Best course book

Hello,
as a beginner I've spent my first weeks with my ukulele in awe of the music I could unexpectedly pull out of it with youtube tutorials.
But as time passes and I progress, I feel like I've reached an early plateau: I need technique and I need method to further learn playing uke.
As I do not have the chance to partecipate in a class, I thought I could learn from a book.

Could you please point to me some of the best learning books there's around?
There're a lot of choices but I want to hear the words of the wise men around here.

Thanks!

If you have an amazon account you can sample the method books before you buy. (don’t have to buy at Amazon). Some people would recommend the ukulele for dummies book.

Searching amazon for method books would also give you an idea of what is available. Again, don’t have to buy there, this is research.

The concise answer is, It Depends.

Totally serious about that, everyone learns differently. I've got a stack of books, some I like, some I love and some are so-so.
You really won't know till you have them and try them.
I liked Ukulele for Dummies a lot and usually recommend it first.
Music Theory for Dummies is also very good, if you are curious about music structure.

It is possible to get used books on Ebay that are affordable or post a WTB (want to buy) in the Ukulele Marketplace for used beginner books.

I love books so I one day hope to own them all.

I've got an Ukulele Scales book coming to me in the next couple days.

Well I found an used 2nd edition Ukulele for dummies and ordered it. Gotta start somewher I guess...
I'll let you know if it will be useful.
Thanks a lot!

Userro said:

Hello,
as a beginner I've spent my first weeks with my ukulele in awe of the music I could unexpectedly pull out of it with youtube tutorials.
But as time passes and I progress, I feel like I've reached an early plateau: I need technique and I need method to further learn playing uke.
As I do not have the chance to partecipate in a class, I thought I could learn from a book.

Could you please point to me some of the best learning books there's around?
There're a lot of choices but I want to hear the words of the wise men around here.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Do you have a music background or play any other I instruments. Your statement about pulling music out of YouTube tutorials leads me to believe so. Most people as beginners are just trying to learn how to form chords and strum. Material recommendations would vary widely depending on your music background.

A comprehensive course from beginner all the way to advanced is "The Ukulele Way" by James Hill

While it's not a book I think Uncle Rod's materials are an excellent place to start. I did an uke pd workshop with the music dept. of the town I taught in a few years ago. I used Uncle Rod's materials. Several teachers had never played Ukulele and by the end we were singing and playing a few simple folk songs.
When I started ukulele serious ly I took lessons for about 3 years.I'm not a string player, my major instrument was trumpet. If you have a Guitar Center nearby check to see if they have a lesson dept. It was money well spent for me. Best of luck.

Check out Ukulele From Scratch by Bruce Emery.

While I have a musical background, I found the structure and writing to be very easy to follow and took me along a natural progression of building up certain skills before putting them into practice later.

What I appreciated most, though, was that the content and music theory stuff is incredibly approachable, even for someone with zero previous musical training.

And, he’s got a good dry wit to his writing style, which always helps get through more technical passages, imho. Here’s his diagram of the Circle of Fifths in the back of the book: