Kinds of mandolin, banjo and ukulele

Each of these instruments comes in several sizes and builds, and the names are not always used the same way from one maker or country to the next. How each is played in lessons is on the mandolin, banjo and ukulele lessons page.

Ukulele sizes

The four common sizes differ mainly in scale length. The longer the scale, the wider apart the frets and the tighter the strings at the same pitch.

Scale lengths vary by maker by about half an inch either way.

High G or low G

Standard tuning is re-entrant: the G string sits above middle C, higher than the C string beside it. That high G produces the close, bright strum the ukulele is known for. Low-G tuning drops that string an octave, which adds five lower notes and a fuller bass but loses some of the bright character. The low-G string is often wound, and the option is most common on tenor and concert instruments, where the longer scale keeps the thick string under usable tension.

The baritone is tuned D-G-B-E like the top four strings of a guitar, usually with a low D, so its strings run from low to high in order.

Laminate or solid wood

A laminate body is made of thin layers of wood glued together. It tolerates knocks and humidity changes well, which matters for children and for travel. A solid top vibrates more freely and usually gives more volume and sustain, but dry indoor heat in winter can crack it, so a solid ukulele is best kept in a case with a humidifier.

Which size for children and adults

Young children usually start on a soprano, because the short scale and narrow neck fit small hands. Adults often find soprano frets cramped, so a concert is the usual adult starting size: more room for the fingers with the same tuning and a similar sound. A tenor gives more room again and more low-end body. A baritone suits a guitarist who wants known chord shapes, but most ukulele songbooks are written for G-C-E-A, so its chord names will not match them.

Mandolin

The mandolin has four pairs of steel strings, called courses, tuned G-D-A-E like a violin. Most carved and flat-top mandolins have a scale close to 14 in, which varies slightly by maker. The choices are body shape, construction and sound hole.

A-style and F-style

An A-style mandolin has a symmetrical teardrop body. An F-style adds a scroll on the upper bass side of the body and decorative points along its edge. The difference is mostly cosmetic: the scroll and points take much more carving and finishing work, which is why an F-style usually costs more than an A-style of the same build quality. Any difference in sound is small compared with the effect of the top, the bracing and the sound hole.

Construction and sound holes

The f-hole mandolin's short decay suits the bluegrass chop: a closed chord struck on the offbeat and cut short by releasing finger pressure, which works like a snare drum in a band without one. An oval hole lets single notes and drones ring longer, which suits melody playing in folk and Celtic music.

The mandolin family

The names differ between the US and Europe. In the US, "mandola" means the C-G-D-A instrument and "octave mandolin" the G-D-A-E instrument an octave down. In Britain and Ireland, the C-G-D-A instrument is usually called a tenor mandola and the instrument an octave below the mandolin an octave mandola; elsewhere in Europe, a plain "mandola" can mean either. When buying, check the tuning and scale length rather than the name.

Banjo

A banjo's top is a drumhead, now usually synthetic, stretched over a round wooden rim. The head's tension, adjusted at the brackets around the rim, has a large effect on the tone. The bridge on both banjos and most mandolins is not glued down: it is held in place by string pressure, and its position sets the tuning accuracy up the neck.

Resonator or open-back

These are traditions, not rules: either banjo can play either style, but its sound pulls toward one.

Banjo types

The five-string's short fifth string is tuned to a high g from a peg at the fifth fret. Old-time players often retune the whole banjo for different keys; open G is the standard starting tuning.

The tenor and plectrum banjos have no drone string. The tenor was the banjo of early jazz and dance bands, and the shorter 17-fret tenor in Irish tuning is common in Irish traditional sessions. The plectrum banjo has the long neck of a five-string without the fifth string and is used mainly for chord-melody playing in early jazz.

The banjo-ukulele, or banjolele, puts a ukulele neck and tuning on a small banjo body. It is louder and brighter than a wooden ukulele and uses the same chord shapes. The six-string banjo, sometimes called a banjitar, puts guitar tuning on a banjo body, so a guitarist gets a banjo tone with familiar chord shapes, but without the five-string's drone.

Before buying

• Action: the string height above the frets. High action makes any of these instruments hard to play and is the most common fault on inexpensive ones.
• Intonation: the note fretted at the 12th fret should be exactly an octave above the open string. On a mandolin or banjo, moving the bridge corrects it.
• On a banjo, the head should be tight and even; a slack head sounds dull.

Getting advice

Choosing between these, or checking an old instrument handed down from a relative, is a good use of the free intro visit. Lessons on all three are described on the mandolin, banjo and ukulele page.

Questions