The ukulele is one of the easiest instruments to learn for a beginner, but why?
- The Ukulele is Small and Light
- Playing Ukulele is Soft & Quiet
- The Ukulele only has 4 strings
- The Strings are Light & Soft
- It is a very inexpensive instrument
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Learn How to Play Ukulele (for beginners)
The Ukulele is Small and Light
This makes it easy to carry around, and to hold and play. This makes it playable by everyone from small children up to elderly people, as it requires minimal physical effort to play.
The Ukulele is Soft and Quiet
Most acoustic instruments are loud, and can sound “annoying” when beginners play them. The ukulele is very forgiving, as it is both soft and quiet when you play, and you can’t really make any piercing or screechy noises on it like a violin or flute for example.
The Ukulele only has 4 strings
Compared to the guitar, and other plucked string instruments, the chord shapes on the ukulele are easy to learn. In fact, I can almost guarantee that you will get up and running playing 4 chord songs after only a few hours of practice.
The Strings are Light & Soft
Since the ukulele strings are made of nylon, and have very low tension, they are both soft and on your fingers and light to press down. In short: they require very little effort to play, and you will not have to develop muscle strength like you do on a steel string guitar.
It is a very Inexpensive Instrument
Getting started on ukulele is cheap, as you can get a decent instrument for below 50 US dollars.
You can also choose between: soprano, concert and tenor ukuleles depending on which you feel suit you best. These are all tuned the same, so the difference will be the size of the instrument and frets.
And there are also baritone ukuleles, which are the biggest version, tuned the same as the top 4 strings on a guitar.
How long does it take to learn the ukulele?
It depends if you have musical abilities before you starting learning the ukulele. For me it only took a few weeks to get comfortable on the ukulele. But I would say a complete beginner should be able to strum along with chords to practically any song, after about 3-6 months of daily practice.
Playing melodies, finger picking, arpeggios etc. will take a bit longer to get used to, as it requires more precision as well as expressive techniques.