Ukulele Method Book 1 - Hal Leonard | Step-by-Step Beginner Ukulele Lesson Book for Adults and Kids | Learn Chords, Strumming, and Reading Music | Ukulele Songbook and Technique Guide

After purchasing a subpar ukulele primer by another author, that only taught how to strum chords, this book delivers exactly what I was looking for. Humorously, it was the one star review that convinced me that this was the book I needed, based on a photo they shared of music they apparently couldn't read. Even though they claimed they could. This is a straightforward, simple, yet serious approach to the ukulele. This is more than just strumming along, and if you follow the lessons, you will be picking songs (way more fun imo) as well as being able to harmonize with chords. It's a well rounded approach that mirrors lesson books for instruments that people tend to take more seriously, such as the piano or violin. I appreciate that, because even though I want to play just for fun, I also want to be able to play proficiently.

My daughter used this book to start learning how to play the ukulele. I really like that the book displays both musical clefs and tablature, so she is learning how to read music too. There are plenty of musicians that use tabs to play that don't know how to read actual music, and I'm glad she will know how to do both. It is providing a great foundation for her to build on.

I bought this book for my wife who is just starting to learn to play the uke. She played clarinet years ago in school but this is her first instrument since. This book is a great foundation for learning not just harmony but also melody, etc. She struggled a bit with some of the concepts but I was able to guide her though it so I feel this book is better suited if you have prior music experience or for working with a teacher. There is a wealth of information here and working through it all will give you a solid foundation to be a well rounded musician. I've used similar Hal Leonard method books for Guitar in the past and they are all good.

This book, along with the second book in the series, is a complete course for teaching the beginner to play the ukulele. It's designed to take a total beginner and teaches them to play. You have to start at the beginning and progress your way through to the end - it doesn't work to just dip in the middle. The author's approach is a bit unusual because he starts off teaching finger-picking individual notes to create melodies (tunes). Most books or classes start by teaching strumming chords, singing at the same time. In this book, chords are taught later. Some music theory is also taught, but not to a major degree. I actually bought this book then joined a class. The book's approach didn't mesh with the class's approach (which emphasised strumming songs), so I put the books aside. It was only much later, after attending the classes for about 18 months (great fun, by the way), and reading about ukulele playing and music in general that I began to appreciate the clever way this book is put together. It's pitched to the total beginner. It doesn't ask too much, and gradually builds the learner up. The songs are chosen to be playable by the beginner. It also introduces some music concepts along the way. The CD is very good at demonstrating the play described in the book and the author gives further explanation. I think the CD is essential to the book. The book is not without it's faults, but most of these are minor. I think an explanation of it's approach and what the student will be able to do at the course's end would have been helpful. Perhaps some further advice on how to go about practicing would have been good. Some descriptions of the likely difficulties a student might encounter as they are learning and how to get over them would have been useful (and encouraging). For example, the awkwardness of getting your left hand into the correct position to form the chords, and also discomfort and slowness changing chords. Perhaps more explanation of how the individual techniques being taught fit into the big picture of playing ukulele songs. What do they contribute? Maybe some advice on how to choose a good beginners ukulele (and avoid a bad one). Most of these are minor tweaks, rather than deal-breaking complaints. I've come back to these books as I'm now learning finger picking. I now realise what the author was trying to do. I think it is possible for a beginner to learn to play the ukulele - both strumming and finger-picking - from these two books. I don't think the learning experience would be overwhelming for the total beginner. I guess that's the beauty of the author's teaching method.

This is a great book for someone who is just learning how to play ukulele for the first time. I would definitely buy this book for a beginner ukulele player. Also love in the back of a book how they have the chords, and it shows placements of where to put your finger so we can go back to refer to how to play that cord. Also love this book because it taught me how to how to pick chords in ukulele. And I still know some of the songs from this book so they’re really good book. I think all teachers who teach ukulele to be beginning ukulele students should recommend this book to their students and have them use this as beginner guide. I have learned so much as a ukulele player. This taught me a lot for how to pick cords and it also shows you in the beginning how to do different strumming patterns which is very very good to know.

This is helping me with the notes, chords, strumming and basics of playing ukulele. I am a senior that purchased to promote mental dexterity. I found plenty of on-line help with everything except the notes. This book fills that void...

I picked this up with no prior Ukulele experience, but with some experience with other instruments. The material on learning to read music and picking melodies is excellent; the descriptions of strumming patterns and techniques is a little hard to follow. I wish some of the examples were a little more developed, but it's a great guide to learning. I'm glad I went with this over other books which only offered chords.

Very please with the material and the service!

The Hal Leonard series of musical instrument instruction books for beginners are excellent. I live in the country, and personal instruction, particularly during the time of COVID-19 social distancing is not an option. I was hesitant at first to get these books, as I was not sure I would learn as easily or retain info as well as 'face to face' lessons, but it has been easy and interesting to learn this way. I highly recommend these books if you want to learn how to play an instrument.

Muy claro para aprender música y a tocar el Ukulele

I love this book. Teaches picking tunes from tab from the very beginning. Introduces chords at ex. 32 in the book, teaches chords, more picking, more chords, more picking etc. ends on about ex 76 so lots of material. Does not teach to read music as such, more focused on reading tab but the music line is always above the tab so you could read the music.

Ce livre est idéal pour les débutants (comme moi !) en ukulélé ! Très clair et méthodique comme son nom l'indique, l'introduction écrite par l'auteur met de suite dans l'ambiance joyeuse de cet instrument.Les "ultra-débutants y trouve le B-A BA de la lecture musicale sur portées et sur tablatures et dès les premières pages, ont le plaisir de jouer des petits airs connus avec paroles s'il y a lieu ; les portées traditionnelles avec notes sont accompagnées de portées avec nombres très faciles à lire. A la fin de certains airs, un petit commentaire sympa. Sans oublier quelques photos pour bien comprendre les positions des mains et doigts ainsi que la méthode de "strumming". A la fin, une indispensable page récapitulative des différents accords en tablatures (chord chart) très utile ! Progrès rapides assurés !