baritone for 8 yo?

Hello... just introduced myself on this site. I am completely new to uke, and have only played piano. My 8 yo son and I decided to learn ukulele together, as we were introduced to it at our homeschooling co-op, where several kids and parents play them during jam session (fun!). I found an Oscar Schmidt baritone ou53 for $80 on craigslist last week, and am psyched. My son loves the sound of the bari, and I am wondering if the size will be ok for him. He has also expressed interest in learning on a concert, but my concern is that it will be too complicated for me to try to learn on a bari while teaching him on a concert. It seems a bit overwhelming to me, just learning the bari, lol. I would love some feedback from anyone! None of my friends has a bari, and all the kids play concert or soprano, except one teen who plays tenor. Thanks in advance for any recommendations! Much, much appreciated! Michelle

Congrats on a great craigslist find! A nice baritone uke for less than $100 is quite a bargain.

I'd recommend the concert for your young uke player. For a beginner, it's great to play the same chords as the people with whom you play. If all the kids are playing sopranos, concerts, and tenors, it'll be much easier to join in playing one of those size ukes. And it'll be easier for you to learn together if you both have ukes tuned GCEA---traditionally that's sopranos, concerts, and tenors. (I'd recommend against tuning the baritone to GCEA, it won't sound as deep and mellow. You can use a capo on the fifth fret so that you can play the baritone while your son plays a smaller uke. Capos are inexpensive---free if you have a spare pencil and rubber band.)

Keep your eyes peeled for good deals on a smaller uke for your son. Hopefully, you'll get lucky again.

What you can do is change the strings on the Bari and tune it to GCEA just like your concert. Same fingerings, just different sized ukes. I believe the Aquila 23u strings (or comparable) are the ones you want to use.

baritone

seriously if he's eight a bari might be a bit much Mahalo tenors come with a case and are seriously cheap but sound good with decent strings,as a parent who made a mistake many years ago,I would respectfully suggest that that would meet your needs co if its no good you havent spent too much and its still an utterly reasonable purchase.

If the other people playing with him are playing sopranos, concerts and tenors, make sure he is also playing gCEA. I am sure they will be sharing the same chord sheets (perhaps with chord diagrams), and you want him to be able to play without transposing his fingering. Baritone tuning is more like a guitar, so if he was with guitar players, the bari would be similar. Depending on the size of his hands, a baritone might be a little big compared to the other sizes. Another option would be to get GCEA strings an octave lower (Guadalupe Strings)http://www.guadalupecustomstrings.com/1601.html. That would be a lower tone than the traditional Bari tuning (DGBE), but the same fingering as the soprano-tenor ukes.

–Lori

Thank you all for your words of advice-- I really appreciate that people on this forum take the time to share their knowledge and experience and opinions-- it's so generous, and so helpful, especially when being a complete noob. I lent my uke to a friend last night, and she was going to look it over and check on the tuning for me. I am going to keep reading on here and let my son experiment with different ukes before we buy one. We just bought a DVD for kids on learning the uke, but have not yet opened it. I figured it would help this grown-up learn, as well. I bet he will pick things up quicker than I will, and then he can help me out, lol. Thanks again for your feedback and recommendations . michelle

Yes the advice above is sound and in my opinion correct. Try putting a set of Southcoastukes linear strings on the Bari which will give it a low G C tuning which will fit in with most anyone else playing ukuleles and the fingering/chord shapes will be the same for any Uke he picks up. I am sure in time you will probably succumb to UAS and pick up another Bari, then you can tune to G DGBE if you want the slightly deeper sound. It is wonderful you are starting him at such a young age and learning together will be an awesome experience. Good luck and don't push too hard, just enjoy the experience and the sound of the Bari. Lozark Also I don't think the Bari is too large for most any young person from his age on up. It really isn't that much bigger than a tenor, and it certainly isn't as large as "small" guitar.

still pondering...

Hello again, and thanks for the new comments! We are still exploring-- concerts (luna tattoo, mitchell mu-70, cordoba 10-cm), tenors (ohana tk-b, makai mt-70, oscar schmidts, and kala makala mk-t), and baris (harmony, silvertone, makala mk-b, makai bari BK-55)... we are pretty much open to the best bang for the buck (don't want to spend over $120). I had read that some prefer the sound of the laminate kalas over the entry level solid ones, at least in tenor. I see, Jcollazo, that you have a Kala KA-T, as well as a Luna tattoo tenor, and wonder what you think of them-- I have a chance to get a Kala KA-T from craigslist for $85, but it has no strings, and I doubt there was any set-up on it. I can get a Luna concert tattoo for $67, including set-up from Ceceliasmusic.com. I remain open to any other suggestions, and appreciate all of you inspiring uke players! Sorry for the long list of choices-- definite sign of a newcomer, lol!