Small hands

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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I have relatively small hands. I'm 5 foot 7 and weigh about 165. I play tenor almost exclusively. I just prefer the sound. I've met Jake Shimabukuro probably 10-12 times. Jake is not a big guy, I actually feel like the Hulk standing next to him. Jake's hands are smaller than mine. It doesn't seem to bother him. He has incredible flexibility. I've also met Honoka from Honoka and Azita. Her hands are relatively small. Azita on video appears much smaller than Honoka. They both play tenor. Try a concert if you can and if it suits you go with that. It's all about having fun.Best of luck.
 
This post was started almost nine years ago. I wonder if people who are posting on it now realize that. Anyway, I love it when these old posts get resurrected. It would be interesting to know if the OP is even still playing the ukulele, and if so, what they have learned in regards to the post. It would be interesting to know how their opinions have changed. I know that mine have over time. It says though that the OP hasn't been on UU since sometime in 2010, so either they gave up on the ukulele, or they gave up on UU a long long time ago. I went back and looked at the people who were posting, and other than Budduu most of them have not been around for a while. All but a few haven't been around since 2009. I wonder what happened to them all?
 
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There's been a fair bit of thread resurrection lately - it shows what a good historical resource the archive here is; that even 10 years on people have the same queries again and again; and that folks don't look too carefully at what they're replying to ;)
 
I know kids who play full size guitars that have bigger hands than I do, so kid doesn’t always mean small hands :). Size, dexterity and flexibility all make a difference in what you are comfortable with. Different brands also have different widths in their necks which can also make a difference. Good luck in finding a ukulele that works for you!
 
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