Learning the Ukulele

The ukulele appeals to all ages.  It's a very affordable instrument and they are available it lots of different colours or patterns to suit the individual player.

Very young or small children looking to learn the guitar might find it helpful to start on the ukulele in preparation for moving on to the larger guitar.

When purchasing a ukulele, always choose one with 'machine heads' holding the strings to the top of the instrument.  In this example, the machine heads are on the back of the ukulele.  They are metal cogs (sometimes encased) with tuning pegs which help keep the ukulele in tune:

The ukulele has a very charming sound.  It can be used to play melodies (solo and in groups) but is particularly good for chord playing too.  Many players learn to sing and play at the same time!  There is a massive repertoire available now for ukulele and once you've learned even a small number of chords you'll be amazed how many tunes you can play with them.

Ukuleles are part of the guitar family.  In many ways they look like a guitar but they are much smaller and have four strings (guitars tend to have six).

There are different sizes of ukulele.  The most recognisable and common type for learners is called a soprano ukuele.  Most pupils start with a soprano ukulele and can choose to move on to the larger concert or tenor size ukuleles if they are looking for more variety of challenging pieces to learn.