The Ukulele Thread  | Page 3 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Sally the uke is here! My first impressions: I’m going to need a bigger uke at some point, my fingers are actually too big to do an E chord properly, sopranos are really smaller than I imagined. So I think I’m definitely a concert/tenor person in future. But it is a lovely uke, I’ve had it an hour and my fingers are already sore from learning chords! She’s definitely an older uke, the production number seems to be 310 01. I’m assuming that’s March 2010, number 1 based on googling a discussion in ukuleleunderground.com. So she’s almost 6 years old!

I love the tuning, so many weird chords to learn! Here’s Sally compared to a kazoo:

Teeny tiny! @Joe, you must have tiny hands to even think of a sopranissimo!

I think a good test is, if you do an E chord (thats index on the 2nd fret of A, pinky on the 4th of E, ring on the 4th of C and middle on the 4th of G) and be able to keep those three fingers roughly in line, your fingers are ok for a soprano. I just can’t and I also have a slight disadvantage of a bent ring finger, the frets are just too close together for me and my ring finger spills sharp. Also test the intonation of a tuned soprano at the 7th fret, that’s important for checking the harmonics are ok, mine are a bit out which is ok for barring but not open strings. As my fingers limit me to doing most of the chords down at the nut end, this isn’t a problem for me though. For a cheap ukulele, the Kala is pretty nice!

Nice looking Strat though! I’m having a similar problem in that I’m saving for a analogue synthesiser but I could afford a good tenor uke now!

i can play Sesame street theme with the uke. It’s quite fun.

So I’m plugging away at it still. The strumming’s coming together: I’m really bad with using my index finger so I’m inventing a new style where I use my thumb and middle finger and trying to get full clear strums. I have to take it slowly to get it right, as with chords. I’m practising 3 or 4 different pieces, moving along to each as I go. The barring is a great cheat for some shapes like the G7 shape up the board because it helps put my fingers in the right place, the same for Bb, which is easier than the guitar F shape on a tiny soprano. No luck with the E chord shape as yet. I think its partly that the Kalas seem to be fairly narrow for sopranos too.

I’m going to get a nice concert Kala this week; the tenor is tempting because of the high frets, but it might be too big. I don’t have any issues holding the soprano standing up and the concert shouldn’t be much more difficult.

This is a great little song that I always found daunting on the guitar (their version has some rather nice fingerpicking), but is terrific to play on a uke. I like the Mamas & Papas version best, they’ve made it a bit more bluesy than the original. I love the terrible whistling at the end too!

ewe2 said
So I’m plugging away at it still. The strumming’s coming together: I’m really bad with using my index finger so I’m inventing a new style where I use my thumb and middle finger and trying to get full clear strums. I have to take it slowly to get it right, as with chords. I’m practising 3 or 4 different pieces, moving along to each as I go. The barring is a great cheat for some shapes like the G7 shape up the board because it helps put my fingers in the right place, the same for Bb, which is easier than the guitar F shape on a tiny soprano. No luck with the E chord shape as yet. I think its partly that the Kalas seem to be fairly narrow for sopranos too.

I’m going to get a nice concert Kala this week; the tenor is tempting because of the high frets, but it might be too big. I don’t have any issues holding the soprano standing up and the concert shouldn’t be much more difficult.

This is a great little song that I always found daunting on the guitar (their version has some rather nice fingerpicking), but is terrific to play on a uke. I like the Mamas & Papas version best, they’ve made it a bit more bluesy than the original. I love the terrible whistling at the end too!

 

One of my first loves favorite songs. When Mama Cass died she cried for days. This looks doable for a beginner – I need to figure out what the term barring means though