The cult of the Ukulele.

[NancyJohnson]

One Christmas a few years back, wife bought me a (soprano) ukulele as a bit of a joke; it was a Lidl central aisle purchase made by a company called Clifton, £18.00.  It's been stuck on a shelf gathering dust for years, honestly didn't even have a clue how it's tuned.  I have a couple of mates who play in a ukulele band called The Mighty Lemons, and they seem to have a beery-riot doing stuff.

 

Over Christmas, my wife is like, 'Are you ever going to play it or shall I charity-shop it?'  Went online, found out how to tune it, found a tab for 'Tonight You Belong to Me' and off I went.  I've got biggish hands (oh, to lament why isn't there a luthier who customises guitars for people with big hands, eh?), but while I'm far from sausage-fingered the chording is a struggle, but it's a lot of fun. 

 

As an instrument, I'm finding that you can pretty much make any chord shape and it just sounds rather lovely, so much so I'm thinking a better specced one may make the experience a little better.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 22, 2024 by NancyJohnson
Grammatical error.

[paul_5]

I’ve just bought a tenor uke after having a soprano knocking around the house for years - I found chords on the soprano (small plinky thing) difficult but a friend let me use his tenor and it was SO much easier. It’s tuned the same, but the frets are bigger.

[SamIAm]

I've got largish hands also and found that playing a Tenor Uke was more comfortable (Same chord shapes, slightly larger fingerboard spacing) ... I also found that using a low G string (Which is tuned an octave below the standard G) produced a more pleasing sound.

 

Sam x

Edited January 22, 2024 by SamIAm

[Paolo85]

Mi daughter got a suprano Ukulele as a present. I started noodling with it and had lots of fun playing chords. The problem was that I play at night when everybody is asleep. My wife made it clear that it was too noisy. I started looking online for cheap electric solid body ukukeles. I saw the Harley Benton one, but from online reviews I really was not impressed with the sound. Plus it was cheap but not exactly for free. Long story short I ended up buying a guitar instead. Still, the ukulele is great. I found a couple of good ukulele recordings in the process

https://youtu.be/VCMWIXADJj0?si=-lddoWJMiWv-Xd28

 

 

[Burns-bass]

20 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

One Christmas a few years back, wife bought me a ukulele as a joke; it was a Lidl central aisle purchase made by a company called Clifton, £18.00.  It's been stuck on a shelf gathering dust for years, honestly didn't even have a clue how it's tuned.  I have a couple of mates who play in a ukulele band called The Mighty Lemons, and they seem to have a beery-riot doing stuff.

 

Over Christmas, my wife is like, 'Are you ever going to play it or shall I charity-shop it?'  Went online, found out how to tune it, found a tab for 'Tonight You Belong to Me' and off I went.  I've got biggish hands (why isn't there a luthier who customises guitars for people with big hands, eh?), but am far from sausage-fingered, so chording is a struggle, but it's a lot of fun.  As an instrument, I'm finding that you can pretty much make any chord shape and it just sounds rather lovely, so much so I'm thinking a better specced one may make the experience a little better.

 

 

I have a nice solid wood Donner ukelele I have no use for if you want it? Pay postage and it’s yours.

 

I have one of these which I got at an incredible price from Toby.

 

http://www.jazzboxukes.com/emporium.htm

 

 

[NancyJohnson]

13 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

I have a nice solid wood Donner ukelele I have no use for if you want it? Pay postage and it’s yours.

 

I have one of these which I got at an incredible price from Toby.

 

http://www.jazzboxukes.com/emporium.htm

 

 

That's extremely kind!  PM incoming!

 

[Mykesbass]

1 hour ago, NancyJohnson said:

(oh, to lament why isn't there a luthier who customises guitars for people with big hands, eh?)

 

 

 

I think there's a typo in your thread title...

[mr4stringz]

Tenor uke player here. Great way to pass the time!

Edited January 22, 2024 by mr4stringz

[NJE]

Two summers ago, my then 2 year old daughter became very attached to a pink Uke (and matching pink sunglasses) at a jumble sale at my sons school, I think we paid £1.50 for both.

 

I tuned it up and started figuring out a few basic chords and found myself picking it up all the time but the bloomin thing would not stay in tune.

 

I can get a bit obsessive so I went down the rabbit hole of researching Ukulele’s  and just obsessed for ages. The following Christmas I bought a very nice Tenor one and play it a lot. I thought I wouldn’t struggle with my sausage fingers but it’s not too bad.

 

I bought and aNueNue tenor which is really well made and even came with a lovely gig bag. I love it, it’s loads of fun and I am hoping my son or daughter might have enough patience to give it a go at some point.

[NancyJohnson]

2 minutes ago, NJE said:

Two summers ago, my then 2 year old daughter became very attached to a pink Uke (and matching pink sunglasses) at a jumble sale at my sons school, I think we paid £1.50 for both.

 

I tuned it up and started figuring out a few basic chords and found myself picking it up all the time but the bloomin thing would not stay in tune.

 

I can get a bit obsessive so I went down the rabbit hole of researching Ukulele’s  and just obsessed for ages. The following Christmas I bought a very nice Tenor one and play it a lot. I thought I wouldn’t struggle with my sausage fingers but it’s not too bad.

 

I bought and aNueNue tenor which is really well made and even came with a lovely gig bag. I love it, it’s loads of fun and I am hoping my son or daughter might have enough patience to give it a go at some point.

 

I found a review of mine online a few minutes ago...one of the worst things is the tuners.  It stays in tune to a degree, machines seem to slip equally.

 

[LeftyJ]

I have a nice Kala KA-STG tenor uke that I got new for about €180. I don't play it a lot, but when I do it's just so much fun. I have big hands, so I too got a tenor because of the wider spacing between the frets. I got a nice TGI ABS hardcase for it that didn't break the bank, and I enjoy it a lot. I often take it along on vacation because it's just so portable and compact enough to never be in the way. I didn't bother restringing mine to lefty and am just playing it upside down as-is. I may change that at some point, and while I'm at it switch it to a low G tuning as I like the warmer sound that chords get without the silly re-entrant tuning. 

 

I'm also finding that intonation is slightly better on tenors than on soprano's.

 

That said, I would like to get a concert uke to go along with my tenor. The Kala bamboo affairs look very tempting, and the aNueNue's mentioned above do too.

[woodyratm]

My wife used to have a Flying V uke. I’m trying to persuade her to take it up again. 

[paul_5]

3 hours ago, SamIAm said:

. I also found that using a low G string (Which is tuned an octave below the standard G) produced a more pleasing sound.

 

Sam x

I’ve just got a low G for mine, haven’t really played it much since I fitted it, but ukulele club seems a tomorrow night so will report back after that.

[StingRayBoy42]

+1 for Tenor uke.

There's also the concert, which is between soprano and tenor in size.

Cheap ukes have put many a brave man off and with good reason - they just won't stay in tune!
A decent tenor can be had for 70-80 quid and are a revelation.
Lanikai and Kala are both decent cheap-ish makes worth owning.

Worth getting a decent set of strings as well - Aquila nylgut are pretty much the standard.

I fell right down that rabbit hole a few years ago and ended up with a 6 and an 8 string - they sound fantastic and are just as easy to play.
A decent 8 string uke is a beautiful sound - half uke, half mandolin and half guitar... I love my Pono 8.

Enjoy!

[SamIAm]

4 minutes ago, StingRayBoy42 said:

Cheap ukes have put many a brave man off and with good reason - they just won't stay in tune!

Words of wisdom!

 

4 minutes ago, StingRayBoy42 said:

I love my Pono 8

Well jel!  I used to have an absolutely lovely KoAloha Opio Tenor (On the left) it sounded fantastic and had amazing projection; also had an original Kala solid body bass ... but ... fire

Sam x

[BigRedX]

My mum, who's in her 90s, is part of an oldies ukulele group that probably does more gigs a year than I do, and I'm in two bands.

 

After starting on a cheap but serviceable model she's upgraded to a fairly expensive Kala Ukulele now.

 

She was most surprised that I could pick it up and play straight away, which wasn't difficult since the string intervals are the same as the the top 4 strings of a guitar, so coaxing some chords and a tune out of it was completely straightforward. I found that due to the sound I had a tendency to strum everything with a George Formby rhythm. 

 

Having had a go, I honestly can't see what all the fuss is about. I have to admit though, that after being denied an electric guitar as a teenager by my parents, I've developed an allergy to acoustic instruments, so I can't see myself rushing out to buy a ukulele any time soon.

Edited January 22, 2024 by BigRedX

[Nail Soup]

4 hours ago, NancyJohnson said:

As an instrument, I'm finding that you can pretty much make any chord shape and it just sounds rather lovely, so much so I'm thinking a better specced one may make the experience a little better.

A lot of really cheap ukes have tuning, intonation and playability issues and hold the player back. 

For a small upgrade you can get a pretty decent one. You don't need to go high level, just something around 100 quid, similar to a starter level bass.

[Nail Soup]

4 hours ago, SamIAm said:

.. I also found that using a low G string (Which is tuned an octave below the standard G) produced a more pleasing sound.

Each to their own, but IMO a high G has the classic Uke sound and gives rise to the 'closely bunched' voicings.

[SamIAm]

Not sure where you are based @NancyJohnson, but a visit to somewhere such as https://www.southernukulelestore.co.uk/ would offer a chance to try more than you can possibly imagine ... I've whiled away many happy hours there!

 

Something else to consider is to 'google' for a localish ukulele jam evening or check out https://www.gotaukulele.com/p/ukulele-clubs-and-societies.html, they often have 20-30 players who (in my experience) would be very willing to share their experience and let you have a go on their uke.

 

Sam x

Edited January 22, 2024 by SamIAm

[Mickeyboro]

1 hour ago, SamIAm said:

Not sure where you are based @NancyJohnson, but a visit to somewhere such as https://www.southernukulelestore.co.uk/ would offer a chance to try more than you can possibly imagine ... I've whiled away many happy hours there!

SUS! Were just around the corner from me but now moved cross town to the juggernaut Absolute Music. 

[upside downer]

I've a couple of tenors from some mid-price range makers like Aklot (a lovely bamboo one) and Kmise. No problems with them holding their tuning. 17" scale so a good amount of fret spacing for larger hands, too. How about a baritone uke? Usually 19" scale and tuned DGBE like the top four strings of a guitar. I made my own cigar box effort the other week because electric ones are pretty pricey!

 

 

 

Edited January 22, 2024 by upside downer

[StingRayBoy42]

12 minutes ago, upside downer said:

I've a couple of tenors from some mid-price range makers like Aklot (a lovely bamboo one) and Kmise. No problems with them holding their tuning. 17" scale so a good amount of fret spacing for larger hands, too. How about a baritone uke? Usually 19" scale and tuned DGBE like the top four strings of a guitar. I made my own cigar box effort the other week because electric ones are pretty pricey!

 

 

Kmise get rave reviews for the price... I've nearly bought one of their banjoleles a few times.

Edited January 22, 2024 by StingRayBoy42
speling

[hill76]

I have a balalaika strung with uke strings in concert uke tuning (CGDA), great for playing cello pieces. I keep thinking of getting a uke bass, inspired by Kinga Glyk's video (not that I will be able to match Kinga's playing)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_onY_geaMs

[The Attic Man]

Hi all

I'm promently a ukulele player been playing for 14 years. Started dabbling with Bass last October. I've had quite alot of ukes pass through my hands.My holy grail has always been to own a vintage Martin Soprano ukulele. I love sopranos and am a bit of a tradionalist I prefer them with friction tuners. I've also got a 8 string tenor a baritone and a electric uke and 2 lovely hawian Mele sopranos. I used to belong to a local ukulele society it was fun played a lot of gigs with them even a local music festival where we opened the day for top loader headline. We even occasional had shena Easton guitarist play with us he is an avid user. Now I have the bug for bass guitar and I'm really enjoying it. 

Love this site as well really nice people on here .