Best ukulele

Our first Ukulele is a rich, soprano with a traditional sound. Mahogany on the back helps with resonance while a rosewood fingerboard is comfortable and durable. Chrome-plated tuners don’t slip after you tune, solving a common problem with cheap Ukuleles.

It has a really fun design on the fretboard, swirling clouds that move up from one end to the other. The sunburst design around the soundhole completes the beachy theme. It’s comfortable enough for beginners but should satisfy more advanced players with a pure, rich sound.

Donner makes excellent Ukuleles. These aren’t the cheap, big-box store instruments that are always falling out of tune. This one comes with everything you’d need as a beginner, including a strap, a case, and a tuner.

The strings are carbon nylon and should be durable through quite a few tunings. They have a clear sound with no buzzing. Fret position marks starting at the fifth fret, and the bridge design makes it easy to change the strings out.

The soprano style ukulele may be difficult for people with larger hands to pick and play. If you have large hands or very long fingers, you may be happier with a concert-style instrument.

Vivictory’s concert-style Ukulele is a gorgeous painted instrument with a unique paint splash design. The body and neck are mahogany while the top is spruce. This wood combination creates more resonance, so your Ukulele projects farther despite its small size.

Rosewood fingerboard is durable and comfortable to play. Die-cast tuners prevent slipping so the Ukulele will stay in tune longer.

It comes with a beginner’s kit that includes picks, a strap, a bag, and a tuner with batteries. The nylon string is soft and comfortable to play. It produces a sweet sound without buzzing.

Concert Ukuleles are slightly bigger than sopranos, so you may find it more comfortable to play as a beginner or if you have larger hands. The sound isn’t much different, but this particular one is good at projecting.

The tuner is convenient, but we didn’t think it was very good. We ended up downloading an app to our smartphone to keep things tuned.

This concert Ukulele uses mahogany for a rich sound while the rosewood fretboard increases comfort and durability. The frets have a coating that resists oxidation, so the oils from your fingers won’t wear down the finish as quickly.

THey’ve designed the neck to resist warping and cracking. The intended audience is children, and this instrument comes with a lot in its kit. Your child gets a water-resistant bag, a tuner, a book, picks, a strap, an extra pair of nylon strings, and a cleaning cloth. Because today’s kids are video-oriented, it also comes with one free online lesson and online lectures for beginner students.

It comes with a three-year limited warranty against mattress defects. It takes a few days for the strings to stretch, so your tuning may be off until the strings settle. The tuning pegs stay put pretty well. The one downside is that if your child is elementary-aged, they may want a smaller, soprano style Ukulele.

This beautiful, dark Ukulele is a tenor style. It has a unique walnut fingerboard for a bright wood that will age beautifully with use. The rest of the instrument is mahogany for a deeper, richer sound.

It’s a standard tenor size, giving you a bit of room on the frets. The frets are marked starting with the fifth, and the bridge style makes it easy to change the strings. The matte finish ages well with the natural oils of your hands.

The sound should satisfy even an advanced player. Tuning knobs are anti-slip, which is a common problem in cheap Ukuleles. It comes with a gig bag with backpack straps, a chromatic tuner that attaches to the head, and a DVD. The cleaning cloth is gentle enough to clean without scratching.

The tuner works on vibrations, so there’s no need to have a quiet room to get the tuning just right. The case isn’t that great, so you may want to upgrade later. The DVD is very basic, and you may want to find other information sources if you’re a beginner.

The Luna Uke is a beautifully designed soprano Ukulele that comes with a hardshell case. It’s spruce, which has a brighter, clearer sound than mahogany, and features natural Hawaiian designs.

The frets are marked with stylized shark teeth and begin on the third fret. It includes nylon strings, for comfortable playing. The soprano size is excellent for those with smaller hands and for children who are just learning.

The kit comes with a tuner, a hardshell case, and a cleaning cloth. It doesn’t come with a strap, which is a shame but not a dealbreaker.

The tuning pegs do experience a small amount of slippage so make sure you can adequately tune it each time you play it. However, it’s a good value for the money, and the addition of the hardshell case makes this one more useful for travel because of the protection and the storage pockets.

Kala’s soprano ukulele uses the standard composite wood for the back and sides but includes a pleasant surprise for the top tonewood, Kauri. Kauri’s sound has extra sustain and warmth, making this one of the best sounding ukes in our opinion.

The neck is mahogany, which is comfortable and ages well. The body is painted vintage seafoam green. The bridge has a fun, shark shape, an excellent detail for this Hawaiian instrument.

The kit comes with a gig bag, a clip-on chromatic tuner that you can leave on while you play, and a polishing cloth. It also includes a basic DVD to help you get started.

The soprano size is suitable for beginners and those with smaller hands, but be aware that if your hands are larger, you may want to go with the larger concert size.

The composite wood does help cut down on cost, considering the unique tonewood they used, but we’d always like to see a solid wood back and side for even better tone. However, it does help make this an affordable option.

This is the concert-style version of the very first ukulele we shared. It’s slightly larger but features the same quality woods as the first. The mahogany body is vibrant and gives you a good sustain for such a small instrument. A rosewood fingerboard is comfortable and durable to play.

This ukulele isn’t decorated. Instead, Donner allowed the natural beauty of the wood to shine through with a simple inlay design around the soundhole and small dot style fret markers beginning on the fifth fret.

It uses chrome-plated tuning pegs that resist slipping, so you hopefully won’t have to tune as often once your strings settle. The bridge makes it easy to change the strings. Carbon nylon strings are soft but very durable.

It comes with everything a beginner would need. You have a bag, a strap, and a digital clip-on tuner. Changing strings is easy, but you may have to google a video the first time you do it because the bridge doesn’t mimic that of a guitar.

If you do a lot of ukulele solos, you’ll appreciate this design. It’s the only one on the list with a cutaway to help you get to those higher frets for solo work. It’s a concert size, and while it’s suitable for beginners, we recommend it for players with experience.

The matte wood finish is gorgeous and should age well. A mahogany body is bright and resonant with rich tones. Rosewood on the fretboard is comfortable and durable. Die-cast chrome tuning pegs help keep it in tune longer.

The maple bridge holds strings in place and is stronger than other bridge woods. A bone nut and saddle is a beautiful design detail. It’s a gorgeous instrument, hands down. It comes with a gig bag, but no strap or tuner.

Our final ukulele is our third one from Donner. This one uses a unique Zebrawood for the body. Not only does it have beautiful grain, but it highlights darker tones. This can give your ukulele a slightly different sound than the standard uke. We love it.

The rosewood fingerboard is comfortable and durable. Frets are marked with a unique star pattern beginning on the fifth fret. The body has handmade, deluxe bindings for a striking look. This is by far one of our most beautiful ukes.

It comes with a strap, a chromatic tuner, and a case. The tuning pegs help resist tune slipping, and the nylon strings have a nice, comfortable feel.

The soprano size may not be suitable for all adults. If you’ve got large hands, a concert size might be more appropriate for you.