Ukulele for a beginner ???

[Pieman]

My 24-year old daughter is thinking she wants to take up the ukulele.   Thoughts on size, brand?  She also plays piano and applies herself to most pursuits, so this could be more than a passing interest.

That mini-Squire strat wasn't enough to satisfy her stringed instrument curiosity. 

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dana_V]

The most common sizes are soprano, concert, tenor (all tuned G4–C4–E4–A4) and baritone, which is tuned the same as standard guitar tuning (D3–G3–B3–E4). (There is also a bass ukulele, which is tuned one octave up from a standard bass guitar and a contrabass ukulele, which is tuned the same as a standard bass.)

My daughter (age 15) is WAY into ukulele, and we've been very pleased with Lanikai and Luna.

I would recommend starting with a concert size; it's a "classic" uke without being too small (like a soprano).

Left to right:
Gremlin baritone
Luna "Tattoo" tenor
Lanikai concert
Luna Great Wave soprano (Unfortunately, Jake Shimabukuro's signature has worn completely off; he signed it for her when we saw him in concert.)

 

Last year I got her one of those build-it-yourself ukulele kits for her birthday, although it's more of an art piece than an actual instrument - plastic frets molded into the plastic fingerboard (note how the gold paint on the "frets" has already started to rub off).

Looks like that same Lanikai concert is on sale at Musician's Friend right now:
https://www.musiciansfriend.com/folk-traditional-instruments/lanikai-lu22cgc-concert-ukulele?rNtt=Lanikai%20LU22CGC%20Concert%20Ukulele%20Natural&index=1

[Steve Haynie]

Every music store has a ton of ukes now.  Go in and pick the salesman's brain for details.  By now they should have had enough questions that they learned something. 

[tbonesullivan]

I love my Lanikai Uke, when I remember that I have it.  Even a cheap uke can be much improved by putting good strings on it.

[HamerCustomEr]

Concert uke is a great size for a beginner.  Kala is my personal favourite brand.  The tuners are good at holding tune, the instrument sounds good, and it looks great!  You definitely want an instrument which will inspire the student to pick it up.

[Montelovesco]

Funny. My eight yrs old boy will get one for Christmas. Maybe they can jam together via zoom... 😌

[Jimbilly]

My (now) 13 year old daughter got one last Christmas, she has taught herself a bunch of chords and is actually pretty proficient.  She has just started playing more guitar, and has been proudly showing me her growing finger callouses.  She has some trouble with bar chords on guitar, including/especially F, that doesn't seem to be an issue with a Uke, her hands are pretty small, which doesn't help at all.