Start here
Tuning: G C E A
Standard tuning for soprano, concert and tenor. That is the order the strings sit in, not the order of their pitches — the re-entrant G is tuned above the C, not below it. Tap a letter to hear that string, and the G will prove it.
Usually re-entrant: tuned above the C rather than below it. Most of why the instrument sounds the way it does.
The lowest-sounding of the four, despite sitting second.
The quiet middle. Does its work inside the chord and rarely asks for attention.
The one you fret first. C lives at its third fret.
The first four
Chords
A filled dot is a finger. A ring above the nut is an open string — leave it alone and let it ring. Tap any of the four to hear it.
Third fret of the A string, everything else open. This is the one that convinces people they can do this.
Second fret of the G string. C and Am together already carry a surprising number of songs.
Second fret of the G string, first fret of the E. The first shape that asks two fingers to cooperate.
The one that wants you home. Play C, F, G7 in a loop and you have most of the twentieth century.
Learn them in this order
C first, then Am — both are one finger, and together they already sound like a song. F next, then G7. A Strum Leader will show you the four a song needs before it starts, so there is nothing to memorise in advance.
You do not need
- To read music. There is none in the room.
- An expensive instrument.
- To know any of this before you turn up.
Going further
Read
Theory, in the amount a Saturday morning needs.
When four is not enough
Look it up
Free, no account, nothing to install.
UkeBuddy — Chords
Look up any chord by key, type and position. Every shape you are likely to meet, plus the ones further up the neck once four chords stop being enough.
UkeBuddy — Chord Namer
The reverse. Tap the frets you are holding and it tells you what you have found — useful when a Strum Leader plays something and nobody can name it.
What we play from
The yellow and the blue
The yellow book
The Daily Ukulele
Compiled by Jim Beloff and Liz Beloff
365 songs, one for each day, all arranged in ʻukulele-friendly keys with the chords printed above the words.
The blue book
The Daily Ukulele: Leap Year Edition
Compiled by Jim Beloff and Liz Beloff
The follow-up, and another 366 songs. Between the two of them there is very little a Saturday morning cannot reach.
Most mornings run out of the PDF songbook posted for that date, with the occasional pick from one of these two. You do not need to own either to come along.
Take them home
Chord charts
The songbook for each morning, as posted. Free to download whether you come along or not.
When you are ready
Come and play them with us
Second and fourth Saturday · 9:00 AM – noon · Christ Church Los Angeles · $10 suggested donation