different tone, and like that G string for picking. Thanks for mentioning that on your blog John. Thanks for this website, Brett!

Just so happened that the one I bought is the Lanikai LU you recommended above. Now to figure out how to change the strings… lol. I managed to learn so much in a period of about 20 minutes. So thank you for your dedication! My friend bought me a Mahalo from Amazon as a birthday present. What do you think about the Mahalo? What do you think? The Mahalo ukuleles are great entry-level ukuleles. I just learned about this ukulele from Raggyrag on Youtube, and he knows his music, and I had to see if it was as good as he said so I bought one, it is the Kamoa Pineapple Soprano, and this is a very nice ukulele with the innotation right on.

I like this better than the Lanikai Soprano, which for the price is nice. It is not a 3 to 5 hundred dollar ukulele but you would never know it from the sound and quality. I have this site setup as one of my home pages.. Thanks Brett. Here is what the Kamoa Pineapple sounds like..

I started off with an electric solid body Amina concert a few months ago. It was an odd looking thing, with a very nice flame maple natural finish. My wife wanted to start, and bought a lovely Kala acoustic concert travel uke. About an inch, but the violin back gives it a deep resonant tone. As a gift, we picked up a Diamond Head soprano for my nephew, and strung it with some Aquila nylagut strings, which sound nice.

It looks just like the Makalas up on the top row. Last night, the latest arrived — a Risa tennor uke stick. Very light for an electric, and built for travel. I just took my first uke workshop a week ago 3 hrs. Nice sound and keeps tune very well. No ukulele sounds completely the same. This is okay and good! I have some feeble guitar skills and experience with cheap gear, so when I went to buy a Ukulele I wanted one that would not have me wanting a better one only a short time later.

I played many and liked a few that are very popular with many people here, with good reason, but in the end I really enjoyed the sound quality, build quality and appearance of the Cordoba ukes even though they seemed a bit more expensive then typical. It stays in tune great even after hours of playing. It came with Aquila strings and a very nice gig bag too. I had an amp already so I thought a pick up might be nice, glad I did cause it sounds great electric. I love my Ukulele and play at least a couple hours a day or more.

Highly recommended. Havent recieved it yet, but what do you think of them? I thinks so far its pretty awesome.