Lets talk books!

australe

australe

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If you could recommend only ONE single book to someone starting out what would it be? Something that will last for a little while and that most people can get enjoyment out of. I'm seriously considering The Daily Ukulele Songbook, but want opinions before I spend the money... and I don't have the money to get a bunch of them right now, so I need a good first book.
 
How about not spending any money at first? Check the Ukulele Hall of Fame's Fleabag Songbook and Ukulele Chord Chart, both can be downloaded free here.
 
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The not spending any money at all part is great... unfortunately for me our computer and 18 month old son share the same room, and nap times are typically my best time to practice... no printer either :/
 
Or check the UU Resource Thread . . . lots of links to songbooks, sites and almost anything ukulele related. Most songbooks are in PDF and can be printed at home. This is best we can do without spending a whole lot of cash.
 
If I were going to recommend one book to buy, it'd be Ukulele Song Book: In Notation and Tablature by Ron Middlebrook, my favorite uke book that's in print nowadays.

Lots of great folk songs, cowboy songs, hymns, and Hawaiian songs. Melodies are given in musical notation and tablature. Chords are indicated only by their names---no chord charts or diagrams here---some may find that annoying, I like it.
 
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Fretboard Road Maps. You will LEARN from it.

The Daily Songbook is great to have -- especially if you play with others. But it wouldn't be the book I'd buy if I was only going to buy one.

There is so much free stuff on the Internet. Tons -- and I mean TONS -- of songs can be printed out for free. If you want free stuff you really don't need to look any farther than UU. There are a lot of lessons and Uke Minute tips to keep you busy for a long time. YouTube tutorials. Yada, yada.

Have fun!
 
I have the Daily Ukulele Songbook from Fleamarket Music and I enjoy it very much. The Daily has a nice, wide variety of songs. I do utilize what is available on the internet too.
 
Kanaka916 said:
Or check the UU Resource Thread . . . lots of links to songbooks, sites and almost anything ukulele related. Most songbooks are in PDF and can be printed at home. This is best we can do without spending a whole lot of cash.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%!! Best way to go, in fact I still do it and have printed out hundreds of songs (all that I like!!!) for just the cost of my printer supplies.
 
The Daily Uke is a good book, lots of variety, but it's still just a songbook... melody, lyrics and chords. It won't teach you any technique.

For that I'd go with the Dummies book, it's pretty well rounded. If you want to delve a bit more into theory and chord progressions, Fretboard Roadmaps is a good one. Those two books should keep you busy for a while. ;)

And for crying out loud, tell Santa you want, no, make that NEED, a printer this year. Printers are cheap, it's the ink that'll kill ya. :eek:

Can you possibly relocate your PC out of your son's room? I download a lot of stuff and play off the monitor, only printing out things I really want to work on to save on ink and avoid more clutter.
 
I guess the question needs to be asked, are you looking for instruction on how to play or song chords/tabs.

If you are looking for instruction on all aspects of the Uke, the Uke for dummies is great and if you get the kindle version for iPad/ereader/computer it has sound bites and vids built in. If you want to learn chords better, Fretboard Roadmap is wonderful.

If you want song chords, check out chordie.com. It's free and you can change the instrument to Uke. You can step up or down the song key and if you have an app like songbook you can download them for free.

Also don't forget Uncle Ron's free boot camp. There are some great chording exercises there.

Happy strummin' and keep us posted on your progress
 
I have the Daily Ukulele and love it. Sometimes the songs are short, not the full songs but then I go online and find the full version of the songs I want to learn more thoroughly. It is my only song book, and all I need, when you figure in all the resources online.
 
itsme said:
And for crying out loud, tell Santa you want, no, make that NEED, a printer this year. Printers are cheap, it's the ink that'll kill ya. :eek:

Can you possibly relocate your PC out of your son's room? I download a lot of stuff and play off the monitor, only printing out things I really want to work on to save on ink and avoid more clutter.
Click to expand...

Haha!! Unfortunately for me I highly doubt I'll be getting a printer for Christmas... I got a ukulele for Christmas! And we do have a printer... but no ink right now... I probly should just buy some black ink for it... I do want a good book though... you can do a lot online, but a book is nice too... no option to move the computer, our house is 660 sqft... two bedrooms... yes tiny.
 
I'm not really looking for something for instruction... there are a ton of fantastic online resources... I guess what I'm looking for is a song book, I should have clarified...
 
I love my Daily Ukulele. If it wasn't so darn heavy, I'd carry it with me everywhere! It was a great buy for $35, I'll enjoy it for the rest of my days!
 
australe said:
I'm not really looking for something for instruction... there are a ton of fantastic online resources... I guess what I'm looking for is a song book, I should have clarified...
Click to expand...
Aha. Then avoid Ukulele for Dummies and Fretboard Roadmaps. Both have pages upon pages of method/instruction for each page of music.
 
One more for the Daily Ukulele. It is the only song book I have. It has a great mix of easy to difficult, as well as various genera.
 
I've got the 50 easy chord solos from Gerry Long, It's excellent though for the Low-g ukulele.
But when you purchase it you get a g-string within the booklet for the low-g if you want to try it.
The companion cd played by James Hill is Excellent!
Easy to understand and fun to learn, note these are chord-solos. Meaning you don't strum and sing, you just play the melody and chords.

I'm considering buying the ukulele roadmaps but can someone who has this tell if it "supports" low-g/linear tuning?
 
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