What’s the best intro book(s)?

Hi, last year a friend gave me ‘Ukulele for Beginners’ by Will Grove-White (it stayed, unopened, on my bookshelf until last week). It has some great general information about ukes and those who’ve played them but I found the actual how to play sections don’t go far enough.

Does anyone have any recommendations for teach yourself books?

Thanks,

I've tried just about every Ukulele book available in my local library system. If you can, that's a good way to check out many at low cost - most I flipped through and immediately tossed back in the return pile. My winners for beginners were "Ukulele for Dummies" (but not the "Complete Idiot's Guide to Ukuleles" -- I'm sure that says something about me, but I'm not sure what). This gives a good overview of several styles and techniques to get you started and find out where you want to go from there. I also liked Greg Horne's "The Complete Ukulele Method" series enough to go through the entire Beginning, Intermediate, and Master series.

Past the basics I've tried several blues and fingerpicking books, but I haven't yet found any that I've really liked from a technique POV more than just trying to work through songbooks (where mostly I set my eyes on pieces that are well beyond my abilities).

--Rob

Thanks Rob, I like the ...for Dummies books, I’ll get a copy... the Piano for a Dummies was pretty good. I’ll also give the Greg Horne series a look. Thanks for the suggestions.

Definately Ukulele for Dummies, I still find things in it a couple of years after purchasing it, but then again, I don't practice much.

FatManInDevon said:

Hi, last year a friend gave me ‘Ukulele for Beginners’ by Will Grove-White (it stayed, unopened, on my bookshelf until last week). It has some great general information about ukes and those who’ve played them but I found the actual how to play sections don’t go far enough.

Does anyone have any recommendations for teach yourself books?

Thanks,

Click to expand...

I could give a specific recommendation of a book but think it best not too as a book isn’t a ‘silver bullet’ that cures all (...... but if all else fails then Sproat does something useful aimed at beginners, imho). You can get hung-up too in wanting to complete some clever book before you start playing; you’ll struggle with a comprehensive book, probably stall and then you’ll never get to join-in with others. Treat the thicker books as reference material first and teaching material second.

Go down to your local library and just get some Uke books out, don’t expect there to be many at all and beware Ukulele and Ukelele spelling when searching library catologues.
[ # IIRC correctly I found a handy general one there on Ukes by some guy in one of the Ukulele Orchestras; perhaps it was the Grove-White one, I found it a jolly helpful book but limited in how far it takes you.]
[ # Anything that uses ‘D’ tuning is old fashioned and will be a hinderance as near everyone uses the modern ‘C’ pitch tuning]


!!! The most important thing to do is to go to a Uke Club NOW regardless of whether you can play or not, you’ll pick things up as you go and there will be people there who are only too happy to help you get started, etc.

Good luck and enjoy.

I found the free videos on Ukulele Underground (white board video series, etc.) to be more helpful than books once I had the basics of how to hold the instrument down.

I like this one

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1883206987/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks for all the suggestions, there are some great videos out there. I’ve never heard of ‘Ukulele for the Complete Ignoramus’ but it looks good, I’ve added it to my list. I hadn’t thought about looking for a local club but I found one that meets just 5 minutes from my home!

I've not found a good book that isn't the same old same old. I bought a few, but none of them inspired me to play my ukulele. Uncle Rod's Ukulele Boot Camp is an on line site that really got me started. Uncle Rod is right here on UU and contributes regularly. I also like the UU lessons here, but I found them better after I got the basics from Uncle Rod. I always recommend him as a starting point.

+1 for Uncle Rod's Ukulele Boot Camp. Once you can play through his progression in the five keys he provides, you are well on your way to strumming along to any song you can imagine.

Thanks, Uncle Rod’s Ukulele Boot Camp looks just the thing I’ve been wanting.

I also found the free UU vidoes to be invaluable...so much so that I now have the monthly membership to access everything. The videos are awesome, and the live lessons with Aldrinne (which admittedly I've only used a few times) make it worth the $. I went from trying to self learn for nearly a year and not accomplishing much to the point where I can now confidently play some of the (simpler) intermediate tunes, in just a few months.

Like you I enjoyed Will Grove Whites books. Fun and easy to understand. I also like ukulele for dummies. Youtube has also been a treasure trove.

If you go to uke jams(like I do), I'd suggest The Daily Ukulele(they publish a leap year edition as well).

When I purchased my first ukulele, within a month I also bought Hal Leonard's Chord Finder and Scale Finder. Those, along with my Chord Wheel for transposing and theory, have been my main supports.