Do you get good at a particular size? Tenor vs soprano or concert

I have Tenor, Concert and Soprano ukuleles and can play chords on any of them but am curious ... I am not that accomplished yet... when you are seriously practicing to get good, is it better to stick to one fretboard length to get your muscle memory tweaked so you can play it very well mindlessly?

I believe the answer is rather obvious if you think about it.

A lot of use enjoy playing more than one size, or don't really know what we like best yet, but sticking to one instrument will definitely make you better than skipping all around all the time.

I think there is definitely something to say about muscle memory. But I think it transfers pretty well between the sizes. The only real difficulty is when you're moving from soprano to tenor. (Up the scale lengths.) I remember when I started and finally got a tenor, I thought to myself "oh my gawd, this thing is huge." (Insert Michael Scott joke here.) But I don't think you really get better at any particular size. Once you get used to all the sizes, it's a pretty easy transition between any of them. Just look at Aldrine. He can play a soprano just as well as a tenor, or even a full sized guitar.

I think if your goal is to get "Jake good" then it probably will happen faster if you stick to one scale length. For us mere mortals, though, who just want to be "can stand up in front of a crowd and not embarrass ourselves good" I've found I don't have much trouble at least switching between concert and tenor.

John

For me going down in size is always easier.

Aloha Paul,
Everyone is different, and have different dexterity in their hands and fingers....and lenghts too... I play them all...for different reasons....but smaller is easier for small hands or short fingers...
and larger hands feel better with a longer fretboard generally...Have fun and enjoy!! Happy strummings....MM Stan//

Well at first i played the Soprano, and found out it was too small for me.
Then i moved on to a concert, and found the scale easier to grasp. Easy to hit notes i wanted to.

Then i eventually purchased a Tenor, and figured that since i already have a tenor, might as well get used to it. So as of now, tenor trained

Lexxy said:

So as of now, tenor trained

Click to expand...

does that mean we can let you in the house Lexxy and give you a cookie every time you do a wee? Or am I getting this confused with something else? oops, I've misplaced my medication again...

seriously though Paul, you could be on to something...I've played em all and am equally mediocre at all!

cool yeah thanks. I do like the sound of the sopranos and the novelty of the smallness. If I could play the soprano well I would stick to a soprano but I find it much easier to play a tenor in a way. Except I can cover a few strings on some chords on the soprano easier but bar chords all up and down the neck are certainly easier on a tenor. For a guy I have relatively small hands but still find a soprano challenging. A tenor is a piece of cake for getting my fingers right... I probably fit in the concert camp but my ukes are sopranos and tenors lol...

My UAS was building again so I ordered that Kala SLNG which has a concert neck on a soprano. I am a bit worried as that vendor never sent me an email that they got the order... was Austin Bazaar because Sam Ash has them on backorder and my UAS doesn't like backorder very much. I like the sound of that thing. But dang as I noticed the Riptide is barely distinguishable from a solid Ohana and probably indestructable as a dolphin I am thinking that too might be a nice uke. My finger is on the trigger to get one of those too. I hope my wife doesn't divorce me over it.

I hesitate at the riptide because I used a hole saw on my dolphin and well the first hole was ok and it might have improved it a little. It was easy to drill actually and cut very cleanly through the plastic on the side. And I used some paint on the white plastic so it looked even professional. But then I had also seen pictures of folks who had dual holes in the side on some ukuleles so I put another hole on the lower bout and that killed the sound so I duct taped over that hole but I don't think it repaired it enough so I don't know how much I am into holy ukes now. I don't like the look of the riptides... sounds silly huh.

I love that video of that German or Scandinavian UU member playing / reviewing the Luna Honu on here. Those are only 68 bucks delivered lol and very sweet sounding in the right hands. Hard to justify getting one given I have the tiny hamano... This UAS is driving me nuts.

I would like to marry one ukulele lol

When I first started playing a soprano I thought my fingers were too big to play chords cleanly. So, I bought a tenor which has more space between the frets. However, then I had difficulty with the reach over the greater distance! Went back to the soprano. The problem was me, not the instruments. I'm sure that with more practice the tenor will some day be as comfortable as the soprano is now.

I don't think there's a right answer. Or rather if there is, you know it better than anyone else. Does the one help you on the other? If so, keep doing that. Sometimes playing one instrument makes you better on another, at least from my experience... and sometimes the opposite. The same would be true of uke scale sizes. It might be making you improve, or it might be hindering you if you're trying to develop serious chops. You know better than we do. It feels good, and it sounds good, it is good.

I agree. I find that if I learn new songs on the tenor, it's really easy for me to play them on the other two sizes. I like concerts and tenors the best with sopranos a third choice. I own the fewest ukes in the soprano size.

The more you jump between sizes, the easier it becomes.

You might like the tenor neck soprano that Ohana offers. The Flukes and Fleas are available with a tenor or concert neck as well.

–Lori