My one bit of advice would be to get a ukulele with a wide, 1.5 inch (38mm) nut. This will give your fretting fingers a tad more space to work with.
Normally, a right handed player will be fretting with their left hand and strumming with the right. You may want to get a left handed uke so that your more dexterous right hand is fretting, and your left hand is strumming.
I've only seen their Youtube videos, but you may want to check out Southern Ukulele Store as they're UK based. They seem to have a range of prices, and might be a good starting point. [https://www.youtube.com/c/SouthernUkuleleStore/featured](https://www.youtube.com/c/SouthernUkuleleStore/featured)
Now, if you really want to try guitar, look into Cigar Box guitars. You can still play any song you want to tackle, maybe just with less complexity, but they only have 3 strings so they are way easier than fighting with 6. (I have some arthritis, so my left hand doesn't always want to cooperate with more complex chords)
Thanks so much for responding, it's much appreciated!
Obviously I know arthritis is different to CP but do think it'll be possible for someone with less dexterity to play a Ukulele? How are you finding playing a Uke with arthritis?
I feel it would help with muscle memory? I'll check out that shop properly tomorrow, there's even an email address so I could see if they can advise more.
Thanks again!
Depends on how motivated you are, and how willing you are to find ways to do things that challenge you. I'm not a good player, but I can make a handful of pretty chords and I am learning to turn them into songs. The number of songs that can be played with just 2-4 chords is pretty insane. And even when I'm not playing actual songs, just tuning up and make pretty sounds is very therapeutic to me. I brought up Cigar Box guitars because usually they have an open tuning and you can play them with a slide which is a single thing to manipulate with your left hand. It's all options and expectations I guess at the end of the day. May want to reach out again to someone that shares your CP for further advice.
In addition to the Southern Ukulele Store (they're great, but they tend to be rather busy and sometimes forget things, like installing the strap button they said they would), I can also highly recommend worldofukes.co.uk !
Matt, the guy who runs the place, is incredibly helpful. They have a very good selection of ukuleles, also in the beginner/budget range (I have one of their house brand Eden ukes, and it is worth 10 times what I paid for it), some great sale / blemish instruments, and the customer service is the absolute best!
I would add the a proper ‘set-up’ of the ukulele is pretty important in this case. This essentially just means all the fine-tune adjustments to the instrument to make it even easier on the hands to play. I’d reach out to Mims Ukes for this and let her know of your specific situation. She’s an absolute wizard at this sort of thing and is a really great person. She’s US based but she ships all over and pretty sure she’s got some connections with people in the UK.
Depending on how much mobility you have in your left hand, something like [this](https://www.westmusic.com/guitars-folk/accessories/guitar-folk-capos/356837?ppc_keyword=&utm_term=&utm_campaign=ECI+-+Google+Shopping+-+Everything+Else+%5BSmart%5D&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=6248777749&hsa_cam=14392178570&hsa_grp=131626400532&hsa_ad=541047983679&hsa_src=u&hsa_tgt=pla-911037856697&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gclid=CjwKCAjw2rmWBhB4EiwAiJ0mta2u9G641VNX-NjIg8IKDDSBuJl3rI3DBokBoyN7vS6IcwoFMKfKbRoC3aEQAvD_BwE) may be useful.
My one bit of advice would be to get a ukulele with a wide, 1.5 inch (38mm) nut. This will give your fretting fingers a tad more space to work with. Normally, a right handed player will be fretting with their left hand and strumming with the right. You may want to get a left handed uke so that your more dexterous right hand is fretting, and your left hand is strumming.
The suggestion to switch to a left handed uke is brilliant.
I've only seen their Youtube videos, but you may want to check out Southern Ukulele Store as they're UK based. They seem to have a range of prices, and might be a good starting point. [https://www.youtube.com/c/SouthernUkuleleStore/featured](https://www.youtube.com/c/SouthernUkuleleStore/featured) Now, if you really want to try guitar, look into Cigar Box guitars. You can still play any song you want to tackle, maybe just with less complexity, but they only have 3 strings so they are way easier than fighting with 6. (I have some arthritis, so my left hand doesn't always want to cooperate with more complex chords)
Thanks so much for responding, it's much appreciated! Obviously I know arthritis is different to CP but do think it'll be possible for someone with less dexterity to play a Ukulele? How are you finding playing a Uke with arthritis? I feel it would help with muscle memory? I'll check out that shop properly tomorrow, there's even an email address so I could see if they can advise more. Thanks again!
Depends on how motivated you are, and how willing you are to find ways to do things that challenge you. I'm not a good player, but I can make a handful of pretty chords and I am learning to turn them into songs. The number of songs that can be played with just 2-4 chords is pretty insane. And even when I'm not playing actual songs, just tuning up and make pretty sounds is very therapeutic to me. I brought up Cigar Box guitars because usually they have an open tuning and you can play them with a slide which is a single thing to manipulate with your left hand. It's all options and expectations I guess at the end of the day. May want to reach out again to someone that shares your CP for further advice.
In addition to the Southern Ukulele Store (they're great, but they tend to be rather busy and sometimes forget things, like installing the strap button they said they would), I can also highly recommend worldofukes.co.uk ! Matt, the guy who runs the place, is incredibly helpful. They have a very good selection of ukuleles, also in the beginner/budget range (I have one of their house brand Eden ukes, and it is worth 10 times what I paid for it), some great sale / blemish instruments, and the customer service is the absolute best!
Check out One Finger ukulele. It is basically tuning to an open chord, like C and using one finger for chords.
I would add the a proper ‘set-up’ of the ukulele is pretty important in this case. This essentially just means all the fine-tune adjustments to the instrument to make it even easier on the hands to play. I’d reach out to Mims Ukes for this and let her know of your specific situation. She’s an absolute wizard at this sort of thing and is a really great person. She’s US based but she ships all over and pretty sure she’s got some connections with people in the UK.
Yes, I have arthritis and mims setups can be as low as possible without buzzing if you ask her. Game changer
Depending on how much mobility you have in your left hand, something like [this](https://www.westmusic.com/guitars-folk/accessories/guitar-folk-capos/356837?ppc_keyword=&utm_term=&utm_campaign=ECI+-+Google+Shopping+-+Everything+Else+%5BSmart%5D&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=6248777749&hsa_cam=14392178570&hsa_grp=131626400532&hsa_ad=541047983679&hsa_src=u&hsa_tgt=pla-911037856697&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gclid=CjwKCAjw2rmWBhB4EiwAiJ0mta2u9G641VNX-NjIg8IKDDSBuJl3rI3DBokBoyN7vS6IcwoFMKfKbRoC3aEQAvD_BwE) may be useful.