The Art of the Soprano

I have to disagree. With regard to flexing finger joints, I'm just not physically capable of doing it. It's a great idea for people who can do it, but there are many of us that can't.

Agreed - I can't do the bendy-finger thing either. Both my doctor and a couple of music teachers have told me it's genetic - either you can or you can't. So I don't worry about it and find other ways - often this involves using 4 fingers where someone with larger hands might use a barre. Whatever works! :)
 
Part of my love of the soprano comes from the challenge of making things work on it and the fun of discovering and refining techniques for it. In time it just became the size that felt right for me as a player.
 
Also there is art in the craft of the soprano as well. I am always attracted to miniature but complex made things. Like the tourbillon in a very high end Swiss watch (look it up if you don't know, it is a world of engineering!)

Anyone seen the youtube video on the guy who constructed the miniature exact scale copy of a steinway piano? See it , it is amazing!! Like a two foot grand piano but w every part fully functional and engineered to exact scale.

I find soprano like that. It is amazing piece of musical instrument especially if made with fully dried quality solid wood and braced.




Part of my love of the soprano comes from the challenge of making things work on it and the fun of discovering and refining techniques for it. In time it just became the size that felt right for me as a player.


Exactly.
 
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Agreed - I can't do the bendy-finger thing either. Both my doctor and a couple of music teachers have told me it's genetic - either you can or you can't. So I don't worry about it and find other ways - often this involves using 4 fingers where someone with larger hands might use a barre. Whatever works! :)

Hi, janeray! Don' ask such thing to your doctor or your music teachers. Just practice! It is not genetic, see the figures below. They are just very important finger shapes on ukulele and guitar. Location of the finger tip of the middle finger is important. It should be in between the two strings. Good luck!

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Hi, janeray! Don' ask such thing to your doctor or your music teachers. Just practice! It is not genetic, see the figures below. They are just very important finger shapes on ukulele and guitar. Location of the finger tip of the middle finger is important. It should be in between the two strings. Good luck!

Whoops, apologies - I might have completely misunderstood your original post. I thought you were recommending to use one finger to barre the bottom 3 strings of the moveable E chord shape, something I see a lot of guitarists do (they also do it for the moveable dominant 9th shape on uke). This one irks me because a very annoying know-it-all uke group leader gave me a lot of grief for not being able to do it many years ago.

Like I say - whatever works!
 
I can bar three strings with the top joint of my ring finger sounds ok in practice but doesn't always ring out as good when playing, thankfully I can also squeeze three fingers on there and sometimes two, depends how I hit that E I, as for Dm and Dm7 I can bar the G and C strings, sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. Sometimes the transition to the next chord is easier one way and I practice that, sometimes it isn't.

Being unable to curve your fingers backwards at the top joint may be to do with the angle of attack if your fingers are long and already curling towards the palm to reach the fretboard then curling the top-joint back isn't going to happen; no S bends possible. If the finger is extended it should be possible for most people.
If you can't, it may well be genetic, being double jointed is genetic, being able to curl your tongue is genetic.
No point in continually practising something without hope of progress and you may actually damage something.

Note: The point is to have fun not put up with group leaders who are deranged with power.
 
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I play mostly concert scale. I have a soprano and I've played a lot of tenors that either belong to other people, or I've played in stores. I have never tried to justify or reason why I like to play concert scale and it has nothing to do with my ability to play it over other scales, I just do. But I hardly notice the difference in playing any of them. Pretty much a ukulele is a ukulele to me.
 
To some extent it is a toss up. There are certainly some things that can be more challenging on soprano, but others are a little easier. I love the sparkle and sweetness of soprano. The best sopranos also have a depth and range of overtones that particularly appealing to me. As some have mentioned, it is the least guitar like, which makes it more unique.
 
Hi, willisoften!

I can bar three strings with the top joint of my ring finger sounds ok in practice but doesn't always ring out as good when playing

This happens to us. The problem is often not sound but timing. Just be careful the first beat (red circle in the figure below) of the chord change. You should not much care about the sound in the first stage.

upload pics
 
I heard an interview with Beau Hannah where he said (something like) that crafting a soprano is a whole different skill set, more like a violin, and more specialized. He doesn't think he has the skill to do it, and doesn't make them. Which makes you wonder why they are consistently cheaper than anything else.

Also there is art in the craft of the soprano as well. I am always attracted to miniature but complex made things. Like the tourbillon in a very high end Swiss watch (look it up if you don't know, it is a world of engineering!)

Anyone seen the youtube video on the guy who constructed the miniature exact scale copy of a steinway piano? See it , it is amazing!! Like a two foot grand piano but w every part fully functional and engineered to exact scale.

I find soprano like that. It is amazing piece of musical instrument especially if made with fully dried quality solid wood and braced.







Exactly.
 
Hi, willisoften!



This happens to us. The problem is often not sound but timing. Just be careful the first beat (red circle in the figure below) of the chord change. You should not much care about the sound in the first stage.

upload pics

The problem is either the e or g strings thumping if I don't get it exactly right. Timing is the most important aspect - apart from anything else we hardly ever notice duff notes if rhythm and tempo are good! :)
I think the joint is a little short to to do it easily, chubby fingers! The soprano makes
this easier less string tension.
 
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2014-2015 Tenor, 2015-2016, concert, 2016-2017 soprano. Before that a mish mash but generally not soprano.

I think if you don't own a soprano they are remembered as smaller than they are. Owning and committing to one they are the most fun. But hey most of you have all the sizes anyway. I do love the authentic vintage tones tho. I havent been able to get that in concerts and above.
 
I settled on tenors and sopranos, and I largely treat them as different families of instruments. My tenors are in linear low-g, the sopranos are in reentrant tuning (C and D, with a clear preference for D tuning, but the Black Bear responds better to C tuning), so there isn't much overlap. I prefer the tenors for slower, more melodic, soulful music, and the sopranos for rhythmic, happy, traditional (pre-1950s) stuff. If six strings had worked for me, it would be a guitar and the sopranos, but four strings are enough for me and I prefer the sound of a low-g tenor to the over abundance of low end of guitars (too full sounding).

Are sopranos more difficult to play? Not necessarily. I have slightly above average sized male hands with slim-ish fingers and two of my three sopranos have wider fretboards, and I get around quicker on the sopranos than the tenors. But sound-wise, I feel that sopranos run out of usable frets relatively quickly, at least at my level (read: mediocre) of playing ability. Oddly, I like thin flat picks with the sopranos (it really emphasizes the tone, especially higher up the neck), but not with the tenors.
 
I have one of each: tenor, concert, and soprano ukuleles. Finding a soprano that I liked the sound of was surprisingly difficult. the only one I found (and bought) is a mid-1920s Martin 2K. It isn't difficult to play, but can imagine that I would find it difficult to get a sound I liked from any of the others I considered. It wasn't a matter of any of them sounding bad, but just not "right" to my ears.

Tony
 
I have flirted with tenors and concerts, but they don't do it for me. I love sopranos and play those tuned in G and C. And I really enjoy playing barrys, but not one is tuned to traditional baritone tuning. I have one tuned with the nylon guitar string hack that allows for C tuning; I have a couple tuned cuatro. One of these days I'll restring the Martin to G tuning, but for now, I enjoy the sound of the alternate baritone string sets.

As to the OP posts, I find the soprano no more challenging than any other size. Each size provides its on gifts.
 
When you play classical music on uke, soprano is most difficult .

Yup, because that's what it isn't for..........;) Or at least ,not what it is best at .....Yeah , the Odd Bod (Kingy, San )makes the exception ....but not the rooooool...........Strum a Sop, Stroke a Concert and Pick and Pluck Tenors... Baritones ...you may as well have a geetar in my humbule opinion.....YMMV or whatever;)...just make your music and enjy....Love Yas all.....Byeeeeeeeeee.




PS The Bestest tool is the Soprano Banjo Ukulele . Sorrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee............................. :uhoh:
 
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