Top 5 Best Ukuleles to Buy for Beginners
The following ukulele recommendations are based on my experience playing these ukuleles and/or your recommendations from the hundreds of comments below this post.
If I’m missing any great suggestions, please say something in the comments below!
For just under $50, you can play the fun and famous Makala Dolphin ukulele.
Don’t let the price of this ukulele fool you. People everywhere online rave about these. They are made out of plastic but they have great tone and playability for the price. Definitely replace the default strings that come with it with nicer higher-quality ukulele strings.
This is a perfect ukulele for beginners on a budget or those who want a good “throw-it-in-your-backpack” ukulele.
The Makala dolphin ukulele comes in a lot of different colors like: red, pearl white, black, light blue, metallic blue, pink, yellow, green, or purple.
For those who don’t like the idea of having a plastic ukulele, the Lanikai LU-21 soprano might be a better choice for you.
This is a laminate wood ukulele, but it’ll have the “look” of the real thing. Depending on how hard you play, you might have to tune the strings often. You also might find that the intonation is not perfect higher up on the fretboard. For a beginner’s ukulele, these get great reviews and you can’t go wrong.
This is easily the best bang-for-the-buck ukulele on this list.
Just recently I played the Donner concert ukulele, and for the price, I was quite impressed with the quality of the sound, how the ukulele held tuning, and the intonation up the ukulele fretboard.
Additionally, intonation up the fretboard was surprisingly good. Most budget ukuleles sound out of tune when you play notes high up the fretboard but not this one. Also tuning held nicely. Once the strings stretched and settled, tuning held well with small adjustments every 10 to 15 minutes of playing. In addition, with the ukulele, you get a strap, case, and tuner. It’s a really nice set up to get started. You can’t go wrong with the Donner concert ukulele.
You can also get the Donner ukulele in a smaller soprano size too for less money.
Based on your feedback in the comments, I had to include the Cordoba 15CM concert ukulele.
You all give this ukulele outstanding reviews in the comments at the bottom of this post. This ukulele sports a mahogany top, back, and sides. In addition to a concert size, the Cordoba also comes in a smaller soprano size and a larger tenor size.
If you have larger hands, go with the tenor so you have extra space for your fingers between the frets.
If you ever want to “plug in” and amplify the sound of your ukulele, then, the Kala KA-TE tenor ukulele is for you.
I play a Kala tenor ukulele for some of the video lessons in the Club Ukulele online ukulele lesson membership I teach and love it. It’s not the same ukulele as this one, but I can’t say enough great things about Kala ukuleles.
This ukulele has an electronic pickup which means if you ever want to perform your ukulele live and plug in to amplify the sound then this ukulele is for you.
For those with bigger fingers or larger hands, you might find soprano and concert ukuleles hard to play. If this sounds like you, look at a tenor sized ukulele. I have a tenor ukulele and it feels really comfortable to play and hold with my bigger hands. This Kala tenor ukulele is a great choice.
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