I want to play like this! Where do I begin?

You can start with picking. I don't think it really matters if you start with this or with strumming. A lot of books teach both simultaneously, and personally, picking gives me a better sense of progress.

Samantha Muir put together a free/pay-what-you-want e-book on fingerstyle for total beginners (it only uses the right hand):

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?108694-Free-ebook-on-right-hand-technique

She also has accompanying videos on her YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_6wKay150LzInkitgTkvYg
 
I'm going this path as well. From all the books I've got so far the most helpful is Ukulele Aerobics. Really nice progressive fingerstyle exercises there, although I have to skip some of the other stuff for now.

You can also find a lot of great tabs to practice. This one is probably the easiest to start with, or at least I haven't yet found anything else that would allow me to pretend that I know how to play the uke ;)
 
hub said:
I'm going this path as well. From all the books I've got so far the most helpful is Ukulele Aerobics. Really nice progressive fingerstyle exercises there, although I have to skip some of the other stuff for now.

You can also find a lot of great tabs to practice. This one is probably the easiest to start with, or at least I haven't yet found anything else that would allow me to pretend that I know how to play the uke ;)
Click to expand...

I have that book, too. I thought I would use it and just do the fingerstyle parts. I received 3 books in the mail today: The Baroque Ukulele, 20 Spanish Baroque Pieces, and From Lute to Uke. They don't look too hard but will take some time. I am going to enjoy them!
 
For many years now my approach to playing would be learning a song by tab, then watching others play the same song on you tube, and then I Would play the song to the point I would go between finger style and strumming it with an occasional improvision thrown in here or there. But what I feel that I have lacked is the structure that I need to build from a stronger foundation.

So by popular recommendation here on UU, I recently purchased Chad Johnson's Ukulele Aerobics.While I could probably be comfortable jumping ahead, the redundancy of going through each week is the structure I need to get into a regiment of regular proper practice while building on the basics and even correcting bad habits I may have formed by freelancing from the web...

Thus far, I too would highly recommend Ukulele Aerobics as others here have who own the book.
 
Easy Classical Ukulele Solos buy Javier Marcos is a good place to start. The solos are easy but rewarding because they sound pretty good. Learn to play a few easy things really really well and spend a bit of time every day trying to play things that are too hard. If you play regularly and keep trying you'll get it. Repetition helps but the amount of repetition required may be a lot more than you think.
 
UkeMania said:
I have that book, too. I thought I would use it and just do the fingerstyle parts. I received 3 books in the mail today: The Baroque Ukulele, 20 Spanish Baroque Pieces, and From Lute to Uke. They don't look too hard but will take some time. I am going to enjoy them!
Click to expand...

There's also The Romantic Ukulele, by Tony Mizen (same arranger/player as the Baroque and the Lute books). I've found this one to be the easiest of the three, so that might be a good place for the OP to start.
 
ukuleleden said:
For many years now my approach to playing would be learning a song by tab, then watching others play the same song on you tube, and then I Would play the song to the point I would go between finger style and strumming it with an occasional improvision thrown in here or there. But what I feel that I have lacked is the structure that I need to build from a stronger foundation.

So by popular recommendation here on UU, I recently purchased Chad Johnson's Ukulele Aerobics.While I could probably be comfortable jumping ahead, the redundancy of going through each week is the structure I need to get into a regiment of regular proper practice while building on the basics and even correcting bad habits I may have formed by freelancing from the web...

Thus far, I too would highly recommend Ukulele Aerobics as others here have who own the book.
Click to expand...
I like the idea of going between fingerstyle and strumming. I'll try that.

katysax said:
Easy Classical Ukulele Solos buy Javier Marcos is a good place to start. The solos are easy but rewarding because they sound pretty good. Learn to play a few easy things really really well and spend a bit of time every day trying to play things that are too hard. If you play regularly and keep trying you'll get it. Repetition helps but the amount of repetition required may be a lot more than you think.
Click to expand...
I have that book, so I will concentrate on it. I love the suggestion to also practice on something that is too hard. That is a good idea.

janeray1940 said:
There's also The Romantic Ukulele, by Tony Mizen (same arranger/player as the Baroque and the Lute books). I've found this one to be the easiest of the three, so that might be a good place for the OP to start.
Click to expand...

Well, I have the others. Might as well get that one, too! :D I saw it and wondered how it was.

Thanks, y'all! I am excited to try these ideas!
 
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