On an el cheapo uke... yes, they would suck.

Do just cain it. If you're new to the instrument, your fingertips will turn raw quite soon too so both your strings and fingertips will improve with practice.

yeah, they do go out of tune fast when new... and high default nuts cause them to play sharp, but if yours came with nylgut strings, then I'm expecting it to be a pretty decent Uke and not a Mahalo or other equivalent "starter" Uke.

Not that I've got much wrong with Mahalos, but you have to ensure you get the ones with geared tuners and not the friction pegs... geared tuners are far easier to tune and more stable when playing...

I've used the site before for chords for songs etc but my first time on the forum - I googled "why does my ukulele go out of tune so quickly?" and hey presto!

Good to know this will normalise but I also found advice on another site that if the nut is too high your uke will sound too sharp.

My uke came with Aquila nylgut strings which everyone seems to rate so I'll persevere.

~*Z*~

Good to hear I am not going to ruin my uke with wire strings!!

I have gotten well used to the uke now, I love it.

And I will look up this other instrument you mention, I have never heard of it but then that is no suprise, there are probably over 100 instruments i have never heard of.

Cheers

Ken

Happy plunking!

          -Travis

yep the strings have settled down a lot, I can pick it up and play without having to retune it every song.

I dont know this song but I might dowload it and listen, and if i like it then i might even learn it.

I dont know about a uke for crimbo yet, the woman that must be obeyed is atlkaing about getting me a scotland football top , which I cannot argue with either, so if I get that I either wait til feburary for a new uke or just go out and buy one,lol

hanx

Ken

Hopefully your strings have settled down by now. You may find the two pdfs files here useful (especially if you start giving Ukes for Christmas, whic can only be a good idea)

<a href="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vincent.hodgson/links.html" target="_blank">http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vincent.hodgson/links.html</a>

Vince

The strings have improved a lot, I think it was coz they were new, They are not wire strings though, just the nylon ones which probably made it worse.

I cant remember the brand name, I threw away the box, but it is just a wee cheap one for me to get started on to see if I liked it.

I am thinking of getting a better one with wire strings in feburary for me birthday.

I like the Uke a lot, the problem I have now is when I change from the Uke to the mandolin or vice versa I am getting confused with my chords since there are 4 string on each of the instruments.

then I go to the guitar,lol

Will take a while but I will manage through these confusing chord changes from instrument to instrument.

And for any uke lovers, Youtube has a great clip of a Uke orchestra play nirvana's " smells like teen spirit", it is a fantastic version,

yep the uke certainly is a great wee instrument.

Hanx

Ken

Of course, if you've already bought expensive new string, don't worry about it. If your old strings were el cheapo, then the new ones will be an improvement. And if the old ones were already aquality set of strings well, now you have an extra set. ^_^

   Stuckinkiel

as far as tuning goes:

1=A

2=E

3=C

4=G

as far as staying in tune goes, if you are playing the with the strings that the uku came with, stop and change them out. i prefer Ko'olau gold, all plain, concert size.

the concert size is a bit longer and thicker than standard.  also ukulele strings tend to take longer to settle in.

some ukers like Worth, some like Aquila. i've tried them both and Ko'olau is my favorite.

if, after changing strings, you are still having tuning issues, it might be the uke.

what brand did you buy?

A soprano one, one with 4 nylon strings on it.

I am having fun annoying my wife with it at the moment, i only wish it was louder.  <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_lol.gif" border=0 alt="Laughing">

so anyway, any other players out there find it goes out of tune too easily? i play it then almost instantly it is out of tune, maybe only a very small bit, but stil out of tune. And if I leave it after playing for 10 or 20 minutes all strings are out of tune. I have not used my tuner so much in such little time.

And what a hard time I am having trying to play Em and even E. I have biggish fingers, not exactly skinny wee things and this fret board is teeny.

Same as the mandolin really but on the mandolin I only have problem playing  the chord F.

anyone know about the tuning?

anyone know about bigger fingers playing chords on these instruments?

Cheers

Ken