The first ukulele lesson can be very overwhelming so I thought I would lay out some basics on the instrument as well as as some history notes for incoming students, don’t feel like you need to know all this before the first lesson!
Where does the ukulele come from?
The ‘ukulele (oo koo lay lay) is one of the first things that many people associate with Hawai‘i. The roots of the instrument itself are attributed to Portuguese immigrants who brought their small guitar, the “machete de braga” from Madeira to the Hawaiian Islands in the 1880s. It became a hit instrument almost immediately, especially with King David Kalakaua, Hawai‘i’s Merrie Monarch, who was an accomplished guitarist and musician and the driving force behind the revival of hula. King Kalakaua and his sister and successor Queen Lydia Liliʻuokalani played and composed songs on the instrument and made it the national instrument for the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. Learn more about ukulele history here.
What are the different types of Ukulele?
Ukuleles come in four major sizes: soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone. Except for the baritone they are all tuned G-C-E-A, otherwise known as standard tuning. This means that what you learn on a soprano ukulele will be the same notes and chords on a concert or tenor. People will often choose larger ukuleles like the concert and tenor if they prefer a louder and deeper sound, or if if they have bigger hands and need more space between frets.
The Baritone, the largest of the ukuleles has a different, lower-pitched tuning: D-G-B-E (just like the four highest-pitched strings of a guitar). If you play a song you know from a standard tuning uke it will still sound good on baritone, but no longer be in the same key.
How Do You Tune a Ukulele?
As mentioned above soprano, concert, and tenor ukes are tuned G-C-E-A. The best way to tune your ukulele is putting a clip on tuner like the Snark onto the headstock. You can also find a tuning app on the Apple or Google store, I don’t recommend beginners try to tune by ear.
One thing that can be difficult jumping into ukulele lessons is that if you’ve never studied music before you would understandably be confused by the notation based on European music theory systems and the layout of the piano and. To put it simply, there are 12 unique notes you can play, with 7 of them as letters A-G and five sharps/flats in between. As you might notice above, C# and Db are the same note, like two words that have the same meaning. All you need to know for tuning is that a sharp makes a note higher in pitch, a flat lower in pitch. So if you are tuning your G string and the tuner says Gb, then you are too low, you need to tighten the peg to get it up to the G pitch. If you have a G# on the tuner you are too high and need to loosen the peg to get the string down to G.
Another thing to check is that your tuner is set at 440hz. This is the standard tuning for American music and usually this is the default setting but it’s good to check in case it got changed (European classical musicians tune to 442hz so that’s why this is an option on a tuner).
How Do You Hold a Ukulele?
There is a lot we can learn from how Jake Shimabukuro, one of the most well known modern ukulele masters, is holding his uke in this picture. A common preconception people have is they need to strum right over the sound hole but it actually sounds great to play just up the neck from it like he is doing. One reason to do this is that if you try to play over the sound hole you end up awkwardly holding the ukulele too far to the right of your body (if you’re playing as a right handed player that is). Do you notice how straight his left arm is? That’s good for the body when you aren’t bending at the wrist to grip the ukulele which is a common mistake newbies make.
Do you also notice how you don’t see his left hand thumb in the picture? That’s because it’s behind the ukulele supporting his fingers like this picture here to left and not wrapped around the uke like the incorrect example below I took from another ukulele blog. I tend to have my thumb follow my middle finger around the neck when move.
Should I Use a Strap?
First off, it’s ok if you don't have strap, they aren’t a requirement for playing the ukulele but they can be a helpful tool. In the top picture this person with a strap is holding their uke with their right arm on the top of the uke body. In the bottom picture this person is holding the uke lower and they are providing stability by cupping it into the crook of their arm. The ideal setup for a strap is to have two pegs on the ukulele for it to connect to: one on the right end of the body and one just by where the back of neck connects to the body. Unfortunately a majority of ukes do not come setup this way and thus you would need to hire a music repair person to put in for you. There are certain kinds of straps that can hook around the music hole then go around your neck or tie to the ukulele headstock without pegs/buttons. I can’t vouch for these personally but I’m sure some are fine.
Without a strap if you are strumming the open strings you’ll notice it is hard to hold the ukulele because you lose the left hand support that is there for chords. To fix this take the side of the your left hand where the Index finger knuckle is and rest the ukulele neck there for support. If you have a strap you won’t have to do this.
5.) Strumming
One interesting thing about ukulele strumming technique is that there is myriad of techniques that sound great. I try not to take a “my way or the highway” approach as a teacher as what I actually care about is “does it sound relaxed?” and “are the up and down strokes balanced?” and “is it healthy for your body long term?”
When strumming the first thing to master is a simple balanced down and up stroke. I personally play with a curled finger technique where I tuck my four fingers at the joint towards my palm (pinky is just along for the ride but not touching the strings) and lightly cross the strings for a downstroke dropping my hand towards the floor. For the return upstroke I let my fingers untuck and pull them towards me, lightly crossing through the strings. To strum I am slightly lifting my elbow and turning my wrist gently, but not making any big shoulder movements.
Other folks may do a similar technique but just use their index finger. Some people go down with their index or thumb finger but back up with the middle. The important this is that you are not stabbing at the strings with a locked wrist. The gentler your approach the better tone you’ll get from the instrument and it will be healthier for your body.
How Do You Play Chords?
This is an example of a C Major chord as written in a chord diagram. You read it left to right, with the G string first, A string last. Here you would place your finger after the 3rd fret on the A string, and play the other strings as open. I use a letter system to show which finger to use but some people use numbers.
I = Index M = Middle R = Ring P = Pinky
Here are the first four chords I like introduce to students. The fingerings are important because they smoothly move into the next chord. Before you strum use the thumb of your right hand to softly play through each string one at a time to make sure they are ringing properly. On a chord like A minor people will often accidentally mute the C string because they haven’t arched their fingers enough to let the string ring.
Try strumming each one in a comfortable tempo giving each chord 8 strums (DU DU DU DU), which would be a common pattern for a song in 4/4 time.
Reading Tab:
The last thing I want to mention is how to read tablature, a shorthand developed for guitar that allows you to learn a song without reading traditional sheet music.
You read tab from bottom to top (G C E A). In this example they are telling us to play only the 3rd fret on the A string. In this other example they are telling us to play the G-C-E as open strings (0) and the 3rd fret of the A string, giving us a C major chord.
This is how a C major scale as seen in standard music notation would look in tab. Tab is a great shorthand for writing melody but you may notice it doesn’t display rhythm which means you have to remember that from memory. When you play single notes like this use your RH thumb and pluck through to the next string to get a great tone.
Have fun!
And don’t feel like you need to know all this stuff right of the bat, I just want to give students a head start on some of the technical stuff so they don’t get too overwhelmed in the first lesson. Please feel free to get in touch if interested in booking a lesson <BirchPereira(at)Gmail> and you can listen to some of my ukulele music below.