Switching from Tenor to Concert to Tenor........

I've been playing about a year now and have two Tenors. I borrowed a friends Concert to see if I may want to buy one. It took a while, but I caught on to the smaller fret spacing. After a few days, I went back to my Tenor. Now I'm stretching to play some of the chords. Does anyone else have this problem ? I still like the sound of the Concert and think I'm going sell one of my Tenor's and buy a Concert. Good or bad move OR more practice on both? LOL Your thoughts !

I have sopranos, concerts, tenors, and one baritone. I like them all, and they all have a purpose. I find myself drawn to concerts, as they seem like the perfect compromise between the classic tone you get from a small body and some extra space on the fretboard.

If you like both sizes, play both sizes. The only reason you are struggling a little is because you are playing primarily one size for a long time, then swapping to the other, so you need some time to adjust. If you swap back and forth on a regular basis, it will become second nature. I play bass and 5-string banjo, which have very long scales, guitar, which is slightly shorter, but still pretty long, as well as short-scale instruments like ukes and mandolin. Once you gain the muscle memory, switching between sizes will be second nature.

There are a number of pieople on this forum that have long neck concerts. I find that I like the extra room on a tenor, especially for fingerstyle. A concert is a little too tight for some things, but it is personal preference. But I still like to pick up the concert now and then and noodle around on it. It you like both scales lengths, then as RichM said, it is just a matter of playing both sizes and you will be able to adjust easily. It really comes down to whether or not you like the concert sound enough to sell one of your ukuleles.

John

jjdejd said:

Does anyone else have this problem ?

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Yeah. I have switched between concert, tenor and baritone, and, yes, I have this problem. Yes, practice on all, I suggest. I like to switch things up from time to time.

I've been working on "Mary Did You Know?" in the key of Dm, which takes me up to the 12th fret for the bridge. So even the tenor, for my low skills, is just too small. So I think I am going to pickup a baritone.

jjdejd said:

I've been playing about a year now and have two Tenors. I borrowed a friends Concert to see if I may want to buy one. It took a while, but I caught on to the smaller fret spacing. After a few days, I went back to my Tenor. Now I'm stretching to play some of the chords. Does anyone else have this problem ? I still like the sound of the Concert and think I'm going sell one of my Tenor's and buy a Concert. Good or bad move OR more practice on both? LOL Your thoughts !

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I started out as a guitarist so wide fret spacing is something i can handle. But i do find playing and stretching obviously beyound super easy with a soprano and concert. I have never played a tenor in my life or owned one. I mostly play baritone ukulele these days (an electric solid body steel string konablaster) but I feel very comfortable playing my sopranos and my concert gives me a little bit of a more 'robust' sound with out losing the plink and gives me a little more room mostly on the frets just to play an E major chord (which is harder on a soprano). not to much of a difference over all to me between soprano and concert, other than concert gives you a little bit more room. Tenor never played, I would assume it would be slightly more difficult to stretch chords, but i think it has (from hearing recordings) a really unique tone between the mid and low ends which is really nice. I would say if you want sell one tenor get a concert and keep the tenor, keep in mind sometimes you may be looking for a more bassy tone that concert can not provide i say its best to have more options. I really do need to get a tenor in my collection.

2 sopranos, one concert and 2 baritones, i really need to get that other option of sound myself.

Thanks for all your input. I do like the concert and think I will add one to the mix. Life is too short - why not ! LOL

I have gravitated to the concert size as well, although the feel of a sop is like putting on an old comfortable pair of shoes...:shaka:

I switched from concert to tenor in Sept. I had played concert for 15 years and had a hard time adjusting. My muscle memory was geared to concert and it took a while. I also started to study fingerpicking with a private teacher after being a strummer. That probably added to the adjustment period. I majored in music as a trumpet player and knew many players who could double on trombone. Many of these individuals could switch back and forth on a gig and not miss a beat. I was not able to do that. After playing trombone I felt like my lips wouldn't fit in a trumpet mouthpiece. Sort of felt like I was trying to fit a size 10 foot into a size 6 shoe. I also struggled switching between trumpet and flugelhorn, the resistance was different. I suspect that it's not much different with the uke. Some switch back and forth easily and some struggle.

Hi,

I play all different size ukes for a variety of reasons: tone, type of music, picking or strumming, ease of the stretch, and just for the hell of it. One thing of interest is that sometimes when you learn something on a smaller uke it becomes easier on a larger uke if the baby finger stretches don't go beyond three frets, because your fingers don't have to be as precise on a larger uke. There's more room to fit your fingers in place.

I have really small fingers and I find that if I force myself to learn a song on the tenor, when I play it on the concert it's easy!
Same with learning on the concert and then switching to the soprano, so I like switching about