I came across a group of people of all ages, playing the ukulele outside when visiting a town near me last weekend. The music they were making was great, I spent about fifteen minutes listening to them before moving on. What a happy little group.
Since then I have been thinking, what a nice little instrument to learn to play and have been doing a bit of googling, seems there are four different types, concert being the smallest, soprano, tenor and baritone being the largest.
First three I believe are tuned from fourth string, G, C, E and A with that bottom G actually the G above the open C string to help bring out the tone of the instrument.
I am tempted if I do actually buy a Uke to go with the baritone that is tuned to the top four strings of the guitar, and coming from the guitar would make it a bit easier. The others would be ok too as a lot of the chord shapes as the same as the guitar I believe.
I do want to mess around with some melodic stuff, playing a few melodies so another reason to go with the baritone.
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2025, Cubase 14, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
With a uke tuned to G_C_E_A the fingering is the same as a guitar but the chord name is a 4th higher than the guitar chord name, i.e. a uke fingered like a guitar G chord is a C uke chord. See chart below:
I arrived early to a restaurant. The manager asks, "do you mind waiting a bit?" I said no. "Good", he said. "Take these drinks to table 3"
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
Yep, I have a couple to strum on, and they're fun.
As you mentioned, the baritone is tuned the same as the top four strings on a guitar. The soprano has a different tuning, but if you're a guitarist it's the same fingering, just different pitches.
I've also got a Hadean UKB-22 NM bass, which is essentially a knock-off of the U-Bass. Thick silicone strings on a ukulele-sized body. Great if you're looking for an electrified upright bass sound without all the baggage or cost! Plus, it's fun looking at people's faces when I play it and they hear the sound that comes out.
My first stringed instrument was a uke, bought in 1968 in Matchetts, Belfast, for the princely sum of 1 UK pound. I currently tutor a small group in U3A at Gransha, 11.30 a.m. Mondays. A couple of weeks ago we entertained about 50 OAPs on a train trip to Coleraine as part of Positive Ageing Month promoted by local GPs. We also have an upcoming gig as part of the Guildhall Christmas Craft Fair.
The naming is determined by scale length (distance from nut to bridge saddle) Soprano-14", Concert-15", Tenor-17", Baritone-19". These measurements can vary but are a reasonable guide. The original instrument was Soprano sized and was a Hawaiian version of a small instrument brought over by Portuguese migrants ( Machete ) You are correct about the tuning intervals though in the early 1900s, a D F# B was considered standard. With g C E A tuning your guitar D chord becomes G, F becomes Bb, etc. As Mario said everything is a fourth up. The octave higher 4th string is called re-entrant tuning and is what gives ukes their distinctive sound. For melody linear tuning would give you greater range than re-entrant, but you lose the distinct sound. In my opinion Baritones can sound like a typical small guitar marketed for children, they're neither one thing nor the other. I would recommend nothing bigger than a Tenor, but bear in mind that the only scale for gentlemen is Soprano
Since we are in the same neck of the woods, why not drop in and see us on a Monday session.
Good Luck Vintage
re the Song book you mentioned, I've seen that and several others, all of varying accuracy. These seem to be put together by people "copy and pasting" from various sites without any checking or editing. I would recommend Jim's Ukulele and Guitar Songs, https://ozbcoz.com/Songs/index.php# as a good source to compile your own song book from.
Last edited by VintageGibson; 10/21/2306:54 PM. Reason: additional info
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
Bought my wife one, she was learning. I picked it up and was playing in no time. easy to learn chords. sounds great. I nice KOA body and built in electronics. great to sing along to. I might learn it a little better.
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96
I've got one. I've also got a mandolin. I tend to play the mandolin more.
A friend of mine has a mandolin and his wife got interested in learning to play an instrument and decided on the ukulele. She's in a ukulele band and they go out to different events and perform.
Maybe I should tune up the uke and give it a shot. Maybe not.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.com Add nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.
The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
I kind-of play a uke. I started a few months back and persuaded Sue also to have a go. She always protests "but I can't read music, you know that!". For the record, I'm also pretty poor at reading. You don't have to read to be able to strum chords and sing along.
So we both do a bit; we go to a local ukulele jam session and it's quite good fun. We tried here to get a local U3A group going, but with too few takers.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2026 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
Thanks a lot folks for all the replies which were very helpful. Looks like the Uke is getting even more popular, and is fun to learn and play.
Now if I didn't hear that group playing I wouldn't be even asking for advice or even thinking of buying one. So it seems the groups themselves are even making the Uke more popular by just going out to perform.
When you think about it how often do you see a group of thirty or forty people in a public place playing only guitars.
Vintage has given some good advice and I will now buy a tenor rather than a baritone, I can see the point its neither a guitar or standard ukulele and will sound differently to a standard Uke with its guitar like tuning.
Its great to know there are classes where I live, so definitely will be keeping that in mind, thanks a lot for the invite.
Now back to browsing ukes on Amazon, not the greatest I know for delivering instruments well packed.
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2025, Cubase 14, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
Vintage has given some good advice and I will now buy a tenor rather than a baritone, I can see the point its neither a guitar or standard ukulele and will sound differently to a standard Uke with its guitar like tuning.
I'd planned to buy a baritone, but visited the local uke sessions and tried several instruments. In practice I found both tenor and concert were generally OK and even soprano didn't seem too small for my rather chunky fingers (I have trouble with synth keyboards where I can play F#, G and Ab with just one finger on the G).
I ended up buying from a ukulele-dedicated store here in the UK, having been by the "we know how to set them up properly and we do set them all up properly" pitch. Their prices were reasonable, they didn't sell junk and postage was included. I used southernukulelestore.co.uk but I think others are likely also good. They have very useful video reviews.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2026 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2025, Cubase 14, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
Thanks Gordon, that sure looks like an Aladdins Cave of Uke's.
They go in and out of stock a bit, so the reviews aren't always up to date. Alex also runs a YouTube channel "Ukes with Alex". The other well specialist dealer I know here is WorldOfUkes.co.uk. I don't know if there's comparable in Ireland. A web search shows plenty of dealers and the like.
As a total beginner with ukulele I also find the playalongs useful. I rather like one on YouTube, aimed a children, called ukulaliens.
USGB.co.uk has good info and song-sheets. doctoruke.com ozbcoz.com gotaukulele.com enough :-)
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2026 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
Hehe. FWIW, I personally always try to defer to the pronunciation in the original language/dialect for any word. The obvious exception is in Xhosa, because like most non-native speakers I just can't get those clicks to work.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2026 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
"Hehe. FWIW, I personally always try to defer to the pronunciation in the original language/dialect for any word."
Following that logic do you pronunce Paris as Paree, Munich as Munchen or Minga in Bavarian dialect? Try this placename for a laugh; Ahoghill.
Musiclover, check out gotaukulele.com. Baz is UK based and has been reviewing ukes for a few years and seems pretty honest in his reviews. He also has a few articles on what to look for and what to avoid.
Got a £50 tenor arriving from Amazon tomorrow, not a big outlay and I'll see how I get on with it. Can always get a better one if I decide it's worthwhile.
I have got a few good deals in guitars from Amazon in the past, good enough playable instruments, only caveat is Amazon simply don't know how to package an instrument, they will more or less send it in a cardboard box without any packing or bubble wrap and in a lot of cases it's in pieces when the buyer gets it, happened once with me.
So hopefully this cheapish one will survive the journey. Will have a look at a few Uke's on that website Vintage.
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2025, Cubase 14, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
"Hehe. FWIW, I personally always try to defer to the pronunciation in the original language/dialect for any word."
Following that logic do you pronunce Paris as Paree, Munich as Munchen or Minga in Bavarian dialect? Try this placename for a laugh; Ahoghill.
Well, there was a try in my sentence, but yes I would prefer to pronounce Paree and Munchen (though Munich of course is an anglicised spelling). I try. Quite hard. In reality there are several languages with which I sometimes struggle ... some Dutch words and many eastern European words, but I try. My guess on Ahoghill wasn't far from the online pronunciation I found, but I have to presume that was reasonably correct (aHOh'l)
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2026 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
While we're completely off topic, when I visited I was reminded by the local fraternity that 'Munchen' was the correct pronunciation, and I respect that they could offer their own help to correct my mistaken dialog.
A fantastic city, by the way. Absolutely enjoyable.
Now, back to the main program....
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
Well arrived in one piece today better packed than I thought it would be, seems a nice little instrument has a mahogany body, very light, I was a bit apprehensive tuning it up, as I have never tuned anything up to A 440 before. Had a little play around with it, glad I didn't go for any of the smaller sizes than the tenor.
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2025, Cubase 14, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
Looks pretty good. From the photo it seems to be strung re-entrant, if you decide to go linear you may need to widen the G string nut slot. Good luck. Vintage
XPro & Xtra Styles PAK Sets On Sale Now - Until May 15, 2026!
All of our XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAKs are on sale until May 15th, 2026!
It's the perfect time to expand your Band-in-a-Box® style library with XPro and Xtra Styles PAKs. These additional styles for Band-in-a-Box® offer a wide range of genres designed to fit seamlessly into your projects. Each style is professionally arranged and mixed, helping enhance your songs while saving you time.
What are XPro Styles and Xtra Styles PAKs?
XPro Styles PAKs are styles that work with any version (Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition) of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). XPro Styles PAKS 1-10 includes 1,000 styles!
Xtra Styles PAKs are styles that work with the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box® 2025 (or higher). Xtra Styles PAKs 1-21 includes 3,700 styles (and 35 MIDI styles)!
The XPro & Xtra Styles PAKs are not included in any Band-in-a-Box® package.
The XPro Styles PAKs 1-10 are available for only $29 ea (reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Listen to demos and order now! For Mac or for Windows.
The Xtra Styles PAKs 1-21 are available for only $29 ea (reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the Xtra Styles PAK Bundle for only $199 (reg. $349)! Listen to demos and order now! For Mac or for Windows.
Note: XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 19 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version as they require the RealTracks included in the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
Supercharge your Band-in-a-Box today with XPro Styles PAKs and Xtra Styles PAK Sets!
With the release of Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac, we’re rolling out a collection of brand-new videos on our YouTube channel. We’ll keep this forum post updated so you can easily find all the latest videos in one convenient spot.
Whether you're exploring new features, checking out the latest RealTracks or Style PAKs, this is your go-to guide for Band-in-a-Box® 2026.
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac is here and it is packed with major new features! There’s a new modern look, a GUI redesign to all areas of the program including toolbars, windows, workflow and more. There’s a Multi-view layout for organizing multiple windows. A standout addition is the powerful AI-Notes feature, which uses AI neural-net technology to transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI—entire mixes or individual instruments—making it easy to study, view, and play parts from any song. And that’s just the beginning—there are over 100 new features in this exciting release.
Along with version 2026, we've released an incredible lineup of new content! There's 202 new RealTracks, brand-new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two new RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
Special Offers
Upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac and save up to 50% on most upgrade packages during our special offer—available until May 15, 2026. Visit our Band-in-a-Box® packages page to explore all available upgrade options.
2026 Free Bonus PAK & 49-PAK Add-ons
Our Free Bonus PAK and 49-PAK are loaded with amazing add-ons! The Free Bonus PAK is included with most Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Mac packages, but you can unlock even more—including 20 unreleased RealTracks—by upgrading to the 2026 49-PAK for just $49.
Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® users: Build 904 now available!
If you're already using Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®, make sure to grab the latest update! Build 904 is now available for download and includes the newest additions and enhancements from our team.
One of our representatives will be happy to help you over the phone. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday, and 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST Saturday. We are closed Sunday. You can also send us your questions via email.
One of our representatives will be happy to help you on our Live Chat or by email. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday; 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST (GMT -8) Saturday; Closed Sunday.
Dansk
Deutsch - Windows
Español
Français - Windows
Italiano - Windows
Nederlands
Polski
Português
Svenskt
русский
Japanese
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Korean