Do you think your hands are to large to play soprano?

Uke Republic

Uke Republic

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I often hear " My hands are to large to play soprano." Well at the Tampa Bay Ukulele Fest Mr Jim Allen played a nice piece as a demo. Jim is 6'5 and has hands the size of baseball gloves. The uke being played is an aNueNue U900 pineapple soprano:cool:
 
I liked it when he made it sound like a motorbike!
 
Mike....don't let the masses know this....it leaves more great vintage sopranos for me if everyone thinks they can only play tenor!!!
 
Well said! I have huge hands and started learning on a Makala soprano. I thought I needed a tenor but when I tried some ukes at the guitar shop, I decided to just bump up to a concert. Tenor seemed too big after playing on a soprano for a month.... Big hands + tiny uke = hilarious juxtaposition!
 
I love soprano ukes and have a number of them, but I also have short, fat fingers with very tight joints, the the standard D chord is hard for me. Going up to a concert or tenor scale, no problem. Everyone is different.

Brad
 
Hey, Mike, if Jim's 6'5", how tall are you, 6'9" or so? :eek:

Tudorp's a pretty big guy and he likes sopranos, too. :)

Actually, instead of "my hands are too big to play soprano" I hear a lot more of "my hands are too small to play a tenor." I never really understood that argument, as tenors are way smaller than guitars. Just look on youtube for "little Korean girl playing guitar" and you'll see that some kids are quite adept at playing an instrument that's nearly as big as they are.
 
I've always thought I "needed" a concert scale or longer until recently. Just last night I was playing my granddaughter's little LU-11 and realized it isn't too bad. I'm still more comfortable on a concert or tenor, though, especially for anything beyond simple open-chord strumming.

In my case I never "credited" it to hand size, though - in fact my hands are on the smallish to medium size for a man. For me it's more of a "limberness" issue, which is probably why a soprano doesn't seem quite as cramped as it used to.

John
 
I am 7 ft tall :) Actually about 6ft , Big Jim is sitting but here is a pic with him , Manitoba Hal (about 5"9)Steve Boisen (about 5'10") Typhoon a Polynesian performer (6'2) all playing Sailor ukes- shameless plug 378488_2086246566929_1568109673_31633645_1846368561_n.jpg
itsme said:
Hey, Mike, if Jim's 6'5", how tall are you, 6'9" or so? :eek:

Tudorp's a pretty big guy and he likes sopranos, too. :)

Actually, instead of "my hands are too big to play soprano" I hear a lot more of "my hands are too small to play a tenor." I never really understood that argument, as tenors are way smaller than guitars. Just look on youtube for "little Korean girl playing guitar" and you'll see that some kids are quite adept at playing an instrument that's nearly as big as they are.
Click to expand...
 
I'm 195 cm tall (don't understand that ft & inches system), and my hands are large. Soprano is still the thing, though. Even if I do have a tenor, which is a little better for fingerpicking stuff. Haven't tried a baritone.
 
Your a tall guy too, that 195cm is about 6'5. Mighty tall indeed Ukulele Viking :). Wonder how tall Iz was?
drbekken said:
I'm 195 cm tall (don't understand that ft & inches system), and my hands are large. Soprano is still the thing, though. Even if I do have a tenor, which is a little better for fingerpicking stuff. Haven't tried a baritone.
Click to expand...
 
"Playing" is one thing. Playing cleanly with less effort/struggle is another. Yes, the soprano size can be played decently enough by almost everyone, regardless of hand size. But bigger sizes may allow you to play the same piece/run/chord more cleanly without as much struggle. That's the reason why there are people (of all hand sizes) who prefer the bigger body sizes.

Same thing with guitars. With enough practice, almost all pieces can be played on a dreadnought, OM, etc. but the nut width, fret size, neck size makes one size/type of guitar easier for people to play.

If you're a beginner, there's no need to needlessly struggle with a smaller size when there are other options out there. Try out other sizes to see what's most comfortable.

(And leave the sopranos for me!)
 
I was positive I wouldn't be able to play soprano based on my 6'2" frame...not only would my fingers surely not be able to work on the short scale, but it would look downright silly. I can't do anything about looking strange, but I can play a soprano easily. Actually, it's even a little easier to play soprano than any other scale, in my opinion. I have skinny fingers, though, and even though I come from playing guitar I find that it actually gives me an edge with soprano. I feel like I have a little more room to breathe.
 
When I first got the notion to try ukulele, I thought I would need a tenor, since I had played guitar since fourth grade. I found a tenor very easy to play, string spacing even being "roomier" than a guitar. I then got a concert ukulele, and I really like that size. Soprano seemed (and still seems) like it is just too small for me to play comfortably, but it is getting easier. I now have a soprano as well, and I can play it OK, but I really prefer the concert and tenor scale for playability. I no longer think my hands/body are too large for a soprano, as I am sure that even though I am a large man, I am still nowhere near as large as Iz was, and he seemed to do pretty well!
 
I do distinctly prefer my tenors over even my alltime-favorite longneck soprano (concert scale) when picking or doing fast, distinct arpeggios, though. Not because of fret spacing but because the wider string spacing lets me get much cleaner notes at speed. I.e. for me it's as much a right hand issue as a left hand one.

John
 
I'm 6"5 and I can easily play a piccolo. ;)
 
Lexxy said:
Bout 181CM (6'0) here. Would i still grow after 18? :p
Click to expand...

Some do.. I'm about 1.82 and I was fully grown at that size when I was 15 (got the weight I would keep for the next twenty years too). A school mate of mine who was slightly shorter started a growth spurt when he was nearly 20, and ended up a couple of years later as a fairly big guy at around 1.92 or maybe a bit over. All his sons are now around that height too, but in their case they reached it (and stopped growing) at around 18 years of age.

-Tor
 
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