Dislike of Moving Between Different Neck Scales

richntacoma

richntacoma

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The thread on people's preferred scaled has had me thinking: Am I alone in not enjoying going between different size/scale necks? Its not the length or number of frets for me, but the differences between the fret spacing. I seem to strongly prefer not moving between a soprano neck and a concert--it just seems to throw of my sense of spacing, timing, ect.

I am wondering if others have this experience? Is this a developmental problem? I have really only been playing for two years now (about 10 or so hours of play and practice a week, minimum, often much more). Over time, I actually find myself wanting more and more to stay with the same size.

Not thrilled with this, as I have a concert scale neck (small body) that is gorgeous, amazing sounding, and made by a great luthier, but I just don't want to play it.

All thoughts and experiences welcome.
 
I play concert and baritone, and move between them pretty easily. But the baritone is tuned to open G and I use it mostly for playing slack-key style. Playing different types of music on the different scales may make the transition easier.
 
It's always tricky at first but if you throw yourself at it your brain eventually builds separate maps for each instrument. I switch between guitar, guilele, bass guitar and tenor 'ukulele while teaching, performing or recording without problems. I enjoy the variety. Typically takes me a couple months to wear into a new scale to the point my hands are relaxed and I don't have to look when shifting. Getting used to tenor scale after playing guitar and bass was the hardest transition for me.
 
Maybe if I did it more. I almost exclusively play concert and yeah my fingers don't drop into the right places when I'm playing soprano unless I keep glancing at frets
 
I think you just have to switch it up more often if it's just the scale length/fret spacing that's tripping you up. I currently play almost exclusively soprano, but I have no trouble playing a concert when the mood strikes. I also play my guitars almost everyday along my soprano uke. I think it is just a matter of spending more time on your other instrument.
 
Couldn't get on with sopranos, but no problems with concert or tenor scales, find bari too much, seldom play mine now - if I had to pick one it would be.....

I don't really know, but I seem to always grab up a 'long neck' soprano when I want to try something out....
 
It took time for your brain to remember the distances between frets and strings so it makes sense that switching to different scales throws you off, but just like learning the spacing for one scale, practicing switching between scales will increase your skill in doing so. It’s not a bad skill to have - especially if you already have different scales. I’d recommend practicing both every time you practice. You don’t need to divide the practice time evenly, but doing the brunt of the day’s practice on one and then spending ten or fifteen minutes going over what you were just learning on the other ukulele will help immensely.
 
I have a soprano and a tenor that I have no problem moving between, probably because the difference is big and obvious. I used to have a concert, which was the only uke I had for years, but recently gave it to a friend because I had a difficult time switching between tenor and concert. Probably because the spacing is so similar. Also he wanted a uke, so I gave it to him.
 
The range of my instrument scales is from concert ukes to a long neck jumbo guitar. I have no problem moving from one instrument to another and play most things without looking at the fretboard.
 
I think it helps my playing a lot to switch things up. I really started progressing in guitar and fiddle when I started playing mandolin. I'm regularly playing my Martin HD-28, an Eastman arch top, a 12 fret round neck spider cone wood body resonator, a 12 fret Ovation 12 string and a gypsy jazz Sel-Mac copy.

Then there's the resonator mandolin, the banjolin, F4 and F5, an A4 mandola, my mandocello, octave mandolin, 5 fiddles (violins and violas, 4 strings and 5), tenor ukulele....

For me it's cross training and never a problem.
 
I don't struggle to switch scales when switching instruments. I do sometimes struggle to switch scales on the same type of instrument. For example, I have no trouble switching from uke, to banjo, to guitar. But I do struggle to switch between soprano and concert (not so much concert and tenor). I think that is because sometimes I learn things in a way on soprano that I might have learned differently on a concert or tenor. The short scale allows (and sometime requires) me to fret things a certain way that may work better fretted differently on a longer scale. I don't think it's even switching scales in general so much as it playing something on a scale that is different than the scale I learned it on. If I learn a tune on soprano I may need to change the way I play it to play it on a tenor...and vise versa. I don't find the switch to be super hard but it usually does require some adjustment and a bit of extra practice. I really only play soprano these days anyway though.
 
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There's been quite a plethora of different answers so clearly there's no right answer here. I myself can switch between soprano and concert scales fairly easily but tenor scale is too much in terms of feeling comfortable. The type of music I play between those scales definitely helps me get used to each of them. I mostly play songs with a faster tempo on a soprano whereas I mostly keep to slower and more melodic style songs on the concert. I do have one baritone and I definitely play at an even slower tempo on it and also mostly just accompaniments.
 
At the same time, if there is a place where you feel comfortable- sound, feel, etc, you can just hang there and be happy. Some folks like to play a variety of instruments or sizes, while others like to stick with one. Whatever works!
 
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