Baritone Uke for Child to Learn Guitar
 

Hi folks,

Well, with Christmas just around the corner grandpa wants to buy my 7 year old grand daughter a "real" instrument to learn guitar on. I've decided on a baritone uke (since the strings are the same as the 1st 4 guitar strings) and am looking at one that is inexpensive ($75-100 range). Any thoughts on which ones stay in tune and play the best ? What has your experience been ? Other thoughts ?

THANKS!

I switched from a baritone uke to guitar. Worked just fine. Easier for the child too.

Why not just go with an inexpensive travel guitar or guitalele...? :confused:

There is a non-profit organization named Guitars in the Classroom (GITC). They have taught 10's of thousands of school aged children to play ukulele and guitar.

They have a well developed process. They start children out on a ukulele tuned to open C. They go on to teach the children a one finger F chord, and a two finger G chord. Once the children know a I-IV-V progression, they can strum along to hundreds of songs.

This teaches the children the basic concepts of playing a fretted instrument as well basic strumming patterns and just generally keeping the beat. Once the children are comfortable, they can easily move on to playing a ukulele or guitar in standard tuning.

It is a method that is fun for the kids since they are playing and singing simple children's songs almost immediately.

My thought is to ask who they might be playing with? If they are with other ukuleles, then baritone can be a hindrance. It becomes necessary to always transpose (the chord shapes are really the same but because of the the tuning each shape has a different name. Example: the G7 chord on C-tuned ukulele is the D7 shape on G-tuned baritone and guitar). If they are playing with guitars, then a baritone uses the same shapes and notes on strings. You can watch the hands of other players for clues to chord shapes. Later if they move up to guitar the student needs only to figure out what to do with those extra bass strings.

I also recommend a baritone uke over most mini-guitars / guitalele, etc. I think you get a better quality baritone uke for the same dollars versus the mini guitars. Plus four strings are less to keep track of than six and the neck is narrower to better fit small developing hands.

I suggest the Makala in the $90 range and the Kala in the ~$200 range. It just depends on your budget and how much instrument you want in the hands of a seven year old. My collection includes a bunch of ukulele up to the $1500 price point, but my baritone is the $90 Makala.
https://kalabrand.com/products/mk-b?...7056927d&_ss=r

Searching the Kala website further, they have very few low-end baritone models in the line anymore. I was always fond of the baritone version of the travel ukes, but it does not show up any longer.

You will get good advice and good prices from Matt at Aloha City Ukes in Highland Park, IL.

alohacityukes.com

THANKS Earl -- my thought is teach her guitar, using a baritone uke as somewhat of a learner guitar for kids. I could play notes/chords on my guitar, which she could see and replicate. Not to mention we could play our instruments together. Appreciate the input! Now to see how focused on guitar she will be .. Life is Good!

Cheers!

Oscar Schmidt, believe it or not, can actually be pretty good in that price range. Of course Kala is good too, but may have to buy used for that amount. Cordoba is another brand I really like. They make nice baritones.

I ended up purchasing a couple baritones "unplanned" and those always end up more costly LOL (and they were......ha). One is an Ohana, the other from a Nicaraguan family (who build ukes and guitars).

Kala and Cordoba are good recommendations esp at the ~$100 price point and I'm not surprised to read the O Schmidt recommendation. I think you have many reasonable options at the $100 point and a 7 yr old.

I took a quick look online and the Makala mentioned above seems to still be available at a variety of other stores (e.g. eBay, Amazon, Guitar Center, Sweetwater...). I did not check if "in stock" but along with listings I saw, were also a few different models listed.

It's too bad that the two companies that design instruments with girls/women in mind, do not produce a baritone (they only do the smaller models). I love their colors, art deco patterns, etc. I've played a few guitars from each (and bought one to try for a while before giving it away), and found them to be good quality.

J

Good call on the Ohana, I really like their ukes.

You've gotten a lot of good advice here on ukes.

You most definitely have the right idea, if the goal is for her to play the guitar someday. I would not follow the suggestions of open tunings-- no need to make the transition more difficult when suddenly the notes move around.