How to learn ukulele

Which size to choose#

Ukuleles come in four main sizes: soprano, concert, tenor and baritone. The first three are tuned the same way; the baritone is tuned like the top four strings of a guitar, and most beginner books are not written for it. For adult hands the concert size is usually the most comfortable: the frets are a little wider than on a soprano, the sound is fuller, and all the chord shapes are the same. If you have large fingers, look at a tenor.

You need a tuner — a clip-on for the headstock or an app. New nylon strings stretch a lot in the first week and go out of tune every few minutes; that is not a defect, just how the material behaves. Keep retuning, and after a few days the strings settle.

The tuning quirk that confuses beginners#

Standard tuning, from the fourth string (the one nearest your face) to the first, is G, C, E, A. The fourth string is tuned higher than the third, not lower as you would expect from a guitar. This is called re-entrant tuning, and it gives the ukulele its bright, bouncy sound. Check it with a tuner in your very first session — a mistake in the tuning makes every chord unrecognisable.

Weeks 1–2: four chords that give you hundreds of songs#

Start with C, Am, F and G. The first three take one or two fingers; G takes three, and that is usually where the first stumble happens. A handy practice progression: C → Am → F → G, four strums each. This set covers a huge number of pop songs, and within a week you can play along to something recognisable.

Strumming hand: strum down with your index finger across all the strings over the end of the neck, not over the sound hole. Nail on the way down, fingertip on the way up. Keep your wrist loose, as if you were shaking water off your fingers.

Weeks 3–5: rhythm and changes without pauses#

The classic ukulele strum is down, down-up, up-down-up. Practise it on one chord with a metronome until your hand repeats the pattern on its own, then add chord changes. The rule is the same as for any string instrument: the strumming hand does not stop even if the fretting hand is late — better to let the open strings ring for a beat.

Add the chords Dm, Em, A and D7. For most beginners Em sounds muffled for a long time: make sure your fingers are on their tips and not touching the neighbouring strings.

Weeks 6–8: fingerpicking and simple melodies#

Fingerpicking: the thumb plays the fourth and third strings, the index finger the second, the middle finger the first. A simple "thumb, index, middle, index" pattern turns any chord progression into a calm accompaniment. At the same time, learn one or two melodies from tab within the first five frets: ukulele tab is easier to read than notation — the number shows the fret, the line shows the string.

How to check yourself#

Once a week, record the same song on your phone. The stage is done when the song goes from start to finish without stopping, all chords sound clean, and the rhythm on the recording is even — no speeding up on easy parts and no gaps at the changes. In your practice journal, keep a list of the chords you have learned and the tempo at which changes go smoothly. When you want to understand why the chords are built the way they are, move on to ear training and music theory.

Step-by-step plan

1. Week 1 — instrument and tuningConcert or soprano size, a tuner, re-entrant G-C-E-A tuning; retune new strings every few minutes.
2. Weeks 1–2 — four chordsC, Am, F, G and the C-Am-F-G progression, four strums each; your first song.
3. Weeks 3–5 — rhythm and changesThe down, down-up, up-down-up strum with a metronome; Dm, Em, A, D7.
4. Weeks 6–8 — fingerpicking and melodiesPicking with thumb, index and middle fingers; one or two melodies from tab.

Sources

• Ukulele UndergroundLessons and video tutorials for beginners
  free
• Ukulele HuntArticles, chords and tabs for playing on your own
  free
• musictheory.netFree theory: notes, chords, rhythm
  free

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