Is my cheap soprano uke the reason I can't barre the first fret

fran722

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Hello all
I decided I wanted to learn to play Ukulele so I purchased a soprano uke on Ebay made by the santa rosa company.
I am learning new chords right now but i am having a really hard time with the F#. I can't seem to put enough pressure on across the top fret to pull a sound from all four strings. I am wondering if this is just because my fingers aren't strong enough or is it the cheap uke?
In other words. should the F# be easier to play?
 
just wait till you get to diminished chords, argh............
 
A little bit of both. Keep practicing and doing those finger push-ups.
One-finger push-ups, that is. Unless you want to barre with your pinky.

In addition to advice I gave earlier to use a bent steel pipe for the D-chord finger form practice, if you use that same piece of pipe and give a firm but well-aimed snap at your index finger joints, they will thicken during the healing process making your finger strong enough to hang a chair from; grabbing a barre, or should I say locking on, will be much easier.

Not to mention the progress your one-finger push-ups wil make. In no time you will be pushing holes in the ground Chuck Norris style, instead of pushing yourself up.
 
It' not that your uke is cheep that is the problem... It's that the "action" is more than likely to high.
The part that holds the strings off the fretboard the "nut", the slots can be made deeper.

Take it to a GOOD Shop and they should be able to do it for you.

I just had my 39.00$ uke done and it plays and sounds way better and the new strings help.
 
It' not that your uke is cheep that is the problem... It's that the "action" is more than likely to high.
The part that holds the strings off the fretboard the "nut", the slots can be made deeper.

Take it to a GOOD Shop and they should be able to do it for you.

I just had my 39.00$ uke done and it plays and sounds way better and the new strings help.

How much did that cost? Including strings....
 
Thanks for your quick responses

This is a great forum.
I'm really grateful for the quick responses I got to my question.
One more question though.
How do you do "finger push-ups"?
 
How do you do "finger push-ups"?

I've seen them done in a kung-fu class - like regular push-ups only you don't have the palms of your hand touching the floor - only your fingertips. The guy doing these was a green belt, I think. Bet he doesn't play the ukulele!
 
How do you do "finger push-ups"?

I've seen them done in a kung-fu class - like regular push-ups only you don't have the palms of your hand touching the floor - only your fingertips. The guy doing these was a green belt, I think. Bet he doesn't play the ukulele!

If he's a green belt in kung fu, he has trained his mind to manipulate the strings without ever having to touch them. That's some powerful stuff.
 
I did the strings myself. I got the clear D'addario Uke strings. It was pretty easy to do. I like the sound alot, its a Johnson uk120 Soprano.

I put the Black Hawaii'n/Concert D'addario on my new Kala KA-S Soprano and they sound really good on it.

So now I am thinking of swaping them around to see what they sound like then maybe tryin some Worths before I choose which to leave on.

Each set of strings were 7.99.

The shop where I got my Kala did the nut on my Johnson :eek: at no charge, they just loosened the strings and took a file to the notch while I was playin around with a Koaloha Tenor. I want one!!!!!!
 
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