Any bassists who picked up the Ukulele can give me some advice?

[greencow]

So basically I'm looking to add an ukulele into my playing arsenal. Size wise Soprano or maybe Concert.

I am quite tall(About 6'6'' I think) and have big hands(Imagine a badger), I haven't seen any ukuleleles at the local stores and so I haven't had a chance to try the Soprano size to see if it feels comfortable or is maybe a bit weird to play. Any extra large people playing soprano sizes?

Can you guys recomend some online materials that would help me in developing proper fretting and especially strumming technique?

[RickenBoogie]

I play a baritone uke, and enjoy the crap out of it. It's essentially tuned like the top 4 strings of a guitar, DGBE. Also, slightly larger than the soprano. Google it for plenty of instructional info.

[Seb Peters]

I have a soprano, tenor & Baritone Uke. Now, I'm a pretty big guy, but the soprano is still perfectly fine, but as are the others. I prefer the tone of the Baritone, but it's down to personal opinion.

[pbass2]

Slightly off-topic, but I just bought a Yamaha Guitalele

Yamaha Guitalele ukulele

And it is one of the best purchases I have made in ages. Sounds almost exactly like a uke but tuned like a guitar (but in A).
Super fun!

[Systolic]

I have a soprano, I wish I would have gone concert or larger. I'm not even a big guy.

[Chainsaw Willie]

My 12-year-old son has a Soprano. I have a Concert. I think the wider spacing of the Concert makes many chords easier with my big fat sausage fingers. Also the tone of the Concert size is much nicer (to me). The standard Soprano seems very "plinky". The Concert seems much more full, while still sounding like a uke and not a small guitar.

I vote for avoiding the standard (tiny) size uke unless it is for a small child.

[jmercer91]

i dig my little soprano! baritones sound too much like a guitar to me.

[uethanian]

concert is the way to go for rhythm playing, tenor if you are doing solo stuff (not that you would if you are just starting out). i have large hands and can manage a soprano, but it takes considerably more work to get clean fretting.

just be really discerning with regards to what instrument you buy. there are decent instruments for $100, most below that are not great. tuning inaccuracies are especially noticeable on ukulele and will drive you nuts after a while...make sure when you are trying out instruments, you know some basic chords (C, G, D, Am, Em) to check for accuracy. a lot of ukuleles are sold with waaaaay high action so some saddle-shaping may be in order.

i started with "Jumpin Jim's Gone Hawaiian" which has a nice chord chart and easy tunes.

[MrDominoe]

I switched to Ukulele about 6 months ago. I have a concert Uke and like it a lot. It's easy to pick up, but really worth doing it correctly. It's a lot like the bass in that respect.

My advice, watch a lot of people do it and get a chord chart.
And watch this:
Ukulele Orchestra of GB - Shaft - YouTube

[NightTripper]

I had a (large) friend who played a soprano and loved it, though I think he wanted to get a concert or tenor size too. I messed around on his uke and had no problems, and I also play mandolin. But my fingers are kinda long and thin. It might take a little getting used to but I'm sure you'll get the hang of it.

[greencow]

I do have a problem though. My only option is buying online and that means I have no chances to try the instrument out.

I am thinking about spending somewhere in the range of 300-400 dollars.

ORTEGA RLIZARD CONCERT UKULELE - Thomann UK Cyberstore

This caught my eye, mainly because it has a pickup system. Would make it fairly easy to record my ideas. I failed to find any reviews on it though, can anyone give me some recomendations or talk me out of the pickup idea?

[uethanian]

i haven't seen that brand before...if you're willing to drop $300, there ARE some decent hawaiian-made models out there. check out kanile'a, islander line.

i feel that the internal pickup is really a secondary thing. might be more worthwhile investing in a good mic (that you could also use with acoustic guitar or other instruments). IMO piezos+uke is not a good combination, unless it's a really nice instrument designed with that in mind.

[fourstringdrums]

Mainland is my favorite uke brand so far. Check out UKE Republic - Authorized Ukulele Dealer, Online Store, Atlanta Showroom, Worldwide Shipping Ohana is fairly nice too. I have a tenor mode and am contemplating sellingl, which I personally don't care for only for the size. I prefer my mahogany concert mainland. Tenor is just too large for me when it comes to ukes.

[greencow]

I live in Europe and so ordering from outside the EU is a bit problematic.
For startes the postage costs are just massive. And secondly the customs would add another 30-40% to the price and the transport.

I'll see if I can find some reliable sellers from europe.