Hi Joe,

My problem with the soprano ukes is that I'm all fingers and thumbs on that narrow neck.

I tried a few of the larger uke sizes at the music shop and the sales assistant also told me that she owns a concert size Lanikai, which is almost as big as a tenor size. I bought it and it has a beautiful sound. I also upgraded to some better strings (Aquila) using the low G string rather than the strange, mind-bending high, low, high, higher GCEA arrangement which most ukes have.

I have discovered that I can now pick out tunes on the uke - unlike most other instruments I have tried, and I can also remember the tunes which is a breakthrough for me. I'm still very much in the absolute beginner stage but I am happy that I decided to jump on the uke bandwagon.

I very rarely play the soprano (plinky-plunky) uke now because I like the sound of the concert uke better.

Mudcatter gillymor recommended Mike Lynch for uke tutorials. My current project is to perfect the Travis picking styles as shown in his video tutorials.

My best advice is: Just Do It!

Helen