Beginner - choosing a ukulele

There are a bunch of things to consider when choosing which ukulele to buy. We'll go over the main differences among the various ukulele, with recommendations for the beginner.

Size

If you searched around the net looking for ukuleles, you probably noticed that there are four flavors: Soprano, Concert, Tenor, and Baritone. The original and most popular size is the soprano ukulele (often called "standard" as well). Soprano, concert, and tenor all share the same tuning - so chord positions will the same across these three types. The soprano is the smallest ukulele, at about 21 inches of total length. Baritone is the largest at about 30 inches total length.

The smaller ukes have a light, bouncy sound, which is probably what comes to mind when thinking of a ukulele. The larger ones have a fuller, louder sound, approaching that of a guitar. Many professionals choose the concert or tenor ukulele because it has a longer fretboard with a wider range of notes, but is still small enough for the traditional ukulele sound.

Conclusion: Almost all beginners get the smallest ukulele - the soprano. We recommend this is to 95% of beginners. If your hands are simply too large to play on such a small instrument, it may be advisable to get one of the intermediate sizes. In this case, go to a music shop and try playing the different sizes.

Price

Like most instruments, there is a huge range of prices available. DO NOT buy a ukulele for under $30. These ukuleles are built very cheaply and often will continually go out of tune, or simply sound terrible - like a toy instrument. There are ukes in the $30-$60 range that are not amazing, but usually won't have the problems mentioned above. As an aside, there are ukes $100+ and even $1000+, but we'll stay away from those for now.

Conclusion: Get a ukulele in the $30 - $60 price range.