Buying a ukulele can be an overwhelming and tricky job, especially if you're looking for a beginner or basic ukulele. There are so many from which to choose, and quality is not always a function of price. Keep in mind though, that if you want more than a toy and want a ukulele that you can play seriously, it's unlikely that you will get much acoustic value by responding to a pitch of ukuleles for sale $30 or $40 (pun intended).

Basic ukuleles come in four sizes or types. They range from the largest, a baritone, down through tenor, concert and soprano, each a little smaller than the previous. You can find anything from a high quality, well playing instrument down to what is little more than a toy. There truly is a very wide range of style and quality.

Before your purchase, it is important to consider the use you plan to make of your ukulele, and how "serious" you are about that use. We're talking serious fun here, which depends on the quality and playability of the instrument itself. Suffice it to say, regardless of all other considerations, the primary focus should be on how seriously it will be played. Let that seriousness be your measure of both quality and price.

Extend that serious consideration to whoever is the intended user, if it's for someone else. Regardless of the user's age and level or playing proficiency, how serious will that person approach this instrument's playability? If this is a gift for someone just learning to play (a beginner ukulele makes a very unique Christmas gift), is that person serious about playing, even if just playing for fun? It has been suggested that putting a low quality ukulele in the hands of a beginner is a huge mistake.

Whether for your own use or as a gift for someone else, (it can be a very unique Christmas gift) beginner or pro, young or old, the more and better you expect to play, the higher the quality you will need and, as a rule, the higher the quality the more you can expect to pay. There are of course exceptions, but you can expect to get what you pay for. Once you determine the quality and price (your budget), next is to decide which of the four instruments will supply your need.

Soprano For a beginner the soprano is a good place to start. Early ukuleles were just about all soprano-sized. It's the smallest, and from the beginning it became the classic size with the classic sound. Many gifted ukulele players swear by the soprano. Simple to play by comparison, nothing quite compares to strumming away on the smallest, some say the purest, ukulele.

With the emphasis on playing chords and strumming, playing the soprano is easier to learn than the others, but in many ways it's harder to master. Creating or playing routines involving more finger picking can be difficult, and achieving good resonance can be difficult.

Although good for the young beginner, the soprano's smaller size may make you think it is only for children or people with small hands and fingers. Don't be fooled. Great soprano players come in all sizes, and many large players swear by it. Its popularity among seasoned players makes for a wider variety from which to choose, and as a rule you will see the soprano ukulele will priced lower.

Concert Concert is a little bigger than soprano and it therefore sounds bigger. You'll find more middle range, more alto, and a somewhat deeper, mellower sound. Some players find that a concert is easier to hold than the smaller soprano. The traditional ukulele sound with more complex playing potential makes the concert an instrument that offers the best of both worlds.

If you like to strum and fingerpick and should you not be entirely comfortable with the reduced size of soprano, the concert ukulele may be a good compromise. It has the same tuning as the soprano, gCEA, and has that same unmistakable ukulele sound, with more resonance for a fuller tone. It's not a guitar, but with some serious practice, you can learn to play whatever you want to play. So we're back to that seriousness again.

Tenor The tenor ukulele can be used for more advanced solo playing i.e. Jake Shimabukuro. It has more of a guitar-like tone, more finger room that allows faster play, and lends itself to more complex runs. Its size produces a deeper, fuller, more resonant quality in sound and tone. The fourth string can be tuned an octave lower, giving it even further range.

Baritone The baritone's crisp, fuller sound can begin to make one think of a guitar. Make no mistake, the baritone is all ukulele, but if you are just beginning to play guitar, you will have an easier time learning to play a baritone uke. It can actually help your guitar practice and vice versa. The baritone is tuned like a four string guitar. The two top strings (base) are not there, so it plays like a guitar with no top end.

After you consider the cost plus your level of musical ability and interest in playing (seriousness), you are ready to go shopping. But before we go, there is one additional possibility that can make your selection even more meaningful. After you've checked out the complete range of ukuleles available to you, consider the possibility of building your own ukulele from scratch or assembling one from a kit.

If you like the challenge of building one from scratch, you can find reams of internet sites loaded with schematics and plans for building from scratch. Other sites, and there are many, contain basic ukulele building kits that include all the basic components to which you can add modifications constrained only by your creative imagination. Complete, good-quality, well playing instruments at reasonable prices, made from everyday components, are available in connection with the tramp art music culture. Many of these use cigar boxes for sound boards that have surprising resonance. These boxes usually have a wooden back, but you don't have to use their box; your kit fabrication can include a simple box that you make yourself.

Whether you purchase a completed instrument, build from a cigar box ukulele kit or a conventional ukulele kit, or if you decide to build your own from scratch, you're in for some serious fun. And remember this serious observation-you can't play a sad song on a ukulele. Here's to you; good luck and good building.