Buying a uke for a guitar player - soprano or concert?

What size ukulele should I buy for a pro guitar player?

  • Soprano

    Votes: 7 18.9%

  • Concert

    Votes: 19 51.4%

  • It doesn't matter

    Votes: 11 29.7%
  • Total voters
    37
Thumper

Thumper

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I'd like to give my brother a ukulele as a surprise gift, but I'm not sure what size would be most comfortable for him. He plays guitar and bass professionally, and also likes to plink around on a mandolin.

I love the vibe of a soprano, but my chunky fingers have a hard time squeezing out chords on it, so I mostly play a concert and a tenor. But my brother has long thin fingers, and he has been playing guitar for 40 years. So he's got way more fretting dexterity than I'll ever have, and thus he might find a soprano easy to play.

What do you think, those of you who also play guitar? Will he be more comfortable with a concert, or will he find a soprano to be user-friendly? Or does it even matter, when you're dealing with somebody who's already adept at other fretted instruments?

Thanks for any input!
 
i voted "it doens't matter". unless he has hooves, he should be able to adapt to any scale. he may however develop his own preference down the line. but for a starter, i say any should do.

nice of you to gift your brother a uke. good luck!
 
definitely of those two choice i would have to go with a concert for him, but maybe you should consider a tenor as MGM suggested, might be an easier transition just my :2cents:
 
I agree with you...

I love the vibe of a soprano, and enjoy playing it daily even though I'm a 30-year guitar player with fat fingers. I can't help but think of the bigger ukes as little guitars in disguise (nothing wrong with that), whereas a (soprano) uke carries its own -- as you say -- vibe.

I'm sure he'll totally love whatever you choose. What a great idea for a gift!
 
I'd say tenor as well. It's already considerably smaller than a guitar and will feel less "toy-like" to him that a soprano or concert.

You might even consider a baritone. Since it's tuned DGBE like the top four strings on a guitar, he'd be able to play it right off the bat.
 
I say everyone should start soprano then graduate... :) But thats partially cause thats what I did...
 
I voted for Concert because it's not so tiny but will still have a small ukulele feel. If he plays mandolin, he's used to small anyway. Hmm, maybe I should have voted for Soprano.
 
russ_buss said:
i know you're probably kidding, but the notion of "graduating" to larger sizes is ridiculous. please don't perpetuate that.
Click to expand...

+1. They got it backwards: people start with the larger sizes and graduate to the soprano. :D

I look at the soprano as the "traditional" instrument since it was spawned from the cavaquinho and has the same scale length. My feeling is that if you're going to learn the instrument, that's the one to be learned first.

Edit: Sorry, that was a late post made after you guys decided you were kidding around. :D

--Mark
 
Last edited:
Yeah in truth, I was a guitar player, got a soprano, then a concert, then a tenor, and now my sopranos out number my others...
 
djny said:
If he plays mandolin, he's used to small anyway.
Click to expand...
I got out my mando and compared it to my tenor. About the same overall size (mando fits in my tenor gig bag just about perfectly), fret spacing is a little tighter on the mando, though.
 
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