Peter Gelling - Ukulele Lessons for Beginners: Teach Yourself How to Play Ukulele

Progressive Beginner Ukulele provides an easy and enjoyable introduction to the world of ukulele playing. No previous knowledge of music or the ukulele is necessary.

Through the course of this book, you will learn how to play all the essential chords, using both open position and movable forms, along with right hand strumming techniques and rhythms that are used in a wide variety of musical styles. All examples sound great and are fun to play. By the end of the book you will be able to play hundreds of songs and be well on your way to being an excellent ukulele player.

To develop good timing habits right from the start, it is recommended that you use a metronome or drum machine with all the examples in the book until you can play them easily from memory.

The best and fastest way to learn is to use this book in conjunction with:

• Buying sheet music of your favorite recording artists and learning to play their songs. By learning songs, you will begin to build a repertoire and always have something to play in jam sessions.
• Practicing and playing with other musicians as often as possible.
• Learning by listening to your favorite recordings. Start building a collection of albums of players you admire or wish to emulate. Try playing along with one of them for a short time each day. Most of the great ukulele players have learned a lot of their music this way.

In the early stages it is helpful to have the guidance of an experienced teacher. This will also help you keep to a schedule and obtain weekly goals.

Approach To Practice

From the beginning you should set yourself a goal. Many people learn the ukulele because of a desire to play like their favorite artist (e.g., Tiny Tim or Israel Kamakawiwoole), or to play a certain style of music (e.g., Hawaiian songs, Swing, etc.). Motivations such as these will help you to persevere through the more difficult sections of work. As you develop it will be important to adjust and update your goals.

It is important to have a correct approach to practice. You will benefit more from several short practices (e.g., 15-30 minutes per day) than one or two long sessions per week. This is especially so in the early stages, because of the basic nature of the material being studied. In a practice session you should divide your time evenly between the study of new material and the revision of past work. It is a common mistake for semi-advanced students to practice only the pieces they can already play well. Although this is more enjoyable, it is not a very satisfactory method of practice. You should also try to correct mistakes and experiment with new ideas.

Tuning Your Ukulele

Before you commence each lesson or practice session you will need to tune your ukulele. If your ukulele is out of tune everything you play will sound incorrect even though you are holding the correct notes. For a complete description of how to tune your ukulele, see the other methods shown in .

Electronic Tuner

The easiest and most accurate way to tune your ukulele is by using an electronic tuner. An electronic tuner allows you to tune each string individually to the tuner, by indicating whether the notes are sharp (too high) or flat (too low). The tuner will have an inbuilt microphone. There are several types of electronic tuners but most are relatively inexpensive and simple to operate.

Tuning using other methods is difficult for beginning musicians and it takes many months to master, so we recommend you purchase an electronic tuner, particularly if you do not have a teacher or a friend who can tune it for you. Also if your ukulele is way out of tune you can always take it to your local music store so they can tune it for you. Once a ukulele has been tuned correctly it should only need minor adjustments before each practice session.

How To Hold The Ukulele

Sitting

• Sit up straight on the front part of the chair as shown in the photo.
• The ukulele should be close to your body in an upright position with the neck pointing slightly upwards.
• Some players prefer to sit with their legs crossed. Experiment to find the sitting position which suits you best.

The main aim is to be comfortable and have easy access to the ukulele fretboard. A music stand will also be helpful.

Standing

Stand with your weight evenly balanced on both feet and tilt the neck slightly upwards.