The traditional ukulele is between 20″ and 21″ long. It’s called the soprano ukulele, and it’s our favorite ukulele size. Here is why we love the soprano ukulele.
It’s the familiar ukulele sound
Ukuleles today come in a variety of shapes and sizes. However, when we hear a ukulele on a record or see one in a movie, such as in this memorable scene from Steve Martin’s The Jerk, chances are pretty high that it’s a soprano ukulele. Compare the sound of the soprano, concert, and tenor ukuleles (the three most common ukuleles); and see if you agree that the soprano ukulele has the sound you expect to hear.
That said, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole is said to have played a tenor ukulele on his famous rendition of Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World. In fact, Martin guitars offers an $1,800 tribute version called the Martin 1T IZ tenor ukulele
Still, we believe the soprano ukulele remains the most familiar of these joyful, little instruments. In case you think it’s just for kids, remember that the soprano ukulele has been played by Elvis Presley, George Harrison, and countless others.
Of course, we also enjoy the sound of the concert and tenor ukuleles. The concert ukulele is especially well suited to melodic playing; however, this is not a most common use of the ukulele instrument. Most of the time ukulele players will play a rhythm strumming pattern, and for this use the bright soprano ukulele will cut through a bit better.
Portability vs. intonation
The shorter an instrument’s string length, the easier it is for the instrument to drift out of tune when the string is bent. In fact, you can easily push a short instrument out of tune just by fretting the strings.
Small enough to toss into your carry-on luggage, the 21″ soprano ukulele is a highly portable instrument. It’s a delicate balance of portability and intonation. Some people complain about intonation of the soprano ukuleles, especially on the higher frets, but this type of playing is not common.
Intonation is a major concern with the smallest ukulele known as the piccolo, sopranino, sopranissimo, or pocket ukulele. At only 16″ long, it is quite difficult to play in tune. Also, with such a small body the sound decays rapidly.
The longer string length of the concert ukulele means it’s a bit easier to play without pushing the strings out of tune. This, along with the richer sound, is another reason that the concert ukulele is suited well to melodic playing. The concert ukulele is 23″ long. It’s a bit too large for most carry-on luggage.
The ukulele is generally used a rhythm instrument, and ukulele players generally avoid the upper frets. The soprano ukulele size has been the standard for over a century. We think the tuning drift you might hear on some upper chords is part of its charm, but you may prefer to play a concert or tenor ukulele if you are concerned about intonation or have large fingers.
G-C-E-A tuning is easy to learn to play
Regardless of whether you play a soprano, concert, and tenor ukulele, they can all use the G-C-E-A tuning. The G string is commonly an octave higher than you might expect. It sounds a whole note lower than the high A on the other side. This is called reentrant tuning, and it is part of what gives the ukulele its characteristic sound.
Some tenor ukulele players use a low G string. This voicing will be more familiar to guitar players. Strumming this ukulele can sound less like a ukulele and more like a guitar. The baritone and bass ukuleles sound even more like a guitar. The baritone ukulele strings are tuned to the top four strings of the guitar (D-G-B-E), and the bass ukulele strings are tuned to the low strings of the guitar (E-A-D-G).
All of these ukulele tunings are fairly easy to understand if you have played guitar. For the soprano tuning, imagine placing a capo on your guitar in standard tuning at the 5th fret. The top four strings would be G-C-E-A. Thus, chord shapes that work on your guitar will also work on the ukulele!
If you already have a soprano, concert, or tenor ukulele that uses G-C-E-A reentrant tuning, you don’t have to go hunting all over for instruction. Check out the eMedia Ukulele Method if you’re ready to dig in and learn how to play the ukulele. This is an excellent, step-by-step course from Tim Carey of Cornish College of the Arts. If you don’t have a ukulele, check out the great value eMedia soprano ukulele packs that are available today.