as other said, it's a matter of sound. the ukulele sounds like an ukulele due to the re-entrant tuning, with every strum ending on a high note.
So I guess asking some of you reformed guitar players would help... what did you do to adjust to the re-entrant tuning?
well, when I first approached the ukulele, I treated it like a toy-instrument... shame on me! I never took it seriously, so I just strummed some chords following the usual construction on guitar.
I wasn't able to go past the third fret because the soprano felt so small that I thought it was impossible to play anything at all
it was five or six years ago...
on december 2015 of I decided to throw myself back to the uke, don't know exactly why. I'm a professional bass player, I sing opera and I play guitar, but the little ukulele has a powerful appeal, and I wanted to learn it to accompany while singing.
however, I still wasn't able to approach it the right way... no fingerpicking, because I couldn't figure the right patterns with the re-entrant tuning, limited range because I couldn't get my fingers in the small frets..
so I bought a book, "Ukulele Aerobics" by Chad Johnson. I knew by name the Bass version of this series, I red a bunch of reviews and it seemed to be a good book.
it was!
I learned a lot of chords forms, many fingerpicking patterns and ways to use the re-entrant tuning in solo parts. I would suggest this book to anybody, it's really a great book. I'm not even at it's half, but now I can actually "play" the ukulele, and the soprano it's not small anymore
it's really a strange feeling. now I can go up the frets with ease.
I'm still not good at playing it, but since january, when I couldn't go past the third fret and just strum something in the key of G, C and F, there's an enormous difference.
however, re-entrant tuning is what makes the ukulele sound like an ukulele, and I love it.
like Jake Shimabukuro says, the ukulele has the range of a human voice, with barely two octaves (less in the soprano with 12 frets), and that's what makes it an instrument so sweet and peaceful.