Graham Greenbag
Well-known member
I am female with fairly small hands. I bought a kala tenor maple from musicguymic last year and he gave me the lowest action possible. I m fine strumming but struggle with more complicated melodies and the stretches involved. Would a concert or soprano be better. And can anyone recomend one in the Kala/ Ohana price range. Regards Susan
There’s lots of wonderful advice already but let me give you an alternative view.
The chap who taught me to play Uke is a good player, he’s been playing for years and has taught literally hundreds of folk how to play. He now plays Tenor Uke but he’s bounced up and down and the sizes, he told us how his hands changed over the years. IIRC he plays Tenor rather than other sizes because it projects better and rings better for him in his teaching and other playing - it’s his professional tool but he struggled with it and his hand span.
I like Soprano Ukes but also play Concert too, both have their merits for me. I bought a Tenor and found it a real struggle and, to be frank, for me it’s a pointless struggle. The Tenor was sold asap and I play the sizes that work for me now, I suggest that you do the same.
I’ve been playing for about three years now, so not a beginner but still someone with much left to learn - you’re possibly slightly further along the learning path than me. Whilst I could afford something fancier the Uke next to my chair today is a Makala Concert that I carefully set up and then added a bone saddle and better strings too, it doesn’t hold me back and it holds its own in the Uke Club. One guy on UU used to use a similar Uke to go busking with (so he must be a tidy player) and it did the job for him. My suggestion is that you get yourself a Kala KA-C or the next (quality) level up Kala, have someone set it up properly for you and fit some fluorocarbon strings to it. It will sound fine and by the time you play so well that you’ve truly out grow it (long time) you’ll have seen so much other stuff that you’ll have a good idea of what works for you.
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