New to the Ukulele, now what?

Hi

I just got myself a Uke a few days ago. It's a Mahalo, I believe a U1, came with a DVD, which I used to learn 'He's Got The Whole World In His Hands', it teaches other useful things too btw. Anyway I just get so overwhelmed when I buy an instrument and I don't know where to start to learn to play it, that eventually it ends up somewhere in a corner collecting dust-That's what happened to my acoustic guitar-. Since playing an instrument should be about having fun, especially a Uke, I don't want that to happen. So can anyone tell me where do I start learning to play the Ukulele?

TheUkuleleOne said:

Hi

I just got myself a Uke a few days ago. It's a Mahalo, I believe a U1, came with a DVD, which I used to learn 'He's Got The Whole World In His Hands', it teaches other useful things too btw. Anyway I just get so overwhelmed when I buy an instrument and I don't know where to start to learn to play it, that eventually it ends up somewhere in a corner collecting dust-That's what happened to my acoustic guitar-. Since playing an instrument should be about having fun, especially a Uke, I don't want that to happen. So can anyone tell me where do I start learning to play the Ukulele?

Click to expand...

Welcome to UU!

take it slo and have fun. Try doctoruke.com for many EZ song charts. read the threads here on the forum and you'll learn a bunch! You won't be a neebie for long!

Welcome, check out Uncle Rod' Ukulele Boot Camp. See second link at right of his web page.

http://www.4shared.com/u/heU_nJuZ/rohiguchigmailcom.html

Aloha TheUkuleleOne,
Welcome to the UU and our forums..have fun and enjoy, congrats on the new ukulele....google Mucisteacher2010 and Keonepax for awesome ukulele video tutorials...and Dr uke for songs, chords and instructions..
Happy Strummings, MM Stan....

two cents

watch every une minute and uke lesson on this site, then decide if uuu 101 or 102 is for you and sign up. don't let your uke collect dust. dusty ukes suck.
have fun. peace. jc

The first thing you need to do is go out and buy another uke (evilgrin) preferably a different size so you'll have 2 different options when you want complain about no time to play. Next thing you know you'll have 4 or 5 of the damn things mating under your bed....

Sound advice so far. Also, stay involved with this forum, the vibe here will inspire you to play and improve ...

Something that help me a lot is a metronome. There are plenty of free metronome programs online, so it won't cost anything.

A ukulele is like a guitar, but easier to learn, easier to hold, easier to carry, and a lot harder to put down.

Learn a few basic chords, and a few basic strumming patterns to start. Fingerpicking you can work on later.

The main rule for learning any instrument is simple: practice.

Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice.

And have a glass of wine to relax.

Enjoy. It's an addictive little instrument.

In my opinion too many beginners flounder around trying to just in general strum a few chords, try to sing a few songs to the those chords, but no structured approach to learning music. Now don't get me wrong, It is definitely fun to just noodle around and jump from one song and strum to another, but you will not make progress in learning chords, chord families, scales, maybe even music notation, the circle of fifths, and on. By buying an introductory book to learning the Uke, you will have in hand a structured approach to learning. Of course there are many out there. Rod's Boot camp is a really good suggestion, but you need even more. I might suggest the Hal Leonard Books I and II , as they are very structured and move you along in a sequential way that helps you see your progress. They also have CD s that help hear what you are supposed to be playing. Just an old man's opinion. Lozark

Check out Ukulele Hunt as well - it's got a lot of helpful stuff on it.

Thanks for all the great advice!

I am practicing everyday and having a lot of fun with it!
I learned to play the song 'Amazing Grace', of course I
can't play it as smooth as I would like it, but it has just been one day
I hope I keep enjoying practicing everyday like I have
and within a month or so I even hope to get a new Uke.
I don't now which yet, but I am choosing between a Soprano and a Concert!

Ukeleles or soooo much fun!

lozarkman said:

In my opinion too many beginners flounder around trying to just in general strum a few chords, try to sing a few songs to the those chords, but no structured approach to learning music. Now don't get me wrong, It is definitely fun to just noodle around and jump from one song and strum to another, but you will not make progress in learning chords, chord families, scales, maybe even music notation, the circle of fifths, and on. By buying an introductory book to learning the Uke, you will have in hand a structured approach to learning. Of course there are many out there. Rod's Boot camp is a really good suggestion, but you need even more. I might suggest the Hal Leonard Books I and II , as they are very structured and move you along in a sequential way that helps you see your progress. They also have CD s that help hear what you are supposed to be playing. Just an old man's opinion. Lozark

Click to expand...

I second that the Hal Leonard books by Little Rev.. I have one and two, and lost my fizzle for working out of the books all the time, but have managed to work through most of book one, with exception of still working on a few fancy strums, I learned a lot. when I need to get back to basics I get the books out again, I do try to practice the few scales I know most days of the week and I am reading some theory books now "in my spare time"
If I could just put my ukes down for a few minutes...

Uncle rods boot camp is great and helped me learning chords and just practicing strumming..
have fun and good luck!

TheUkuleleOne said:

Thanks for all the great advice!

I am practicing everyday and having a lot of fun with it!
I learned to play the song 'Amazing Grace', of course I
can't play it as smooth as I would like it, but it has just been one day
I hope I keep enjoying practicing everyday like I have
and within a month or so I even hope to get a new Uke.
I don't now which yet, but I am choosing between a Soprano and a Concert!

Ukeleles or soooo much fun!

Click to expand...

Heh. Sounds familiar. Amazing Grace is always one of the first songs I learn on any new instrument. It really helps to learn familiar songs at first. A lot of people come to a new instrument and they try to learn songs "traditional" to that instrument - it just doesn't make sense if you aren't familiar with the songs. If I'd started out on the uke trying to learn "Five Foot Two" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" it would have impeded my progress (they're botj great songs, just not something I was intimately familiar with). Learn your favorites, then if you want to you can learn the "standards" for uke (or not, if they're not your cup of tea).

John

I agree with lozarkman. I have the first Hal Leonard book and its been very helpful for a beginner like me. You feel kind of silly playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb", yes, but we gotta start somewhere. It was a good jumping off point that wasn't overwhelming and any questions I had that weren't answered in the book I got online. Of course I still do plenty of noodling, haha!

Listen to Lozarkman and Oldphart as they are right on. I keep all my song sheets tucked in my Hal Leonard Book 1 so I always have it handy. As for new ukes, saprano=Dolphin and concert=Mainland gloss mahogany. You can't go wrong with Dolphins or anything Mainland. NOW, go practice and above all have fun.

Doctor Uke and Uncle Rod are the ones I recommend highly (alongside this wonderful site!)

Other than that - alongside teaching resources, you may find the list of beginner articles on the link below helpful

http://www.gotaukulele.com/p/beginners-guides.html

And as for how much to practice

http://www.gotaukulele.com/2010/11/how-much-should-i-practice-ukulele.html