Another hello from Lancashire.

Hi there.

Just thought I'd introduce myself. I'm a newbie with an ukulele even though I first got one when I was a child.
It was always a toy then and not played seriously.
Many years ago, after seeing Jake Shimabukuro on youtube playing While My Guitar Gently Weeps, I decided to have another go. Let's face it, who hasn't thought that after watching him play?
I bought a banjolele on ebay for the bargain price of £8. I restrung it and tuned it and tried to play it. Absolutely useless. I had to retune it ever time I strummed. Totally demoralising, so I put it back on ebay and sold it for £28. Not all bad then?
Recently (about 3 years after selling the banjolele), the desire to play started niggling at me. I was passing my local music shop and thought "What the heck!". I saw a sweet-looking red ukulele, listened to the chap in shop playing it and bought it for £8.99. Another bargain? Not really. It's a cheap and nasty Ready Ace Chinese uke. Friction tuners and more varnish than a dinner table. Awful, but ok for practicing.
I then trawled ebay for something a little better. I ordered a Rubin RS-101 Zebrawood ukulele (after reading lots of reviews on this forum). It arrived from China within 2 weeks and looks and sounds a million times better than the Ready Ace (which is now languishing under my bed).

I am a total novice to playing the ukulele, so I would like as much advice as possible please. Where do I start?

Thank you.

Hi Pashmeister,

Hello from sunny Cornwall. I would suggest making your way to the Ukulele Beginners forum and having a good look around there. That should help to get you started

Welcome to UU!

Sounds like you are already in the firm grip of the Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome (UAS)! On the upside, since it's hard to go back to lower quality instruments, it's a road that leads to eventually ending up with very fine ukuleles.

As for where to start, well, lots of ways. Youtube has numerous tutorial series for beginners (I like this older one by Chili Monster), there are books like Ukulele for Dummies (has an interactive iPad edition also), The Complete Idiot's Guide to Playing the Ukulele (comprehensive), The Ukulele Method 1 & 2 (easy to get into and follow), etc, and there are many free resources like Uncle Rod's Bootcamp.

I just picked up Aaron Keim's "The Ukulele Handbook" and his "Fingerstyle" book (both have digital and paper versions), and I like those. They are fairly thin, but accessible and fun, and they come with quality videos for everything that's covered in the books. Here's the playlist for the Handbook for the content covered (it's all traditional American songs). I find it easier to learn when I hear a song or can just play along.

Greetings and welcome. Glad you joined us. Lots of free stuff on the web. Check out "Ukulele for Dummies" in your local library. A great "Beginner's Bible" so to speak. Here's one of many great sites: http://www.gotaukulele.com/

and

https://ukuguides.com/guides/basic-ukulele-chords-for-beginning-players/

By the way, I forgot to say that I only paid £19 for the Rubin, including delivery from China. You can't beat that!

Thank you everybody.

Welcome from the other side of the Pennines . Do you have any ukulele groups near you? They're usually a good way to meet fellow ukers, learn and have fun.

I've now got rid of the Ready Ace uke. A woman at work said her husband quite fancied a go, so I gave it away. I have since bought a 24" Ammoon off ebay for just over £20. That's quite good, but I still go back to the soprano Rubin.
The other day, 2 similar sized parcels arrived in the post. One was part of an exhaust for my Land Rover, the other was suspiciously ukulele shaped. £7.80 including postage for a Spongebob pineapple soprano just couldn't be passed on.
I know it'll need a bit of work to make it playable, but I wanted something cheap that I could leave in the Land Rover and play when I arrive early at work.
My other half said "why do you need 3 ukuleles? You can only play one at a time!". REALLY!! Some people just haven't got a clue. I suggested that she should get rid of the 20-odd pairs of shoes in her cupboard, because "she can only wear one pair at a time". I feel that at some point in the near future I may be spending more time in the Land Rover...with Spongebob.

Welcome aboard.

Good story, so far - many more ukes to try out in your future.

Welcome aboard Pashmeister! One of the best resources for beginners is youtube. Cynthia Lin and The Ukulele Teacher are great.

https://www.youtube.com/user/cynthialinmusic

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheUkuleleTeacher

Oh dear, I'm officially in trouble with her indoors. My niece has just moved house and found an Ashton ukulele in her attic. That takes the count up to 4. Always wanted an Ashton uke. My last name is Ashton.

Ooops, bought another. Went down to the local market yesterday - it's a bit of a flea market on Sundays. I saw a Mahalo for sale. It looked in decent condition. The chap wanted £5 for it, but I manged to knock him down to £3. Quite happy with it so far, it's a U50G with a few very tiny paintwork nicks.

You know that's how UAS starts..........

A little update on my collection. I took the Ashton out of its case, strummed it, returned it to its case and imprisoned it in the back of a dark cupboard. Yuk! Played the Mahala a little bit, tried to adjust the action by sanding the bridge, but a previous owner must've glued the bridge to the saddle, so the saddle broke when I tried to tap out the bridge... that takes me down to three playable ukes...a 21" Rubin Zebrawood electro acoustic, a 24" Ammoon, and my SpongeBob Squarepants Pineapple.
Hmmm, they're all actually ok. The SpongeBob is surprisingly decent, but... hmm, maybe it's time I bought something a bit better...oooh, is that the postman?
I've just taken delivery of my first "proper" ukulele. It's a Lanka Joe Brown concert ukulele. Solid mahogany top, laminate mahogany back and sides, and Grover tuners.
The difference in sound is unbelievable. Really warm sounding and plenty of volume.