Best Ukulele Bass

THE BASS UKULELE is one of the newest instruments to become popularized by the trend towards portable instruments.  The Ukulele Bass also known as the U-Bass is small enough to fit into a backpack and big enough to create a massive sound. With a growing selection of Bass Ukuleles, there are several great options available.  Both beginner ukulele players and professional bassists have enjoyed this special instrument.  

The Ukulele Bass was once considered to be a novelty item, until influential bass players began to use them in their shows. Bass players including Felix Pastorius and Bakithi Kumalo used the U-Bass in live performances.  Now the U-Bass is growing in popularity and with it has come more options.  With our Bass Ukulele Buyers Guide we can find the bass U-Bass that matches your needs.   

Top-Rated Bass Ukuleles

Beginner’s Guide to Bass Ukuleles

WHAT IS A BASS UKULELE?

A bass ukulele can either be seen as a large ukulele with thick strings or a miniature bass guitar.  The solid state bass ukulele is more like the miniature bass guitar and the hollow body bass ukulele is more a large ukulele, which it essentially is.  Both the solid state U-Bass and the Hollow Body U-Bass use mainly polyurethane strings to help achieve the deep tones on the small instrument.

HOW IS BASS UKULELE TUNED?

The bass ukulele is tuned like a standard 4 string bass guitar with  E-A-D-G strings.  The bass ukulele starts and octave up from the standard electric bass, while the contrabass ukuleles are tuned the same as an electric bass guitar.  To play standard ukulele chords, try tuning to G-C-E-A. If you don’t already know a lot about bass guitars and want to learn more and see examples, consider checking out our guide to the best bass guitar.

ARE BASS AND UKULELE CHORDS THE SAME?

The ukulele and the bass are tuned different in their octave range and it changes how one would approach playing.  The bass ukulele and the bass guitar and tuned the same so the chords would technically be the same however, you rarely play chords on a traditional bass guitar.  

IS UKULELE EASIER THAN GUITAR?

The Ukulele is easier to learn than the guitar because it’s a small instrument with soft strings.  While the ukulele has nylon strings the ukulele bass using polyurethane strings, both of which are more forgiving on your fingers than steel string guitars like the one in this Yamaha SLG200S review.

THE SMALL SIZE of the bass ukulele makes this an ideal travel bass.  What is incredible is how deep the tone of a U-Bass can be.  It really defies the size and makes it’s convenience even more valuable..

THE COMPACT SHAPE is typically the look of a ukulele, but only bigger.  There are now solid body U-Bass guitars that look like a normal bass guitar but smaller, like a baby bass guitar.  

The variations give you the option of having a portable ukulele bass that sounds like an upright bass, or a double bass, and the sound of a traditional electric bass guitar.  

Typically, the U-Bass is associated with the hollowbody bass guitar shape that has the upright bass tone.  

THE COMFORTABLE STRINGS that are generally associated with the U-Bass are polyurethane strings.  Polyurethane strings are high density strings.  

These bass guitar strings are special in that they are able to produce a deep and rich tone despite being on a short instrument.  The size of the ukulele bass limits the options for getting deep tones out of traditional bass guitar strings.  

Fortunately, the polyurethane strings achieve the goal of a deep authentic bass tone despite the limitations on the size of the u-bass.  

Not to be confused with the Bootsy Collins “Rubber Band” the feel of the polyurethane strings can have the feel of a rubber band.

After a couple of weeks of breaking in the strings, they should feel very smooth and easy to play.

The Ukulele Bass has polyurethane strings available as well as the less known bass ukulele strings that are made out of a mix of silk and nylon.  There are options that include copper and silver plating which are fairly expensive.  They are nice but come with a higher price.  

The benefit of using the nylon/silk strings is that they feel more like standard bass strings.  That’s a benefit if that is what you are looking for in a bass string.  The polyurethane strings are very fun to play, so either way you are in good shape.

FRET VS FRETLESS is something debated in the world of bass players.  While the fretless versions of the U-Bass are solid, they are more akin to an upright bass than Jaco Pastorius’ bass of doom.  

When it comes to a ukulele bass, the fretless bass has a good amount of benefits.  In general ukuleles are known to have some intonation issues.  The fretless U-Bass allows the bass player to manipulate the tone and slide up the neck to work with the intonation of the polyurethane bass strings. 

The nicer ukulele bass guitars have solid intonation so don’t stress the intonation too much.  The fretless bass isn’t for everyone.  If you are interested in learning fretless bass, this is a good place to get started since it’s a small guitar neck.

THE RANGE OF THE FRETBOARD varies depending on if you are getting a bass ukulele or if you are getting a contrabass ukuleles.  

Both of these are fairly similar.  The only difference is that the u-bass starts one octave above where a traditional bass would begin and the contrabass ukulele is the same as the standard bass.  

The contrabass ukulele is nice and fun to play and should be an option when you are looking for a bass ukulele.  

If you need a bass for travel, the bass ukulele is smaller than the contrabass ukuleles, so that is something to consider.  Some of the U-Bass models are able to fit in your backpack.

THE PICKUPS in a bass ukulele is typically a piezo pickup for the hollow body uke bass guitars and the more traditional active pickups for the solid body ukulele bass guitars.

The piezo pickups which are commonly used by Paul Reed Smith in his hollow body and semi hollow body electric guitars.  The Microphone pickup allows the options of getting the direct bass tone or the acoustic natural sound picked up in the piezo mic.

The solid state active pickups are what you would expect from an electric bass guitar.

The well made bass ukuleles are set up with nice pickups and have the ability to really thump.