What was your first song you played?

[RobAntDen]

Needing some inspiration I recently got a ukulele, didn’t get one that was majorly expensive just a basic one to practice with.

But really needing some inspiration on what songs are easy to play for beginners.

[LukuleleStrings]

Monster Mash was the first song I learned. Then Margaritaville.

[Ms Bean]

Bad Moon Rising was the first one I learnt from a songbook.
I found Cynthia Lin's beginner series on YouTube helpful: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...pilnWA8c4raRrh

[cdkrugjr]

I learned "My Bonnie" from my Dad, about a gazillion years ago

[Rllink]

On the ukulele it was Mercedes-Benz by Janis Joplin. It is still the first song on my play list because I can sing it and play it cold, so I use it for a warmup.

[bunnyf]

My first song was a fairly obscure song, “Sideways” by Citizen Cope. I had given an ukulele to my hubby for his bday long ago and it was mostly left unplayed for 10 years. I wanted to motivate him to play it, and he had been listening to that song and said he really liked it, so I googled it and found the lyrics and chords on Ultimate Guitar. Long, story short, he never played it, so I thought “what the heck, maybe I could do this” and so my ukulele journey started.

Rather than play songs that others suggest, learn to play songs YOU love. There are so many sites now for getting chord sheets (they don’t have to be uke specific sites; a chord is a chord). Just google “song title” and the word “chords”. Some will be too complex (I think Ultimate Guitar has a button to “simplify”) so just move to another, but you will find many, many with just 3 or 4 chords. Most sites, including UG, have a transpose button too, so if the song was done in an unusual key that you’re not ready to learn, you can move it to an easy key like C or G. I remember Jake Shimabukuro say in an interview that his one tip would be to learn to play songs you LOVE. It will motivate you more than anything else, to keep practicing. Good luck and enjoy your musical journey.

[UkingViking]

Lime in the coconut.
It only has one chord, so focusing on strumming techniques is easy.
Then I moved on to bananaboat song to switch a bit between chords.
Then I moved on to songs I wanted to learn.

My wife still hates lime in the coconut...

[ripock]

RobAntDem,

I could tell you what I did at the beginning and it all would be light, fluffy, and fun. But it isn't going to help you any. If you're going to stick with this wonderful hobby, you need a personal plan with immediate goals. So tell us what you want to do, and someone will surely be able to give you some steps to take to achieve your goal. Without that, it will be more of a chore and you'll just drop it when it becomes inconvenient.

[clear]

If you play what you like, then it'll be more fun.

My first song was Clementine.
If you like children and folk songs (I love playing these songs on the ukulele), then I can recommend you this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Ukulele-.../dp/1678895709

I'm at about 2 months of ukulele learning, and I can play all the songs in the book.

[Another Ukulele]

Hard to remember what I had for breakfast five hours ago, let alone songs I played fifteen years ago.

But,
Stand By Me
C. Am. F. G7. C.

Simple chords, riff on the strum or play it straight