complete novice

So i ordered a Ukulele this week and i've never played a musical instrument in my life. hell i don't even know what the words strumming and chords mean, so when it arrives this week where do i start? sorry if you get these types of questions all the time but i would appreaciate if someone could point me in the right direction since im starting from the very bottom. cheers

Welcome to UU
Can't go wrong here

http://ukulelebootcamp.weebly.com

Dwjkerr said:

Welcome to UU
Can't go wrong here

http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?582

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link doesn't work mate

Greetings. YOu have come to the right place. Good way to start is to search YouTube as follows:

Ukulele how to.......and add what you want to learn. You will find many tutorials on each subject and at least one or more of them will make sense to you. Examples are Ukulele how to tune, hold, strum, finger chords, fingerpick, etc. etc. Good link on Hawaii Music Supply on how to see if your uke is set up properly. http://www.theukulelesite.com/ukulele-setup.html. If it isn't, then you have to learn how to do a setup. If you have just a few craft skills, it's not rocket science. Good luck. Keep coming back. Lots of good answers and info here. You will also get pointed to some great beginner's sites. Here's one. I found this book at my local library. The site has lots of good beginner info. An all around great uke bible for beginners.
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/music-creative-arts/music/Ukulele.html

GavinC85 said:

So i ordered a Ukulele this week and i've never played a musical instrument in my life. hell i don't even know what the words strumming and chords mean, so when it arrives this week where do i start? sorry if you get these types of questions all the time but i would appreaciate if someone could point me in the right direction since im starting from the very bottom. cheers

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HI congrats on your uke, what kind did you get?
Chord means a grouping of notes played together to
form a full sound or 'chord' basically you place your
fingers on the fret board and hold down strings to play
and strum is what you do with your right hand (or left if your left handed)
by stroking the strings w ith your finger tips to produce the sound.

This is a good place to start for help.
What i would do is buy a book on chords or download a ukulele chord app.
Try to learn the basic chord shapes, and find a song that uses maybe 3 chords
and keep practicing! than i would come here or go on youtube there is tons of
people giving lessons on youtube. I have learned so much on there theres stuff
for beginners and experienced players.

Hello and welcome to UU. You will have so much fun with this! Aldrine is our local UU guru and he has a lot of videos that go from beginner all the way to advanced levels. Ukulele Bootcamp (mentioned above) is good as well. Here is a link to Aldrine's UU videos. http://ukuleleunderground.com/video-library/

There is a lot of great information on YouTube. You might not want to overload yourself with sources to begin with - find someone or a series that you like and go with that until you start feeling comfortable with the ukulele. Then you can branch out and take in a lot of information from different sources.

Good luck! There are a ton of great people here on UU to help with any questions you have. I have learned a great deal from the people here.

GavinC85 said:

So i ordered a Ukulele this week and i've never played a musical instrument in my life. hell i don't even know what the words strumming and chords mean, so when it arrives this week where do i start? sorry if you get these types of questions all the time but i would appreaciate if someone could point me in the right direction since im starting from the very bottom. cheers

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Hi Gavin most important thing is to get a tuner if you do not have one. And learn to tune properly , you will need to tune it very regularly it will sound horrible to listen to and not enjoyable. Then get yourself a chord chart and learn the chords C major, Am which is A minor, F major. Just practice going between these chords because with these chords you can play plenty of songs. Your aim eventually is to be able to move around these chords without thinking about it. At first it will feel very awkward but your brain and fingers have to work at this which is called muscle memory this is when you do not have to think. You want to get a metronome you can get a free one online

http://www.metronomeonline.com/ set it to about 40 beats per minute and try and strums through the chords on the beat I find it makes you change chord quicker, then you can get faster. Here is a quick demo in use.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUB1zDY8CG0

Here is a video worth watching pay special attention to finger placement. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEtelTMKlPM
Phil.

If you don't already have one, I'd suggest getting an electronic clip-on tuner now so you will have it when your new uke arrives. There are lots to choose from; one affordable option that works quite well is the Snark SN-2.

Here's a link to a video that shows how to tune a ukulele using an electronic turner. The tuner shown in the video isn't a Snark tuner, but the concepts apply.

When you get your new ukulele, you will need to tune it frequently until the strings stretch out and settle in.

thanks for the help people, this is the ukulele i got http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008SBWD3K/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

what tuner should i be getting? cheap as possible please.

GavinC85 said:

thanks for the help people, this is the ukulele i got http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008SBWD3K/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

what tuner should i be getting? cheap as possible please.

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If you have a smart phone you should be able to get an app. Or http://www.amazon.co.uk/Qwik-Tune-S...3509&sr=8-2&keywords=electronic+ukulele+tuner