Ukulele for 4 year old that will chord similar to guitar?

[jgmaute]

Originally Posted by Earl49

This would be a "C" tuning [GCEG] where strumming across all four strings gives you a C major chord. The IV chord (F) can be barred on the fifth fret, and the V chord (G) can be barred on the 7th fret. I've used this trick to work with seniors who have badly arthritic hands. It gets them playing some basic tunes without messing with chord shapes much.

There are those who espouse teaching guitar in the same way, at first using Open G tuning [DGDGBD]. Most chords are two fingers or three fingers in friendly shapes, or a simple barre. Later on you can make a minor departure and learn the full chord shapes using the weirdest of all possible tunings - standard.

Yes, I am an instructor and board member for Guitars ( and ukes) In The Classroom. We’re a 19-year-old non-profit. We teach classroom teachers guitar and/or ukulele and to write new lyrics to common songs to help kids learn. They in turn not only sing to their students but group write songs in class and set up strumming stations so kids can play too (music teachers teach the uke or guitar as an instrument with most electing uke). We start them in open G for guitar and open C for uke. It really gets them playing quickly. Rather than barre chords on the uke, we use one- and two-finger shapes initially then add three- finger shapes. Once they’ve got the hang of that we move to barre, they have a lot of fun with blues using barres. Ultimately we transition them to standard tuning.

[Earl49]

I once used Open G tuning to teach a fellow who wanted to play guitar while riding a unicycle. Simple barres left his brain power available for balance, rather than making standard chord grips.

[fishwatcher]

A Yamaha GL-1 Guitalele is a 6 (nylon) string guitar, that is ukulele sized. You can play play it like a guitar, and it will sound like one with a capo @ the 5th. Songs will sound right, just higher pitched compared to it being played on a guitar without a capo.

It's fun, even for adults (smaller, dextrous hands probably help), it's not too expensive (just under $100), and is a quality Yamaha instrument. Search for songs on YouTube with this instrument, and you'll be amazed.

I owned this one for a couple of years, and then sold it to fund a more higher quality small guitar, the Taylor Baby. I would have kept it, had I not had a house guitar limit, imposed by my better half.



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[Tony Burns]

My suggestion would be to get a downsized yamaha
classical -they come in different sizes -think they have a
1/4 , 1/3 etc sizes -and their not all that pricey -classical's
are easier on young hands .

i have a guitalee -its ok but its not tuned to eadgbe
Their is a way to get strings for it that will play in tune with a guitar -
theirs a utube video for that ( cant recall the brands )
Im not sure if its good for small hands - Id still say
try a smaller classical -