Prefer the soprano size

RedRamen

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 5, 2012
Messages
71
Reaction score
6
Location
Ithaca, NY
I am an adult male (31 y.o) and sometimes I feel silly preferring the soprano size. I have a tenor that I play also, but I still prefer the small sopranos. There is just something about the tiny size and the plinky noise that appeals to me. Maybe its because I also play guitar, and the soprano is much more different to my guitar than my tenor.

I know that a lot of the famous players like Jake, Brittni, etc prefer the tenor size. But are there any other adults prefer the soprano?
 
But are there any other adults prefer the soprano?

Me! But I've got child-size hands, so it sort of makes sense. I also play concert but it's definitely not my preference... and as I write, I'm still recovering from hand pain caused by a recent brief foray into playing tenor. Ouch.

John King, who is my ukulele hero, often played soprano - and look at those hands!
 
Me! But I've got child-size hands, so it sort of makes sense. I also play concert but it's definitely not my preference... and as I write, I'm still recovering from hand pain caused by a recent brief foray into playing tenor. Ouch.

John King, who is my ukulele hero, often played soprano - and look at those hands!

Ouch. How did a tenor hurt your hand?

Thanks for the video. That looks smaller than a soprano. sopranino maybe?
 
I'm 6'2" but prefer Soprano. It's got the right ukulele sound for my ears.

Dan
 
I have never really understood a soprano. Been playing guitar for a few years before jumping on the uke-vagon and went straight to tenor. I really like the thought of playing a soprano, but whenever I find myself playing one, I very quickly run out of things to do with it - compared to a tenor at least.

They are by far the most charming ukulele, though! Which is the reason Im currently looking into buying one ;-)
 
Ouch. How did a tenor hurt your hand?

Thanks for the video. That looks smaller than a soprano. sopranino maybe?

I shouldn't blame the tenor, I should blame myself - I was trying to do a first position 4-fret stretch on the tenor and managed to strain something. Not badly enough to impact my playing, thankfully; just badly enough to have been a constant reminder to just stick with what I have (the tenor in question was under consideration for buying) :)

It's a smaller-bodied soprano like the vintage "peanut" style ukes. I think the fretboard is the same size as a modern soprano, but the narrower body makes it appear smaller.
 
I am an adult male (31 y.o) and sometimes I feel silly preferring the soprano size. I have a tenor that I play also, but I still prefer the small sopranos. There is just something about the tiny size and the plinky noise that appeals to me. Maybe its because I also play guitar, and the soprano is much more different to my guitar than my tenor.

There is no reason to feel silly (unless that feeling itself appeals to you). Height and hand size have little to do with whether someone winds up a violinist or a cellist, I think the same must be true of ukulele's. Or perhaps tenor players are trying to compensate for something else?
 
I play soprano because I like the sound of it. Period.
 
No reason to feel silly playing soprano. Roy Smeck didn't run out of options on a soprano, neither did John King, as mentioned.
 
Look up Ukulelezaza on youtube

Remco is God.
 
I play sopranos almost exclusively.

If I feel particularly guilty (as I have several concerts and at least 1 tenor and 1 baritone) I might play one of them.

But my preference is the soprano :)

keep uke'in',
 
Soprano's rule!
 
I am an adult male (31 y.o) and sometimes I feel silly preferring the soprano size. I have a tenor that I play also, but I still prefer the small sopranos. There is just something about the tiny size and the plinky noise that appeals to me. Maybe its because I also play guitar, and the soprano is much more different to my guitar than my tenor.

I know that a lot of the famous players like Jake, Brittni, etc prefer the tenor size. But are there any other adults prefer the soprano?

I used to be "soprano or die" and now I prefer baritone honestly things change once you really try out different instruments with am open mind not to say I don't love playing my concert and sopranos I just at this time find the baritone perfect for me.
 
The soprano size is the most portable, and most original size. I often wonder if a sign of a good player is someone who can do what most people do on a tenor, on the soprano size? The smaller fret spacing makes some things look very hard to do, but really, it is a matter of adjustment and belief and practice.
Each size has a different voice, and a different part in the music.

I actually find soprano the easiest to play because I can reach crazy fret distances like a d add9 and stretch my pinkey with ease but on a baritone it's actually difficult to stretch that far.
 
I prefer concert for the most part, but have 3 sopranos and play them all regularly and my old beatup style 0 is the most fun to play and it sounds awesome!
 
I am six feet two inches tall,big built and have big hands.
Soprano is my instrument of choice every time! I have
owned a couple of tenors but simply didn't take to them
or play them often enough,before I went back to soprano.
I currently own five sopranos and two concerts;the concert
scale is not so much a choice,as that the two instruments that
have it,were only available in that scale!
 
I (try to) play guitar, plus soprano and tenor ukuleles. I grew up around soprano ukuleles, and I'll always love -- and need -- that unique *plink!*. There's nothing silly about it! I also love tenors for their juicy, mellow goodness. For sheer acoustic range, you can't beat a guitar.

Variety ... it's a Good Thing.

(Concerts got aced out only due to wallet and storage concerns. I don't own one, but love their sound. As for baritone, I can sorta-kinda approximate that sound on a capoed classical guitar, for which my checkbook is grateful.)
 
I have two sopranos and a tenor. I prefer the size of my tenor. It just seems to fit right. Having said that I play my Martin soprano quite a bit and love the sound of it as well.
 
After starting on a concert (two actually!) I quickly became a bit obsessional about how a 'real' ukulele is the 'standard', i.e. sporano, size. So when I pulled the trigger on a custom instrument, it was only ever going to be a soprano. My Pete Howlett cherry/alder/bog oak soprano is as simple as it is wonderful and, whilst very occasionally taking my decent concert out of its case, I can honestly never see myself buying anything other than a soprano in the future. To me the ukulele is a soprano...

Ben
 
Top Bottom