Whether you are thinking of getting a ukulele or already have one, you may be wondering where on earth to start. Are you overwhelmed with the number of videos, websites, or lessons available? Are you overwhelmed by all the ukulele models, sizes, woods, and price points?
Are your non-ukulele-playing friends giving you grief for wanting to learn such a small instrument? Help is here! (And you’ll even gain ukulele-loving friends!) I will outline four key areas that will help you start out with your ukulele so you can have years of strumming fun ahead! Let’s check them out!
Buy a Quality Ukulele
It is so important to start out your ukulele journey with a quality instrument. Low-quality ukuleles could leave your fingers hurting if the string height (action) isn’t properly set up, and you may not get full, warm sounds from the ukulele if it is not made well. You don’t want anything to get in your way of making beautiful music.
The Terry Carter Music Store has a range of ukuleles that are perfect for beginners. You don’t even have to spend a ton of money to get a high-quality instrument. This exclusive Uke Like the Pros Kala concert ukulele is designed by Terry Carter and his team and is affordable yet beautiful and unique. You will even receive a Uke Like the Pros gig bag, chord chart, cleaning cloth, and more. You will also receive the Uke Like the Pros Master the Ukulele 1 Book so you can get started out with great instruction. You won’t find a better deal anywhere else!
Read more: 3 Ukulele Songs You Should Know
Learn the Nuts and Bolts
Once you have your beautiful ukulele, you will want to learn about the instrument. Become familiar with all the parts of the ukulele as well as the basics of strumming, chords, and songs. If you bought the above-mentioned book, it will go over these topics in detail. What a great resource for beginners! You can also learn in the beginner courses available at UkeLikethePros.com. More on that below!
Learn to Play with Quality Lessons
While you could struggle your way to learn how to play by going down the YouTube rabbit hole of videos, there is a better way! Uke Like the Pros is a perfect place to start out with your new ukulele. This learning experience has over 20 quality courses. With each course, you will see step-by-step video lessons, on-screen tabs, downloadable backing tracks, downloadable sheets of music/tab, a comment section, and even a forum to post your progress. Each lesson is taught by Terry Carter who has over 30 years of experience.
If you want to learn even more about Terry Carter, check out this video on 10 things you don’t know about him already. There are five courses completely dedicated to beginners. At Uke Like the Pros, you can choose from a yearly or monthly standard, premium, or platinum membership. The courses will give you a structured learning path but also be tons of fun. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you can pick up certain techniques.
Connect with Others
With your Uke Like the Pros membership, you have access to the Community Forum. You will meet other enthusiastic ukulele players who may also be new to the instrument. Connecting with others is so important because you can ask questions and share your progress. You can record and upload videos of yourself playing.
Everyone is always very encouraging there, which is important for a beginner musician, especially if you’re starting out as an adult. Sometimes, bad past musical experiences can impact our present music endeavors and leave us wanting to give up. But when you connect with others, the ukulele becomes tons of fun. You will learn and grow from one another and share in successes. Your ukulele world will be opened up and you’ll see limitless opportunities for learning all about the instrument and what can be done with it.
Conclusion
If you’ve ever been on the fence about starting with the ukulele, I hope that the previous sections have encouraged you to give it a try. You can also hear Terry Carter explain why you should learn the ukulele now in this YouTube video on the Uke Like the Pros channel. The ukulele is an easy instrument to start out with, even if you don’t have any previous musical experience. And there is always something new to explore, songs to learn, friends to meet, and styles of music to play. It is truly a wonderful instrument. Enjoy your ukulele and playing experience!
