All the cool kids play tenors?

I see a ton of good ukulele players playing tenors. A few on concert size ukes. And when I do see a pro playing a soprano the instrument is often more a percussive type accompaniment to their singing than a melodic main act.

Are all the cool kids the ones with tenor ukes?

My favorite players - Herb Ohta (Senior) and the late John King - both play(ed) mainly sopranos.

ETA: I think there's definitely a certain... demographic? ... of "cool kids" that plays tenor. Mostly guys, mostly well under 30, mostly rock-oriented. Couldn't name names if I tried since it's not my thing, but whenever one of these "cool kid" videos comes my way I always get the impression that they're playing that tenor as if it was a guitar.

Someone pass the popcorn. This oughta be good.

Roy Smeck. Remco Ukulelezaza. On and on. Soprano.

Concert ukes? Is there a professional instrumentalist playing concert ukes?

coolkayaker1 said:

Concert ukes? Is there a professional instrumentalist playing concert ukes?

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I don't think so. Hmm... Pass the Lexapro.

coolkayaker1 said:

Roy Smeck. Remco Ukulelezaza. On and on. Soprano.

Concert ukes? Is there a professional instrumentalist playing concert ukes?

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If you are going back to Roy Smeck - Ukulele Ike played what I think is a concert.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVKBUfVgT8U

Depends on the kind of music you play and which size sounds better playing it, doesn't it? If you want a more sustained sound, or want to go higher up the neck, tenors are the way to go. As you say, sopranos naturally lend themselves to a more percussive attack and so suit that playing style.

Plenty of great players have played soprano, mostly in a more percussive style. John King played a unique kind of finger style.

Most of today's professionals use tenors. Although this is primarily a US thing. I think for a number of reasons:

1. Range - You are more likely to get a wider range of notes on a tenor with more frets on the neck. Ukulele is a pretty limited instrument because of the four strings, more range from a longer neck helps compensate.

2. Low G - A low G works better on a longer neck. Not all tenor players use a low G, but a lot of players use a low G - partially because of the range issue. Most jazz players use a low G.

3. Ability to play cleanly on the fret board. Some chords are much easier on a tenor because there is enough room for the fingers.

4. Clarity of notes. While it is possible to find a concert or soprano where the notes ring with clarity over the whole neck, on a lot of sopranos and concerts, the notes tend to dull further down the neck.

5. Fullness of sound. The bigger the body of the instrument the more room for depth to the sound.

6. Popularity. Tenors are popular in the US. There are simply more good tenors available for sale so if you try a lot of ukes sooner or later you are going to find some where other sizes are rare.

As I've played I've tended to go from Soprano to Concert to Tenor. I moved from Soprano to concert because I wanted more room for my fingers. Over the last year I've moved more to tenor, mostly for all the reasons above. Of course, I'm just your average hack and not a professional player. But I think these factors affect why you see most pros playing tenor.

I have all sizes; soprano to baritone, but find tenor the most useful. I play a range of things, but when it comes to the more intricate solo instrumental pieces - a tenor is the most comfortable. I also prefer low-G.

Baritone is also comfortable, but then you have to deal with the lower dgbe tuning. You can tune a baritone like a gcea tenor, but i never liked the string tensions

While we are on the subject: Why do they call it a "tenor" when it is tuned the same as a Soprano ? Concert implies it is bigger, but tenor implies it is lower.

It seems to have more to do with the fact that tenors have the loudest/fullest sound of the three standard sizes. Obviously there's variation instrument to instrument, but there's a combination of factors that make tenors a common choice for professional musicians: volume, depth/richness of tone, fret spacing, versatility... Like others have said, it depends on your goals. What sound do you prefer? What style of music do you play? And so on.

coolkayaker1 said:

Roy Smeck. Remco Ukulelezaza. On and on. Soprano.

Concert ukes? Is there a professional instrumentalist playing concert ukes?

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Johnny Marvin used to.

chefuke said:

Johnny Marvin used to.

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Add Bosko to the list of current pros.

Brian1 said:

While we are on the subject: Why do they call it a "tenor" when it is tuned the same as a Soprano ? Concert implies it is bigger, but tenor implies it is lower.

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Dirk from Southcoast Strings has a few articles on it - it's a pretty interesting history IMO
http://www.southcoastukes.com/tunings.htm
http://www.southcoastukes.com/019-2.htm

Also, note that the broad voice types are "soprano," "alto," "tenor," and "bass" (baritone is a sort of in-between of tenors and basses) - and how the ukulele has soprano, *concert*, tenor, baritone (and bass too I guess). I think that's something pretty interesting too - if you're going to go with voice types for size descriptions, why that haha? (If it were up to me, I'd call all the concert ukuleles in the world alto ukuleles.. but that's just me)
Although, the soprano size is also called "standard," so maybe "concert" meant it was more concert-friendly than a soprano before the tenor and everything else came into invention?

Also, when you say it's tuned the same as a soprano, that's just the common tuning today. Sopranos were once commonly tuned to ADF#B (as the second link will attest to), and tenors were "designed" to be tuned to DGBE.

philpot said:

It seems to have more to do with the fact that tenors have the loudest/fullest sound of the three standard sizes. Obviously there's variation instrument to instrument, but there's a combination of factors that make tenors a common choice for professional musicians: volume, depth/richness of tone, fret spacing, versatility... Like others have said, it depends on your goals. What sound do you prefer? What style of music do you play? And so on.

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I don't think it's because tenors have the "loudest/fullest sound" - the baritone, because of its larger body, can easily put out a louder sound (like comparing different sized speakers). There's also the conception of loudness (that is covered in the "Mya-Moe Loudness?" thread and Gordon's video about it), but that's a different story.

I think it's a mixture of things, from "the cool boys play it" to the common size that fits our tastes/feels. I can play soprano, concert, tenor, baritone, guilele, but I feel most at home with the tenor because the feel is right to me, and it's (in a sense) easier to play than all the others for a majority of styles. Also, I think the baritone has been shunned since its inception by most people (being the odd one out that isn't GCEA standard), which is probably why it hasn't gotten much appeal compared to the tenor - also, because many people think of it more as a "mini guitar" than an ukulele with the deeper sound. I remember one member on this forum who called the baritone the "bastard child of the 'uke family" - that remark made me chuckle a bit.

Technically, we're all playing "mini guitars." The ukulele is a cousin of the guitar, and both are descended from the lute. The guitar, in case no one knows, used to be four strings. Ever wonder why the notes are EADGBE? DGBE makes sense, because the intervals are 4th-3rd-4th. But the guitar is 4th-4th-4th-3rd-4th. I didn't really think about it until I came across it in my studies, but the extra bass strings (the last two strings, E & A) were added in individually over time. Basically, we had a 4-string and 5-string guitar before the 6-string.

Now why does this matter? Because the low G tenor is reminiscent of the first 4-string guitar (I think the first guitars were approximately modern-tenor size). The guitar, however, began to metamorph over time, growing bigger with each passing model and adding strings until we have our common 6-string today. The ukulele is special in that (as Dirk will also point out) the ukulele is still undergoing something like "birthing pains." I believe there's still more progress to be made in the ukulele world - the violin family didn't stop with one tuning, why should we?

Anyways, when it comes down to it, it's always personal preference. And I think it's pretty good coincidence that many choose the tenor.
(Hmm... I think I may have taken a long detour to respond haha)

lots of uncool kids play tenor too

I never liked the tenor much, because of the string tension. But then, living in Scandinavia, I'm more cold than cool.

drbekken said:

I never liked the tenor much, because of the string tension. But then, living in Scandinavia, I'm more cold than cool.

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This is exactly it for me also. It's the high string tension that I find uncomfortable. But I, also, live in cold climes....as opposed to the doctor I am at the bottom of the world in Tasmania. I like the dexterity of the soprano. And some uber cool players use them; the man whose post I just agreed with is one of them. You should check out his yootoob thingo. Other UU members that come immediately to mind who are superb on the soprano are Jnobianchi and GeorgeUke.

Azo Bell and AJ Leonard are two virtuoso professional performers who specialise in jazz and early twentieth century standards and also play soprano scale. predominantly.

It might also be partly due to the popular music of the day. The chirpy sound of a soprano uke is perfectly suited to the style of music Roy Smeck and his peers were playing in the 1920s, While my Guitar Gently Weeps etc probably just sounds better on a tenor.
I love laying ragtime, unsurprisingly it doesn't work on my low G tenor, however, when it comes to classical and rock covers, my tenor is perfect.

Somebody who still don't believe the soprano is suited for 'modern stuff'?
Check this out:
http://youtu.be/xuiHN7_oc1c