Help needed!

Nickie

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I need some feasible advice.
I bought a uke with a 1.5" nut.
It's nice to have extra room between strings, however, it is very difficult to make barre chords without missing one of the notes. I've been trying different hand positions, but nothing seems to work consistently.
Does anyone have any ideas, short of trading it off?
 
I need some feasible advice.
I bought a uke with a 1.5" nut.
It's nice to have extra room between strings, however, it is very difficult to make barre chords without missing one of the notes. I've been trying different hand positions, but nothing seems to work consistently.
Does anyone have any ideas, short of trading it off?

Hi Nickie,

As many folks have said before, it's not only about nut width, but also about 'string spread' as in distance from G to A strings.

FYI A 1.5" nut is almost 38mm.

You can have a new nut made that has the string spread closer to what you are used to, or get a nut blank for a few $ and notch the slots yourself. Way easier than dumping that instrument.

Conversely lots of other ukes have a 1.38" (35mm) nut width and the spacing of the string spread varies widely from ~26 up to ~33mm, so all of this needs to be considered.

If you can get a nut blank, you can use a simple hacksaw blade to made the initial nut slots, and a simple nail file to widen them as needed. The main thing is that this is a painstakingly iterative process that requires you to go very slow and take off only a little at a time.

Depending if your nut is plastic or bone - with plastic the hacksaw will take off lots more material per stroke of the blade than bone, since plastic is much softer then bone, so this needs to be figured into your hands-on procedure.

Maybe one option is to consult your Loprinzi friend and see if they can help with the hands-on. For one with experience and the proper tools, cutting nut slots and seating a new nut, should take maybe 30 mins or less....

Hope this helps :)
 
Thanks Booli!
I hadn't considered this....I will ask Donna L. about this.
She's very helpful when I have a sick uke.
 

Yay! Booli's Back!
 
Welcome back Booli, hope all is well at home.

@Nickie
I found that if I roll my finger slightly over onto its side, it worked well for me, just a small twist made all the difference.
 
How great to hear from you, Booli ... and giving out good advice, as ever! Hope all is well!
 
Barre as close to the base of your finger as you can with your thumb centered on the back of the neck. Unless you're already doing barres that way.
 
^ This. I was having issues with barring and saw a Gerald Ross video where he said the biggest issue he sees with players is that they try to bar using the top two knuckles where you're going to have an easier time using the lower portion of your finger where the leverage and strength is better. Worked like a champ for me.
 
when it comes to barre chords I am a firm believer in Stu Fuch's suggestion of not fighting gravity. Since gravity is pulling your hand down, let it. Make your hand heavy and let it sag downward--not enough to bend the notes but enough to fret the notes. This is so much easier than trying to press into the fretboard with more and more vigor. Actually this one suggestion was a game-changer for me.
 
I need some feasible advice.
I bought a uke with a 1.5" nut.
It's nice to have extra room between strings, however, it is very difficult to make barre chords without missing one of the notes. I've been trying different hand positions, but nothing seems to work consistently.
Does anyone have any ideas, short of trading it off?

Practice, perhaps?

/snark
:cool:
 
Barre as close to the base of your finger as you can with your thumb centered on the back of the neck. Unless you're already doing barres that way.

Yes, I've been trying to do that.
Yes, Keith, I'm trying to do that as well.
Thank you Russ and ripock.
These are all helpful, I'll keep at it.

My left hand seems to get tired and sore quicker than it used to, I'm learning some diminished and diminished 7 chords....it's too darn tempting to wrap my thumb over to do those, because of a very small pinkie finger, but I'm strengthening it.
 
I find that keeping the neck closer to a 45 degree angle helps my wrist and forearm stay in line. Dropping the neck towards horizontal bends my wrist making barres harder to hold.
 
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