Questions from a guitarist :/

Jake Shimabukuro's duets with Kotaro Oshio have gotten me interested in ukulele!
Ukulele will be my third instrument, after piano and guitar, so I've got a few questions. How easily will I be able to pick up the ukulele? I mainly play fingerstyle guitar
Will having nails be a problem with ukulele? I keep mine fairly long for guitar
I've been taking a good look at this ukulele http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-New-Kala-...ash=item4ceaaf5111&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262
My price range is around $150 max. I'd prefer a bit lower around 100... Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

EucalyptusMint said:

Jake Shimabukuro's duets with Kotaro Oshio have gotten me interested in ukulele!
Ukulele will be my third instrument, after piano and guitar, so I've got a few questions. How easily will I be able to pick up the ukulele? I mainly play fingerstyle guitar
Will having nails be a problem with ukulele? I keep mine fairly long for guitar
I've been taking a good look at this ukulele http://cgi.ebay.com/Brand-New-Kala-...ash=item4ceaaf5111&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262
My price range is around $150 max. I'd prefer a bit lower around 100... Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

The uke is relatively pitched the same as the 1st four string of a guitar (the bottom 4), so you'll have no problem playing the chords - the fingering for a D on the guitar makes a G on the uke.

Many ukers have long nails too. Shouldn't be a problem. Kala, Lanikai, Mainland, Ohana - all good brands for a quality first uke.

Keep us posted on which uke you buy and your progress!

Oh, and welcome to UU!

Welcome to UU. Having played the guitar, you should not have any problems adapting to the 'Ukulele. Long fingernails should not be a problem as a lot of the members have long nails. As far as an entry level instrument, check out this thread.

Have you thought about getting a concert size ukulele? The one you mentioned is a tenor size, but has a laminate top. For pretty much the same price, you can get a solid spruce top concert. It'll be $160 with shipping.

http://cgi.ebay.com/KALA-KA-SC-soli...ash=item5634aa63ac&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262

I've seen them cheaper, but through MGM you get a case and a free setup.

Since the concert sits in the middle of the spectrum of the most common ukulele sizes (soprano, concert, tenor), it'll retain the traditional ukulele sound while giving more fretboard room than a soprano.

Wow thanks for the responses!
Hmm, I'll consider it. I guess I picked a tenor because I thought it would give a warmer sound with more depth, and that Jake plays a tenor

How is the intonation on these? I have perfect pitch, so it's pretty important

EucalyptusMint said:

My price range is around $150 max.

Click to expand...

You can get some good ukes for around that.

And don't call me "Max".

JJ

Ukulele JJ said:

[...] And don't call me "Max".

JJ

Click to expand...

*Groan*... Have you no shame?

If you already can play guitar, you should also already understand that when it comes to a musical instrument, you generally are going to get what you pay for.
$150 will get you a decent playable starter, but I wouldn't be expecting perfect intonation out of it any more than I would out of a $150 guitar. You'll have a working starter uke, but you should keep your expectations realistic for a laminated Chinese factory instrument. They're a good bang for the buck kind of deal.
Play it, learn on it and have fun with it. Don't expect it to sound like Jake's custom.

EucalyptusMint said:

Wow thanks for the responses!
Hmm, I'll consider it. I guess I picked a tenor because I thought it would give a warmer sound with more depth, and that Jake plays a tenor

How is the intonation on these? I have perfect pitch, so it's pretty important

Click to expand...

From my experience, guitar players often prefer tenors.

You will love the ukulele! The guitar bg gives you a good head start on it. I started with a tenor, and thought that the smaller sizes might be too cramped for me. But here I am 6 1/2 months later and I have 2 sopranos, one long neck soprano (concert neck on soprano body) and the original tenor. I think it really depends of the kind of songs you are playing. If you have a lot of 9-16 fret activity, you will welcome the larger size. If you spend most of your time lower on the neck, that won't be a problem and you can take advantage of a wider scale reach for your fingers.

Do you read tablature? To keep from being confused, I read music notation for guitar and tablature for banjo and uke. It was not that hard to learn the new chord names.

The long fingernails are just as useful on the uke as they are on guitar. Those callouses will come in handy too.

–Lori