Baritone or Tenor Uke?

rizzice

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So today I sold my Lanikai soprano uke, it was simply too small for me to play comfortably.

I've been shopping around, and feel that concert is too small for my taste as well, so I'm stuck on either a tenor or baritone ukulele.

I really like the idea that the baritone is tuned to the the bottom 4 strings of guitar since I play guitar, but I wonder if this is the case, do I really need a baritone if I have a guitar already?

Perhaps tenor should be my pick? Any input would be great :D
 
I say go for the tenor. I think the baritone uke is a great 2nd uke.
 
:agree:
I'll second the Tenor idea...larger than a soprano (With my big hands, just for strumming!)...has a richer sound, and still has the uke "feel" in the music. The Baritone just has a wholy different sound and feel to it, some songs sound great on one, but you'll get a lot more use from a Tenor. Plus there are a lot more choices in a tenor size!
 
:agree:
Plus there are a lot more choices in a tenor size!

:agree:

There's a lack of variety in baritones these days... seems like you get three choices, 'pressed mahogany', spruce top, or solid mahogany. Tenors are more fun to shop for!

Other than that, I ,personally, like the bari best. I have one strung-up gcea, like a really big tenor. So, if you want to get a bari, don't let the G-tuning stop you.
 
The right answer is one of each.
Would go with the tenor first. As stated above, I can make my tenors sound like a uke or almost like a classical guitar.
I have a tough time getting my baritones to sound like ukes. They just want to sound more like a guitar.
BTW, the chord shapes for tenor will also transfer to/from guitar first four strings. They'll just have different names.
I was amazed at how my uke playing helped my guitar playing.
 
Size isn't the 1st Consideration

I do not think that the size should be your first consideration. A baritone with solid tone wood strung with Aquila GCEA strings can sound very close to the smaller ukuleles. Go with the best made one regardless of size that feels right to you and that you love the tone it produces.
 
Thanks for all the help y'all.

I will look into getting a tenor first, and probably a baritone somewhere down the line. I was thinking getting Baritone might be nice, because when I'm practicing ukulele, I could also be progressing with traditional guitar in some sense.. but I suppose I will improve with any size, and tenor seems much more traditional-ukulele-sounding.

Anyone have any suggestions for something sub $100, hopefully even closer to $50-70 for a decent tenor ukulele? I would be shopping on eBay I think.


Side question... does baritone sound any different than a traditional guitar? I have a nylon string guitar, I'm afraid if I eventually invest in baritone it'll sound just like my guitar without the top 2 strings..
 
Side question... does baritone sound any different than a traditional guitar? I have a nylon string guitar, I'm afraid if I eventually invest in baritone it'll sound just like my guitar without the top 2 strings..

Well... yes and no.
They do sound similar. I sometimes play my Baritone alongside my dad, who is playing classical guitar.
Compared side to side, they do sound similar.

But then again, the lack of bass strings and the "punchiness" factor due to the smaller body of the Bari uke still retains a bit of uke-ness than the guitar, which has a deeper voice and more resonance, rather than punchy tone.

Overall, it is quite similar to classical guitar. If you can manage playing with 6 strings, stick with guitar.
If you prefer only having 4 strings, consider a bari.
And remember, you can tune a baritone uke in either the guitar tuning OR the normal uke tuning (GCEA) if you buy the correct string set.
Aquila has several tuning options for Baritone.


Perhaps a good middle ground to consider would be a Guitalele. This is basically a 6-stringed ukulele, with the strings ADGCEA.
So it's basically like a guitar tuned higher - a ukulele with two bass strings as a guitar does;



 
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