Below is my initial review of "Speak Ukulele (By BeatNik)"...
Thoughts
I was pretty skeptical about this website when I stumbled on it but I gave it a shot and I am happy that I did... Nothing shady happened after purchase... You can use PayPal or Credit Card...
I am new to ukulele and have been playing for almost one year... I have found that there are only a few really good tools (i.e. DVD's, Books, Webpages, Programs) out in the Ukulele world worth purchasing. This program is worth the purchase price ... Why?... Chords, Finger Positions, Audio, and PLAY BY EAR Mode... it is a Basic Program but it really, really compliments lessons given by Jim D'ville (DVD Play Ukulele By Ear)... This will get you up and running faster than trying to look at chord charts that you can't interact with and that don't make sound. I am glad that I found this early on in my Ukulele adventure... and although I am not an Advanced Uku-Player, I cannot image how it would not be useful to an advanced player as well.
If you want to see the initial tutorial mode of the program watch it on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9GwJV2viIk
Simple Questions Answered Up Front:
- The program works on a Mac
- The program works on Windows
- Download was simple and quick
Items that Would Compliment this Software
- DVD - Jim D'ville - DVD Play Ukulele By Ear
- DVD - Dan Huckabee - Understanding the Formula of Music
- Books - anything by Heeday Kimura !!! This guy is the Yoda of Ukulele... Seriously...
- Webpage - Ukulele Underground
If your having trouble with the install here is the link for troubleshooting:
http://ukecanplay.com/speak-uke-help.html
Problems:
I had a few hick-ups once I downloaded the program from BeatNiks site... nothing major... the program downloaded just fine... but, for whatever reason my Mac didn't want to install Adobe Flash Player 10 after I downloaded it from Adobes webpage... but BeatNik provides an alternative to using Adobe... it is a program called iSwiff and it runs his program just fine on a Mac (its a free download and BeatNik provides the link to website)...
NOTE: I took the time to watch BeatNik's troubleshooting video prior to purchase and it answered my questions and made very simple sense to me... HE SHOWS YOU EXACTLY HOW TO DO IT...