ukelele for four fingers

Hi
I had an accident in the spring and now have the use of 4 fingers with a slightly contracted hand. I am able to use the first four fingers on the Uke but have difficulties with a previouly broken wrist. This explaination is so you can tell me what the best Uke to by with a thin fret board and easy strings and what size is best (small woman). Nothing stops one from making music. Thanks.

I have played a few with really small fret boards, but the scale length (the distance between the frets) is usually about the same (unless you go pocket Uke or Sopranino). If you want to string up like a soprano ue with a small fretboard, I figure your best bets are a banjo uke as they tend to have really thin measurements at the nut (my Maybell seems like half a regular soprano) and four string mandolins. both these have thin fretboards. Of course, you can always avoid chords that make you stretch that pinky out as well.
Sorry to here about your accident

Luckylolo said:

Hi
I had an accident in the spring and now have the use of 4 fingers with a slightly contracted hand. I am able to use the first four fingers on the Uke but have difficulties with a previouly broken wrist. This explaination is so you can tell me what the best Uke to by with a thin fret board and easy strings and what size is best (small woman). Nothing stops one from making music. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear of your accident, but I think it's great that you want to make music!

Can you give us an idea of what your budget is for this uke? That will help narrow it down.

I'm a small woman with tiny hands and at first I thought this was going to limit me to a soprano size, so that's what I stuck with for my first year of playing. At one point I even measured the neck circumference of all of my ukes - at the time, I had a Kamaka, Ohana, and Koaloha (all sopranos) and the Kamaka's neck was thinnest (by one millimeter!), followed by the Koaloha, then the Ohana. And I'd have to say that was the order in which I preferred playing them - I found the Kamaka easiest to play.

That being said - not long ago I got a Kamaka concert uke, and thought I'd have trouble playing it - but it's been easy as pie! Every now and then I get stuck on these crazy chords my instructor gives me (e.g., barre the 2nd fret and at the same time half-barre the 1st 2 strings of the 7th fret - heck, I don't even know what it's called!) but I've grown to prefer playing the concert size. I actually find it easier to play since I do a lot of playing higher up the neck - on the soprano, the frets are just too crowded up there, even with little fingers.

Is it possible for you to try a few ukes at a local store to see what feels best in your hands? If that is at all an option it would be the best way to go.

As for strings - I've found Aquilas to be easiest on the fingers - this is a pretty popular brand around here. GHS (inexpensive strings that a lot of ukes come with as stock) absolutely tore up my fingertips (and sounded awful!), so depending on where you buy your uke, you may want to get strings too. A lot of people here love Worth strings too - they sound great, but in my experience they are harder on the fingers than Aquilas.

Hope some of this helps!

Aloha Luckylolo,
Did You see Roy Sakuma Video of the Uke fest in Hawaii...his protege had only a stubbed right strumming arm and Jammed better than alot of ukers..when there's a will, there's away!! MM Stan

Sorry to hear about the accident. In your shoes I think I'd want to actually try a few different size instruments before buying one (probably good in any case when possible). Scale lengths vary from approximately 13" on soprano, 15" on concert, 17" on tenor and around 20" (I think) on baritone. There are also "pocket ukes" from Kala with a tiny 10" scale. The shortest scale isn't necessarily the best even with your injury, that's why I recommend trying a few if you can. (I find that the very short scales actually require more limberness for some chords because of the close fret spacing.)

The second issue is actual playability. An instrument that is poorly set up takes more pressure on the strings to fret - though this isn't as severe as on a steel-stringed instrument. Still, you want the best setup possible.

HTH helps,
John

Here's some inspiration for you: the great Django Reinhart--

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_Reinhardt

Put his name into YouTube for some video of this two fingered jazz guitar great.
(He had full use of only his left index and middle fingers although he could use the other two fingers somewhat for chords)

Hi,
Along with Django look towards Rev Gary Davies.
I'm teaching a lady with athritis at the moment and her progress is fine (at her own pace). The answer is to play with out pain and unreasonable discomfort. Impose your own style on the instrument in your hands.
Best wishes

There was a very good blues guitarist in the early nineteenth century who had a completely paralized left hand - he played slide guitar with a butter knife. If I remember correctly he actually taped the butter knife to his fingers because they couldn't even hold it.

I've seen videos of a guy with no arms who plays guitar with his feet.

Where there is a will, there is a way.

John

janeray1940 said:

...I've grown to prefer playing the concert size. I actually find it easier to play since I do a lot of playing higher up the neck - on the soprano, the frets are just too crowded up there, even with little fingers.

Click to expand...

I recommend the concert size too. I'm 5'2" and found tenors a tad too large but the concert size is small enough to be comfortable but large enough to have more frets high on the fretboard (high = near the body). That being said, Jane's advice it excellent - go try a couple at a local store and see what you think.

As far as brands: Kala's have a reputation for having slightly smaller/narrower necks and they make many affordable but good sounding ukes. Same with Ohana; I recently tried an Ohana CK-75CG and it felt like the neck was really skinny!

As far as strings: Like Jane I have Aquilas on some of my ukes and they sound great but I really like the Worth Clear strings and the Fremont Blackline strings much better overall, both in feel and tone. Plan on getting a few packs of strings when you get a new uke since everyone has different preferences for feel and sound.

Hey I just noticed that the previous post put me over the top on posts - I'm a senior member now! Cool. Not really "senior" when it comes to playing though, just senior in online chatting and having opinions