Arthritis - chords vs finger style

ok, so the wife was impatient to get the new uke into the family. And far be it from *me* to not take advantage of opportunities.

So, this one is purchased (from ukesmx.com) and destined for shipping hopefully tomorrow:

Ohana TK-14E

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almost forgot a case - had to chat w/ the store in Spanish - they gave me a coupon to avoid doubling the shipping. Gracias!

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Hopefully it plays well with the wife's existing soprano:

Flight DUS322

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Don I clicked on the link to your Ohana TK-14E.

My mistake. It said "TK-14E" at the top in the white box. I didn't realize I needed to click the button half way down on the page as well.

Apologize for any confusion I may have caused.


Whatever you buy will most likely come with cheap Nylon strings. I urge you to buy a set of fluorocarbon strings. Medium or low tension. They are thin, more flexible and much easier on the fingers. Martin 620, Worth, D'Addario, Oasis, GHS, Le Belle, Fremont, all sell Fluorocarbon strings. You can get them by mail as well.
 
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Don I clicked on the link to your Ohana TK-14E.

In the specs it says: Scale Length: 13-3/4"; Overall Length: 21"; Frets: 12 to body, 15 total

These are the specs for a Concert not a Tenor.

Tenor Specs are usually around: Scale Length: 17"; Overall length: 26"+; Frets: 12-14 to body, 18 total. (This is a general range. And can vary.)

Whatever you buy will most likely come with cheap Nylon strings. I urge you to buy a set of fluorocarbon strings. Medium or low tension. They are thin, more flexible and much easier on the fingers. Martin 620, Worth, D'Addario, Oasis, GHS, Le Belle, Fremont, all sell Fluorocarbon strings. You can get them by mail as well.

Ohana site is difficult to navigate. When I expand the TK model I get 17" scale and other tenor specs. Strings are supposed to be Aquila that are nice and thick and easy to play.
 
Ohana site is difficult to navigate. When I expand the TK model I get 17" scale and other tenor specs. Strings are supposed to be Aquila that are nice and thick and easy to play.

Thanks for pointing it out Merlin. I didn't see that I had to click the button further down as well.

My arthritic hands do much better with thinner fluorocarbons. The fat Nylons seem harder and less bendy to me. My hand starts to ache pretty quickly whenever I play Nylons. My fingertips feel like the bone itself is bruised, even though I have pretty good callouses built up on them. I have low setups on all of my ukes. The only variable is when I install thicker Nylons, Nylgut and Super Nylgut on the uke. (I do it occasionally to remind myself of the sound and the feel of those strings.)

The only exception is when I play my tenor Deering Goodtime Banjo uke. But Mim set it up for me and my hands and I'm sure that helped. At present, I have Aquila tenor Banjolele strings on it. I'm going to try the Aquila Reds Banjolele strings sometime soon.
 
My fingertips feel like the bone itself is bruised, even though I have pretty good callouses built up on them.

I have exactly the same problem, though I don't have arthritis. Has been that way since my late '20s (so 30+ years). I sure wish I knew how to fix it.
 
Ohana site is difficult to navigate. When I expand the TK model I get 17" scale and other tenor specs. Strings are supposed to be Aquila that are nice and thick and easy to play.

Personally, with my arthritis, I don't like Aquilas. The sound is ok, but the thickness is harder on the finger joints. Imo.
 
I have OA too, but for now it's mild and intermittent. I always stretch before I play. I find that chord melodies are the most enjoyable to play, picking and chording together don't wear my hands out as badly.
One other thing....I take curcumin daily. It helps. better than drugs. I try not to let my hands get cold, too.
Good luck, Ohana makes nice ukes.
 
Keith, I would like to add to your list: Seydel Steel Fanfare tremolo harmonicas.

Oh, I've got two Fanfares myself - plus some regular tremolos, some Orchestra tuned diatonics, some Richter tuned diatonics too, plus several other chromatics - tenor, orchestra tuned, standard tuned, key of 'E' - valved & valveless - I didn't want to encourage the H.A.S. :rofl::cool:
 
One other thing....I take curcumin daily. It helps. better than drugs. I try not to let my hands get cold, too.
Good luck, Ohana makes nice ukes.

After reading your post, Nickie, I decided to try some turmeric/curcumin. I did some internet research first, and learned about the anti-inflammatory possibilities of both. So I bought some in the pharmacy the other day. Since I've been at home because of the virus, and picking up the uke daily, my fretting hand joints have been bothering me. My reading suggested it would take weeks to notice results, but I swear, my hands felt better the next day and the joint swelling went down. So I'm going to keep taking this, we'll see if it helps long term.
 
Whatever you buy will most likely come with cheap Nylon strings. I urge you to buy a set of fluorocarbon strings. Medium or low tension. They are thin, more flexible and much easier on the fingers. Martin 620, Worth, D'Addario, Oasis, GHS, Le Belle, Fremont, all sell Fluorocarbon strings. You can get them by mail as well.

A set of fluorocarbon in Low G is on my list!
 
Just a follow- up. Some chord shapes hurt, but most don't. Haven't got the new strings yet, but soon! Really love my Ohana tenor, get kinda jealous when my wife plays it. :mad:
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My dad has problems with fretting because of his arthritis.
Soprano scale and lowest action possible is the best for him. I don't believe the idea that"more room" is better. It's just different technique.
 
Chris, I think you may have something there. Of course, cramping one's fingers on a too small fretboard isn't good, and nut width is very important.
I found that reaching for the chords on my tenor banjouke was not only uncomfortable, but confusing as well, so I traded it off.
I couldn't play my 1.5 inch nut width uke either, without pain, so to a new permanent home it went.
I've also discovered that a radiused fretboard does a lot toward alleviating pain.
Cadia, I accidentally skipped my turmeric for two days, and OUCH! I took one and within hours the pain subsided. The stuff works!
I'm encouraged by your results, uke on!:shaka:
 
Cadia, I accidentally skipped my turmeric for two days, and OUCH! I took one and within hours the pain subsided. The stuff works!
I'm encouraged by your results, uke on!:shaka:
We have been consuming turmeric daily for years. Can’t say I have noticed a difference.
 
I'm no expert, but pretty sure I have OA. Couple of fingertips are no longer perfectly straight, and remind me of my grandmother's fingers. And I haven't even hit my 60th birthday yet! :(

Me too. Didn't really notice it, but man trying to play an E chord (yes all I know it's a hard chord), I can line my 3 fingers up on 4th fret, but going to get 2nd fret, the only way I can finger it is to bend my first finger to the first knuckle gets it. There's just enough sidewards bend that I can't play it with my fingertip. I have to completely torque my arm around the uke to play it. Strumming I cheat and play 444X, but can't do that fingerpicking which what I do mostly. I just try to not play music in A or E keys if possible.
 
This topic scares me. I've played steel-string Guitar since I was 12, and I'm going to be 72 in a week. I also play Banjo (Plectrum, 'Chicago'-tuned) and Electric Bass. So far so good, but to hedge my bets, I just ordered a Chromatic Harmonica as my birthday present to myself! One of the reasons I love the Uke is that it's physically less stressful to play than my other instruments. There are things you can do to further remove discomfort, though. For an E Major chord, for example, see if 4447 is easier. (I'm very used to using my pinky as necessary.) Another example is a B7 chord (2322). You can play it with a 1st finger bar at the 2nd fret (with the 2nd finger on the 3rd string 3rd fret), but you can also use an alternate fingering that doesn't necessitate the 1st finger bar - fingers 1, 4, 2, 3 from low to high. 4 fingers/4 strings - that may be the key(?) I hope I don't have to find out too soon!

By the way, I tried to post this message earlier under my original real-name ID, and I was blacklisted! I guess it was because the 1st sentence above read, "... scares the ____ out of me." Blacklisted for that - really?! Oh well, I'll give it another shot (but just one). (Note: Email sent to mods to straighten this out - no worries.)
 
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Playing slide in open tunings is another option.
 
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