You’re never too old to learn!

[DillyBilly]

Today I bought a ukulele off Trade Me, NZ. I’ve been thinking about taking up ukulele for about 10 years. I recently went on a cruise & a group of people with ukuleles got together & I went along out of curiosity. One lady had a Leolani tenor with a low G string & I really liked it. (Solid cedar top with laminated macassar ebony back & sides).

About a week ago I decided to start researching ukuleles online & went to 4 local music stores to check out different makes & models. It was quite daunting & a bit of a minefield. Nobody had seen or even really heard of a Leolani in NZ but I couldn’t help but keep coming back to it. I decided to check out Trade Me and voila, amongst the multitudes of ukuleles - there it was! A Leolani tenor. I think it was meant to be. It’s lovely to look at with a lovely sound. I’m happy.

Having fun already though not too sure where to start. I’m thinking learning 4 basic chords so I can play lots of songs to sing to, but discovered already that I need to learn which fingers are best placed where for ease of changing chords. At the moment my fingers are getting tangled up & slowing me down. Does anyone know of a good site to help me with that?

Oh & btw, the lovely lady who sold me the uke told me about this great site. Thanks

 

[stevejfc]

Welcome DillyBilly!

 

[Cadia]

Welcome! Your idea of starting to learn a few chords is a good one. It will give you the ability to actually learn a bunch of songs, and that success encourages more playing. You're never too old! A lot of us on here have picked up the uke at an older age. Your life is your journey, so do what you enjoy. YouTube has a bunch of great uke instructors, where you can start at the very beginning and work your way up. A few that I like that come to mind - BernadetteTeachesMusic, Cynthia Lin, and Stu Fuchs are all very beginner friendly. James Hill is great, and Matt Stead is often recommended, though I haven't watched his lessons. There are other good instructors I'm sure others will mention. The uke is so easy to get started with now, with these great instructors literally at your fingertips on YouTube.

 

[nvtenor]

Welcome! It’s easy to get overloaded with all the stuff online today. I will second Cadia’s recommendations. Sample what’s out there and see what fits your style. I dabbled in the various sites and realized there was TOO much out there for me and I couldn’t stay focused. Definitely check out James Hill “Ukulele Way” on his site. It has structured lessons which was what i needed starting out. I have a couple ukes and one is a Leolani too. It’s one of my easiest playing ukes and sounds great especially for the price.

 

[ailevin]

Welcome! When I was in HI last October, I was really impressed with the Leolani instruments that I tried. At that time I was only looking at their lower priced all laminate ukuleles, but they sounded better than many others in their price range.

I want to echo @nvtenor's observations. The biggest challenge at first was not so much finding good instruction online, but rather staying with a single teacher/method long enough to get their way of doing things into my fingers. Obviously, you have to find something that suits you. I found Matt Stead's beginner lessons particularly helpful. He spends a fair amount of time on holding the ukulele and left hand position, and that helped me quite a bit when I was first learning to form chords. Matt also has a very complete set of courses as you advance and he does weekly playalongs (kanikapila).

My suggestion is that you briefly check out the different online teachers and then pick one and stay put for a while.

 

[bbkobabe]

Welcome to UU.

Start slow, and play songs you know! There are lots of two chord songs and are fun to sing along with...

Keep at it!

 

[Ms Bean]

Welcome to UU, DillyBilly!
You've got a couple of great suggestions already. Check them out on YouTube and stick with daily practice for a month or so. You'll soon figure out which path you want to follow for now.

 

[ploverwing]

Thanks for introducing yourself and welcome to the UU forum, it's great to have you aboard! As you can see, heaps of very generous, knowledgeable people here that have lots to offer. I'm sure you'll find good stuff here, and we're always enthusiastic to hear about your ukulele journey! Enjoy, it's such a fun instrument. I'm glad you found one that makes you happy, it sounds lovely.

 

[Eggs_n_Ham]

Today I bought a ukulele off Trade Me, NZ. I’ve been thinking about taking up ukulele for about 10 years. I recently went on a cruise & a group of people with ukuleles got together & I went along out of curiosity. One lady had a Leolani tenor with a low G string & I really liked it. (Solid cedar top with laminated macassar ebony back & sides).

About a week ago I decided to start researching ukuleles online & went to 4 local music stores to check out different makes & models. It was quite daunting & a bit of a minefield. Nobody had seen or even really heard of a Leolani in NZ but I couldn’t help but keep coming back to it. I decided to check out Trade Me and voila, amongst the multitudes of ukuleles - there it was! A Leolani tenor. I think it was meant to be. It’s lovely to look at with a lovely sound. I’m happy.

Having fun already though not too sure where to start. I’m thinking learning 4 basic chords so I can play lots of songs to sing to, but discovered already that I need to learn which fingers are best placed where for ease of changing chords. At the moment my fingers are getting tangled up & slowing me down. Does anyone know of a good site to help me with that?

Oh & btw, the lovely lady who sold me the uke told me about this great site. Thanks

Already down with the tone woods and low g! Instinct, this one has! Welcome. Please consider checking out Matt Stead on youtube. He has amazing free ukulele tuition starting from "how to hold a uke" to hard core music theory. Also the amazing James Hill "Uketropolis" site (not free but very affordable).

 

[DillyBilly]

Welcome DillyBilly!

Thanks Steve.

 

[DillyBilly]

Already down with the tone woods and low g! Instinct, this one has! Welcome. Please consider checking out Matt Stead on youtube. He has amazing free ukulele tuition starting from "how to hold a uke" to hard core music theory. Also the amazing James Hill "Uketropolis" site (not free but very affordable).

Thanks very much. I’ll check those out!

 

[DillyBilly]

Thanks for introducing yourself and welcome to the UU forum, it's great to have you aboard! As you can see, heaps of very generous, knowledgeable people here that have lots to offer. I'm sure you'll find good stuff here, and we're always enthusiastic to hear about your ukulele journey! Enjoy, it's such a fun instrument. I'm glad you found one that makes you happy, it sounds lovely.

Thanks very much. I’m excited!

 

[DillyBilly]

Welcome! Your idea of starting to learn a few chords is a good one. It will give you the ability to actually learn a bunch of songs, and that success encourages more playing. You're never too old! A lot of us on here have picked up the uke at an older age. Your life is your journey, so do what you enjoy. YouTube has a bunch of great uke instructors, where you can start at the very beginning and work your way up. A few that I like that come to mind - BernadetteTeachesMusic, Cynthia Lin, and Stu Fuchs are all very beginner friendly. James Hill is great, and Matt Stead is often recommended, though I haven't watched his lessons. There are other good instructors I'm sure others will mention. The uke is so easy to get started with now, with these great instructors literally at your fingertips on YouTube.

Thanks for the welcome & your recommendations. I’ll definitely check those out!

 

[DillyBilly]

Welcome! It’s easy to get overloaded with all the stuff online today. I will second Cadia’s recommendations. Sample what’s out there and see what fits your style. I dabbled in the various sites and realized there was TOO much out there for me and I couldn’t stay focused. Definitely check out James Hill “Ukulele Way” on his site. It has structured lessons which was what i needed starting out. I have a couple ukes and one is a Leolani too. It’s one of my easiest playing ukes and sounds great especially for the price.

Thank you. I agree it’s easy to get overwhelmed with so much stuff online. I’ll definitely check out James Hill. Thanks for the recommendation. Glad to hear you too have a Leolani & good to hear the positive comments about it. I’m enjoying mine so much already. It has a lovely sound. I’ve already learned the chords to Amazing Grace - now I need to learn to strum properly. Having fun trying!

 

[DillyBilly]

Welcome! When I was in HI last October, I was really impressed with the Leolani instruments that I tried. At that time I was only looking at their lower priced all laminate ukuleles, but they sounded better than many others in their price range.

I want to echo @nvtenor's observations. The biggest challenge at first was not so much finding good instruction online, but rather staying with a single teacher/method long enough to get their way of doing things into my fingers. Obviously, you have to find something that suits you. I found Matt Stead's beginner lessons particularly helpful. He spends a fair amount of time on holding the ukulele and left hand position, and that helped me quite a bit when I was first learning to form chords. Matt also has a very complete set of courses as you advance and he does weekly playalongs (kanikapila).

My suggestion is that you briefly check out the different online teachers and then pick one and stay put for a while.

Thank you. I’m certainly happy that I chose the Leolani. It has a lovely sound & is very nice to play. Its good to hear comments that reinforce my decision. I’ll definitely check out Matt Stead. Right now work is getting in the way of my ukulele. I just want to get into it!

 

[captain-janeway]

Welcome! I glad you found one that really spoke to you. You'll stick with the playing more. I love my cedar low g.

 

[DillyBilly]

Welcome! I glad you found one that really spoke to you. You'll stick with the playing more. I love my cedar low g.

Thank you! Yes that’s a great way to put it - it definitely seemed to speak to me! The one I bought doesn’t have a low g like the lady’s on the ship. I’m deciding whether I should change it but I’m enjoying as it is for now…

 

[ploverwing]

Thank you! Yes that’s a great way to put it - it definitely seemed to speak to me! The one I bought doesn’t have a low g like the lady’s on the ship. I’m deciding whether I should change it but I’m enjoying as it is for now…

I'd stick with the high g for a while to get the feel for that and explore it. Never too late to switch to low g to noodle around with that whenever you're ready. Or don't. If you end up living high g it never needs to change!

 

[DillyBilly]

I'd stick with the high g for a while to get the feel for that and explore it. Never too late to switch to low g to noodle around with that whenever you're ready. It don't. If you end up living high g it never needs to change!

Ok, that’s kind of what I thought. Thanks for the advice

 

[Kenn2018]

Hi Dilly Billy, welcome to the UU Forum.

I second Ploverwing. Most of the instruction online and in books is aimed at re-entrant gCEA high-g tuning. (The lowercase "g" indicates re-entrant tuning instead of Low-G linear tuning.)

I highly recommend gotaukulele.com for ukuleles, information, reviews & tips. The site is run by Barry Maz (Baz)
Sites by members are: choirguy's Ukestuff
Brad Bordessa has some very good free introductory stuff for new players: liveukulele.com/lessons/uke-101/
Brett McQueen also has a number of free lessons and info: ukuleletricks.com/how-to-play-ukulele/

Try out several instructional sources to find the person whose teaching style you prefer.
The basic chord progression of C, F, G (or G7) & Am will enable you to play hundreds if not thousands of songs. (It's the Key of C.)
Lots of ukulele chord sites online. Baz has a beginner's chord sheet you can download. But don't let it overwhelm you.

There is no "standard" way to finger the chords. When you see a chord written with number in the dots, it is a "suggested" fingering. You will find others as you progress.

Practice changing from one chord to the others. IE: C to F. C to G. C to G7. C to Am. Then F to G. etc. All the combinations. Over and over again. You can do this watching TV while muting the strings. This and the basic "Down Up" strum will get you started.

Have fun.