How To Learn To Play Ukulele
Learn how to play ukulele with our step-past-step guide for beginners. Get started playing basic chords and understanding strumming patterns with Fender.
Pocket-sized, portable, relatively inexpensive, and fun to play, the ukulele is a great musical instrument for beginners to pick up and deepen their beloved of music. If you're thinking of learning to play ukulele, at that place'due south no time like the present!
Like whatsoever lifelong journeying, y'all'll want to know what to expect along the way. In this guide, you lot'll get tips for choosing the correct type of ukulele, tips for tuning and strumming your instrument, and some easy chords and songs to get you started.
"My communication for someone just learning the ukulele would be to have fun with it and not take anything too seriously."
In This Guide
• Tin I Teach Myself to Play Ukulele?
• Why Play Ukulele?
• Choosing a Ukulele That's Right for Yous
• How to Hold a Ukulele
• How to Tune a Ukulele
• Ukulele Strumming Patterns
• How to Play Ukulele Chords
• How to Play Beginner Ukulele Scales
• Learn a Song on the Ukulele
Why Play Ukulele?
Looking for a practiced style to enhance your musical repertoire? Look no further than the ukulele. There'due south a reason information technology's been a favorite instrument of a broad range of artists, from George Harrison to Elvis to Taylor Swift. In the "Why you Should Play Ukulele" episode of Fender Play Alive, expert uke player Abe Lagrimas Jr. breaks down some of the surprising techniques and songs you can play on the ukulele!
Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZXtCQDf3_c
Whether you've never picked upwards an instrument earlier or if you've played one or more than instruments for years, there are plenty of reasons to learn to play ukulele:
• It's fun and like shooting fish in a barrel to acquire. Remember of ukulele as a "fun-sized" musical instrument. Its portable size makes it easier for younger players and people with smaller easily to larn to play. Better all the same, the ukulele comes in multiple sizes, ranging from the tiny soprano ukulele to the slightly larger tenor uke, giving players more options to detect the correct fit.
• It'due south budget-friendly. Yous can buy a new ukulele for just $100 -- and sometimes less!
• Ukulele skills translate to guitar. While the ukulele's strings are structured slightly differently (more on that later!), many of the chords and skills you lot learn on ukulele can later be applied to guitar.
• You'll be in good company. When you larn to play ukulele, yous'll observe yourself amidst the ranks of many others who relish its fun, carefree sound. From Billie Eillish to Grace VanderWaal, at that place are a number of musicians who are skilled ukulele players. Artists like Jake Shimabukuro and State of israel Kamakawiwo'ole are renowned for their prowess and have taken ukulele to new heights. Additionally, musicians like Taylor Swift and guitar magician Pete Townshend of The Who have been known to option up the uke and strum a few chords.
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Tin I Teach Myself to Play Ukulele?
While you can certainly teach yourself to play ukulele, sometimes information technology helps to get a lilliputian help from experts to level upwards your skills. On this folio, you'll find tips for playing ukulele, tried-and-true techniques used by long-time musicians, and more than information to assist you lot play better faster.
Want video lessons that delve deeper and show yous how to play ukulele? Check out Fender Play and get seize with teeth-sized lessons from world-class instructors -- whenever and wherever you want to larn more. Fender Play offers self-paced lessons for ukulele beginners, assuasive you to track your progress, build upon the skills you learn, and put those skills into practice by playing chords and songs on ukulele.
"There'southward something almost the ukulele that only makes you grin. It makes you permit your guard down. It brings out the kid in all of u.s.a.."
Ukulele Nuts
Choosing a Ukulele That's Right for You
Choosing a ukulele can feel a little overwhelming. At that place are so many sizes and styles to choose from, not to mention that each one has its ain tone. To help yous narrow the field, here are a few tips to go on in mind when choosing a ukulele.
Size & Tone: Ukuleles come in a variety of sizes -- and each one has its own distinctive tone:
• Soprano: This is the smallest size of ukuleles. Soprano ukuleles accept a higher, lilting tone compared to their larger cousins. Their pocket-sized size and frets that are spaced closer together makes them ideal for young learners or players with pocket-sized hands.
• Concert: Larger than a soprano ukulele, but yet compact in size, concert-sized ukuleles have more frets and a warmer, deeper tone than their soprano counterparts.
• Tenor: The largest of the most mutual size of ukuleles, tenor ukuleles have a rich tone and are suited for players with larger hands. The cervix is a little wider and heavier than both the Soprano and Concert ukuleles, giving it more of a bass-laden tone than the concert and soprano sized ukuleles.
Budget: Overall, ukuleles are one of the most affordable instruments, offering a lifetime of learning and playing enjoyment for a relatively low toll -- ranging between $70 to $300. Depending on what stage you're at in your ukulele journeying, in that location are a variety of ukuleles to meet your budget while yet giving you an musical instrument you'll cherish for years to come.
• Under $100: Our colorful Venice Soprano Ukulele delivers a lighthearted sound in a compact body for budget-witting beginners. Available in half-dozen dissimilar colors and with 4-in-line Tele headstock, the Venice Soprano Ukulele captures the middle and ear at $69.99.
• Under $225: With a solid ovangkol top and natural end, the Rincon Tenor Ukulele offers a rich, deep tone that can be amplified thanks to its congenital-in Fishman Kula preamp.
• Nether $300: The concert-sized Billie Eilish Signature Ukulele is a hitting matte black instrument emblazoned with the superstar'due south "blohsh™" symbol. Every bit versatile as it is tone-rich, it also includes a Fishman Kula preamp to give yous the choice to plug in or play acoustic.
These are just a few options that ukulele players can look to as they start playing. To deepen your agreement of the qualities of different ukuleles and get a closer look at different models, check out our Beginner'south Guide to Buying a Ukulele and then explore our interactive gear guide, FindYour.Fender.com, matches you with the perfect model by learning near your sound & fashion. Y'all'll exist well on your way to finding the right ukulele for you.
How to Agree a Ukulele
Before you strum your first chords, learning to concord your ukulele properly can assist you become the all-time sound from your musical instrument and ensures you won't harm your instrument.
Starting time by holding your musical instrument with its dorsum snug against you, nestling the body of your musical instrument with your right arm. Gently merely firmly, concord the neck of your ukulele in the crook of your left paw, resting information technology comfortably in the webbing between your pollex and alphabetize finger.
From this position, you can comfortably move your left hand up and down the neck of your ukulele to finger chords and your right hand is in the perfect position to strum those chords and make them ring out.
How to Tune a Ukulele
One of the most distinctive features of a ukulele is the manner its strings are tuned:
• G = The fourth string
• C = The third string (lowest tone)
• East = The second string
• A = The first string (and highest-tone string)
While the six strings of a guitar are tuned in descending lodge, the lowest-toned string on a ukulele is actually its third cord.
To become your ukulele in melody, you lot can utilise Fenders gratuitous online ukulele tuner to make certain yous're in perfect pitch. You can as well download the Fender Tune app for iOS and Android to melody your ukulele on-the-go!
For more than ukulele tuning tips, bank check out this tutorial. Then, bank check out Fender Play for videos that bear witness yous how to properly sit and concord your ukulele to become the best tone and technique possible.
Ukulele Strumming Patterns
Strumming chords is the backbone of learning to play ukulele. Strumming patterns involve different ways of playing up or downwards strokes on your ukulele.
Some songs may telephone call for you to play all of your chords using just heavier downwards strokes in a steady rhythm. Others may require you lot to play ukulele chords in an alternating design, playing an upwardly stroke followed by a downward stroke. You might also stumble across a song that calls for an irregular strumming blueprint, playing chords in a "down-down-up-down" blueprint.
The more you play and practise strumming chords on your ukulele, you'll hear the subtle differences betwixt what a chord sounds similar when strummed in a downward move versus an up one. In time, you'll start to strum chords instinctively, knowing whether y'all like the sound of alternate strum patterns or more irregular strum patterns based on the feel you lot desire to create when playing a song.
Signup for Fender Play to view our drove of the most pop ukulele strumming patterns.
"I call back the ukulele brings a different feeling to every song… Information technology inspires a different kind of writing."
Beginners Tips for Ukulele Strumming
Not sure where to start? Hither are a few strumming tips for beginner ukulele players just starting out:
• Strum without a option: The most mutual way to strum your ukulele is with either your pollex, your index finger, or a combination of the ii -- similar you're holding an invisible pick. You tin also strum using the pads and nails of all 4 of your fingers.
• Strumming with a pick: If you practise use a pick to strum your ukulele, information technology's best to utilise a felt pick that won't damage nylon ukulele strings. Holding your pick lightly and at an angle tin can assist create a more fluid, less rigid sound when strumming chords.
• Go on your wrist loose: It'southward all in the wrist! While having a gentle grip on your pick can create a more than pleasing tone when you strum a chord, keeping your wrist loose can besides make chords sound better and less choppy. By keeping your wrist loose, you'll exist able to more easily transition between chords and minimize the risk of wrist hurting after playing for a while.
How to Play Ukulele Chords
Chords are a combination of iii or more than notes that are played together to create a pleasing harmony. Chords are the foundation of playing songs on a ukulele or any other stringed instrument.
To start learning ukulele chords, beginners can look to chord charts to show them where to place their fingers on specific frets to brand their strings sing. Ukulele chord charts offer players a visual representation of the four strings and their corresponding frets on your instrument.
In addition to showing your strings (in order: G, C, E, A), ukulele chord charts oft have symbols to bear witness you lot just where to place your fingers in gild to play a chord properly:
• O - A circle above the string means to play that cord in an open position
• Ten - An "x" above the strings ways you won't play that string or mute it when playing
• ane = Index finger
• 2 = Middle finger
• 3 = Ring finger
• iv = Pinky finger
In that location are so many unlike chords and variations. However, there are a few ukulele chords that are not merely piece of cake, but figure prominently in some of your favorite songs. Some of the most common and easy chords beginners tin can learn to play on ukulele include:
• C
• Grand
• F
• Am (A pocket-size)
• G7
• D
These chords are a great starting point for players who are new to ukulele. However, you can explore fifty-fifty more ukulele chords with our Ukulele Chord Guide.
"Basically, the rules of ukulele, similar, if you lot know three chords, you know every song. Ever. Y'all can play any song. It'south so simple… The commencement chords I learned were C, G, and F. And from then on, I knew, like 20 songs. Information technology shows you how simple songs are."
How to Play Beginner Ukulele Scales
A ukulele scale is an organized sequence of notes. There are 8 notes in every calibration. This string of viii notes is called an octave. Every scale starts and ends with the same note, too known as the "root annotation." The last note of the scale is too the root note of that calibration, nevertheless, it's an octave higher than that same first note. Every calibration ascends in a prescribed series of one-half and whole steps, leading up to the eighth notation.
For instance, accept a look at the C Major scale -- one of the easiest scales to play and one that you'll hear in a ton of different songs. Office of what makes the C Major Scale easy for beginners to learn is because there are no sharps or flats:
• 1st Note (Root Notation): C
• 2nd Note: D
• tertiary Annotation: E
• 4th Note: F
• 5th Note: Grand
• sixth Note: A
• 7th Notation: B
• 8th Notation (Root note, i octave higher): C
Get a free trial of Fender Play and acquire to play the C Major scale on ukulele and hear it for yourself.
Learning scales can aid build finger strength and dexterity, too as help you lot develop an ear for music. Learning scales can help you learn melodies and riffs later on on, when y'all start to play -- or write -- your own music.
Ane of the easiest means for beginners to learn scales is to use a ukulele scale chart. When reading these ukulele scale diagrams, you lot'll see notes represented by dots. These dots show you which notation yous'll play on a specific fret and string. If yous see a dot with a note above the string, that means that you volition play that string in an open position -- with no fingers on any frets.
Learn a Vocal on the Ukulele
Playing songs and putting your knowledge of chords and notes into practice is one of the most rewarding parts of learning to play ukulele. Learning songs that you dear not only inspires yous to develop your musical knowledge and ear, only it allows you to progress farther, applying what you've learned on your musical journey and applying it to new songs you lot learn.
For beginners simply starting to play ukulele, and easy -- and fun -- song to learn is "Lava" from the Disney animated brusk film of the same name. The song is fabricated up of three easy-to-play chords: C, F, and G7.
This cheerful love song nods to the ukulele's Hawaiian roots. It'southward impossible not to grinning while learning to play "Lava." Just take it slow and practice your chord transitions, smoothly maneuvering from one chord to the next and focusing on placing your fingers correctly before picking upward the speed of your strumming.
Learn to play "Lava" on ukulele: Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/picket?v=7fze1OWeOuU&characteristic=youtu.be
Once you've mastered playing "Lava," check out x more than piece of cake songs to acquire to play on ukulele to continue on your journey!
"I think the best part of writing a song is finding a chord. I can hear the chord in my head. It's so satisfying when I finally discover it."
Check out Fender Play Ukulele Lessons
Learning to play an instrument tin be a fun and rewarding adventure -- and the ukulele is a smashing instrument for beginners to start with! Sign up for a free trial of Fender Play and unlock new chords, skills, and songs to larn and play on ukulele.
Source: https://www.fender.com/articles/how-to/how-to-play-ukulele
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