Absolute Beginners – Ukulele

Product Description
Step-by-step pictures take you from first-day exercises to playing along with a backing track! Absolute Beginners has been designed to tell you everything you need to know from the very first time you play your ukulele. In one great book you get: a look-and-learn course that uses clear pictures instead of long explanations; practical advice and tips covering everything you need to know to get you playing, fast!; CD audio tracks to show you how things should sound, p… More >>

Absolute Beginners – Ukulele

Ukulele Tips for Beginners

The Ukulele is not hard to play from a technical perspective, but it is hard to learn. Ukuleles are not a very common instrument, so you will not always be able to find a teacher or someone else to play together with. This means that you will have to learn it yourself and that will slow you down. I hope that the following tips can help you on your way.

Learn how to turn a Ukulele. It is important to have your ukulele in tune. If you want to have other people listening to you or want to sound good, being in tune is very important. Bad tuning can make even the best players sound bad, so it is important to get it right. There are many way to help check your tuning; Digital tuners, pitch pipes, or just using your ears all work, you just need to pick a method that suits you.

Buy only the best quality Ukuleles. The top quality ones do not cost a lot and it is worth spending. They will say in tune longer, will be easier to tune and will sound better.

As you Ukulele is so small, it is important that you hold it correctly. Make sure that as little of your body is touching the Ukulele as possible. The more of your body that is touching, the more smothered the Ukulele will sound.

There are so many great songs that only require 3 chords to be able to play. Start learning the chords C, F and G and you will be able to play all these songs.

Most of all you need to enjoy playing, There is no point putting in all the effort and time to learn if you are not going to enjoy playing. Have fun.

Does anyone know any websites that teach ukulele for beginners and that is free?

I am buying a ukulele and I would like to know if there are any websites that teach ukulele for beginners: eg. Youtube.

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Where can I buy a good ukulele for beginners?

I know I could check Amazon or Ebay, but I was wondering if there are any recommendations for a good beginner ukulele? I’m thinking about picking one up and learning how to play.

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Ukulele Tab: Ukulele Tuning For Beginners

How can you be in tune with your ukulele? The ukulele is a fantastic little instrument with many possibilities. You can play chords and melodies on it but a requisite is that your ukulele is in tune. Let’s tune up!

The most common ukulele tuning is the standard C tuning.

It is of course preferable to use a tuner or piano or tuning fork in ukulele tuning but it is not necessary to tune exactly to the concert pitch if you don’t play with others.

You can tune the ukulele by ear, using the method outlined below.

The strings on the ukulele is numbered from the highest pitched string. When you hold your ukulele in playing position string number one will be the string nearest your feet.

Now I will show you some steps in ukulele tuning to get your ukulele in tune.

1. Tune your first string to an A or a pitch that sounds okey to you.

2. Press down a finger on the fifth fret on the second string. Tune the second string until the pressed down fret will have the same pitch as the first string.

3. Press down a finger on the fourth fret on the third string. Tune the third string until the pressed down fret will have the same pitch as the second string.

4. Press down a finger on the third fret on the second string. Tune the fourth string until it sounds the same as the pitch of your pressed down fret on the second string.

We can test if your ukulele is in tune by playing the first part of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

The first notes you will play are on the third string without pressing down any finger. I will use a form of ukulele tab with numbers.

The first number indicates the fret. The second number after the slash indicates which string to play:

0/3 0/3

This means: Play two notes on the open third string. Let’s play some more ukulele tab:

0/3 0/3 3/2 3/2 0/1 0/1 3/2

Let’s explain some of the numbers: 3/2 means press down the third fret on the second string and play the note. 0/1 means that you play the note on the open first string.

Let’s play one more part:

1/2 1/2 0/2 0/2 2/3 2/3 0/0

If this sounds like the beginning of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star you can be quite sure that your ukulele tuning is correct.

We haven’t used the fourth string in this melody but you can listen to the two notes 3/2 and 0/4. These two notes should have the same pitch if you have tuned the ukulele correctly.

Good luck with your ukulele tuning!

P.S. Why not try to find out the rest of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star by ear!

Ukulele Beginners: Ten Ways to Get Off to the Perfect Start

The ukulele is a relatively easy instrument for beginners to learn. After a few minutes, you’ll probably be strumming a few chords. Because of its size, it is the perfect instrument for kids to learn on. To kick start your learning here are ten ways to get you off to a running start.

1. Record yourself playing. Playing and listening at the same time is like trying to rub your stomach and pat your head. It’s much easier to evaluate your playing if you listen back to it and knowing what mistakes you’re making is halfway to fixing them.

2. Listen very carefully to music you like. Try to work out how to play what you’re hearing. There’s nothing wrong with ‘borrowing’ ideas from other musicians.

3. When you are practicing – play very slowly. It’s much easier to speed up once your fingers know what they are doing than it is to try and fix problems playing at top speed.

4. Learn how to read tab for the ukulele. Tab shows you exactly how a song is played – what string and fret to play and when to play it. There are many sites on the internet that have ukulele tab for all sorts of songs. If you search for ‘how to read ukulele tab’ on Google, you’ll find some helpful articles.

5. Buy a reasonable quality ukulele. The very cheapest ukuleles are fine for testing the water and deciding if you enjoy the ukulele, but once you start to get serious about playing, it’s well worth you getting a higher quality ukulele. $50 – $100 will buy you a ukulele that is so much better than the very cheapest makes.

6. Put good strings on your ukulele. As soon as I get my hands on a new ukulele, I immediately replace the strings. Almost always the strings that come with the ukulele sound awful and are unpleasant to play. My choice of strings is Worth. Another good brand is Aquila.

7. Hold your ukulele loosely. It is all to easy to choke the tone and volume out of your ukulele by holding it too tight. Pay close attention to how the top players like Jake Shimabukuro hold the ukulele.

8. Pay attention to other ukulele players. Watch how they hold the uke, how they strum, how their fingers move. See if you can pick up any ideas to improve your own playing.

9. Learn how to tune up properly. There’s nothing that offends the ears more than an out of tune ukulele. You can buy ukulele tuners or you can download them free on the internet – I use the AP Tuner.

10. Have fun. The ukulele has a reputation as a fun instrument – keep it that way.