Ukulele for beginners: how to choose, hold, tune and play your first chords

Ukulele for beginners is mostly a question of the first week: which size to buy, how to hold it, how to tune four strings and which chords to learn first. Get those right and a first song comes within days, because a C chord on the ukulele takes one finger.

This guide takes a complete beginner from choosing a ukulele to playing real songs. It covers the four sizes, holding and tuning, and how to read a chord diagram. Then come the eleven first chords with their frets, four strumming patterns, seven songs that use only those chords and a four-week plan.

To start playing ukulele, choose a soprano or concert size, tune the strings to G, C, E and A, and learn the one- to three-finger chords C, Am, F and G7 first. With ten to fifteen minutes of practice a day, most beginners strum a simple song in time within the first week or two.

Why the ukulele is a good first instrument

The ukulele is one of the easiest string instruments to start on, for three physical reasons. It has four strings instead of six, so a chord needs fewer fingers. The strings are nylon or a similar synthetic, so they press down easily and sting the fingertips less than steel guitar strings. And the neck is short, so the first chords sit within three frets and the hand never has to stretch.

The hard part arrives later, the same as on any instrument. It is changing chords in time, keeping a strum steady while the left hand moves, and the first chords that need one finger to hold two or more strings. The plan below meets those one at a time.

Choose the right ukulele size

Ukuleles come in four common sizes. The first three are tuned the same way, so the chords in this guide work on all of them. The fourth, the baritone, is tuned differently.

• Soprano (about 21 inches long): the smallest and the classic bright, plucky sound. The frets are close together, which suits children and small hands and can feel cramped for large ones.
• Concert (about 23 inches): a little longer, with more room between the frets and a slightly fuller tone. For an adult who is unsure, this is the safest first size.
• Tenor (about 26 inches): longer again, with a deeper sound and the space that fingerpicking players like. Many tenor players fit a low G string, explained in the tuning section below.
• Baritone (about 29 to 30 inches): tuned D, G, B, E, the same notes as the four highest strings of a guitar. The chord shapes look the same as on a soprano, but they sound different and carry different names, so most beginner books and charts, written for G, C, E, A, do not match it.

For a first instrument, the size matters more than the price. Pick soprano for a child or small hands and concert for most adults. Choose tenor if you already know you want to fingerpick, and baritone only if you plan to move to guitar and want shapes that transfer directly.

How to hold a ukulele

For a right-handed player, the neck points to the left and the left hand frets the strings. Rest the body of the ukulele against your chest, slightly tilted so you can see the fretboard, and let the right forearm hold it there. Most players need no strap for a soprano or concert ukulele.

The left thumb sits behind the neck, roughly behind the second fret, and the fingers come over the top to press the strings with their tips. Press just behind the metal fret, not on top of it, and the note rings clearly with less pressure. The right hand strums with the index finger, nail side down and fingertip side up, over the spot where the neck joins the body. Strumming there gives a warmer sound than strumming over the soundhole.

Left-handed players can either learn the standard way, as many do, or flip the instrument and restring it in reverse. Decide in the first week, because chord diagrams are drawn for the standard way.

Tune to G, C, E and A

A ukulele in standard tuning has its strings tuned to G, C, E and A, from the string nearest your chin to the string nearest the floor. The G string is tuned higher than the C next to it, which surprises most beginners: this is called re-entrant tuning, and it gives the ukulele its bright, close-voiced sound. Some players fit a thicker string tuned an octave lower, called low G, for a fuller bass.

Tune before every session, since nylon strings drift, and new ones drift for days. A clip-on tuner is the quickest method. Without one, you can hold a reference note on the online tuning drone and match each string to it. The full method, with the frequency of every string, relative tuning by ear and low-G and baritone tunings, is in the guide to how to tune a ukulele. In the browser, the online ukulele tuner listens through the microphone and shows all four strings.

How to read a ukulele chord diagram

A chord diagram is a picture of the fretboard seen from the front, with the headstock at the top. The four vertical lines are the strings, G on the left and A on the right. The horizontal lines are the frets, and the thick line at the top is the nut. A dot shows where a finger presses, and a number inside or under the dot tells you which finger: 1 is the index, 2 the middle, 3 the ring and 4 the little finger. A string with no dot is played open.

Chord charts and this guide also write chords as four digits, one per string from G to A. C is 0-0-0-3: the G, C and E strings open and the A string held at the third fret. A zero means open, and the number is the fret.

The diagram below shows the eleven chords from the next section in that format.

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To keep the chart on the music stand, download the free printable PDF of the eleven ukulele chords. It fits a US Letter page, with the legend at the top.

Ukulele chords for beginners: the first eleven

These eleven chords cover most beginner songs in the keys of C, G and A. Learn them in the order of the table. The first four take one or two fingers, and each later chord adds one new demand. The frets read from the G string to the A string, and a zero means the string rings open.

The chords fall into three groups that belong together. C, Am, F, G and G7 are the chords of C major, the home key of the ukulele. G, C, D and Em belong to G major. A, D and E7 belong to A major. Most beginner songs use three or four chords from one group, which is why the songs below are grouped the same way.

Practice chord changes in pairs before you play them in songs. Form C, strum once, form Am, strum once, and repeat for a minute without stopping, slowly enough that the strum never waits for the hand. Then do C and F, then F and G7. The pairs that share a finger, such as Am and F, change fastest when that finger stays down.

First strumming patterns

A strumming pattern is a repeating rhythm of down and up strokes. Learn these four in order, counting out loud, and keep the right hand moving down and up all the time, even when it misses the strings. That constant motion is what keeps the rhythm even.

1. Four downs. Down on every beat, counted “1, 2, 3, 4”. This is the pattern for your first chord changes, because the hand has a whole beat between strokes.
2. Down-up eighths. Down on the beat and up on the “and”, counted “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and”. The up strokes are lighter and catch mainly the higher strings.
3. The island strum. Down, down-up, up-down-up, counted “1, 2 and, and 4 and”. The hand still moves on beat 3 but misses the strings, which gives the pattern its lilt. Most pop songs on the ukulele use it.
4. Waltz time. Down, down-up, down-up, counted “1, 2 and, 3 and”, for songs in 3/4, three beats to a bar.

Practice each pattern on one chord against the online metronome at about 60 to 70 beats per minute before you add chord changes. If counting in beats and halves is new, the guide to note values and time signatures explains quarter notes, eighth notes and 3/4 time.

First songs to play with these chords

Each song below uses three or four of the chords from the table, in the usual ukulele chart. They are listed in the order the four-week plan reaches them.

• “Happy Birthday to You” (traditional): C, F and G7, in 3/4 with the waltz strum. Everyone knows the tune, so you hear at once when a chord change comes late.
• “La Bamba” (Ritchie Valens): C, F and G round and round, one quick loop that trains the change from F to G.
• “Let It Be” (The Beatles): C, G, Am and F, the four chords of C major, with changes every two beats in the verse.
• “Stand by Me” (Ben E. King): C, Am, F and G in the usual ukulele chart, each held for a bar or two, so it suits the down-up eighths at a slow tempo.
• “Jolene” (Dolly Parton): Am, C, G and Em, the first song here with Em, played with a quick, even down-up strum.
• “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (Bob Dylan): G, D, Am and C, a slow loop in G major that introduces the D chord.
• “Three Little Birds” (Bob Marley and the Wailers): A, D and E7 (or E), the A-major group, with a relaxed off-beat feel.

When these feel comfortable, the ten songs ranked in ukulele songs for beginners are the next step, ordered from a two-chord song to the first one with barre chords. For a larger supply of songs once the chords are under your fingers, a songbook written in ukulele-friendly keys keeps every session fresh.

The Daily Ukulele, compiled by Jim and Liz Beloff, prints 365 songs with melody, lyrics and ukulele chord grids, from folk and pop to Broadway, Christmas carols and children’s songs. It is spiral-bound, so it lies flat on a music stand, and its keys are chosen for groups singing along.

Learn from one method book

A method book puts the steps in a careful order. Tuning and holding come first, then the first chords, strumming, reading and the next chords, each with a song to practice it. Beginners who learn only from videos and chord charts tend to skip a step and stall in the second month. One book, worked through in order, prevents that.

The Hal Leonard Ukulele Method, Book 1, by Lil’ Rev, is the one we publish for a beginner of any age. Its 48 pages cover the types of ukulele, tuning, chords and strumming, reading music and tablature, melodies and scales, with tunes in several styles.

A 4-week plan for the first month

Ten to fifteen minutes a day is enough for this plan. Start every session by tuning, then spend half the time on chord changes and half on a song. Move on when the current week’s changes are clean at a slow tempo, even if that takes longer than a week.

• Week 1. Hold and tune the ukulele. Learn C, Am and F, then G7 by the end of the week. Strum four downs on one chord, then change between C and Am, C and F, F and G7. Song: “Happy Birthday to You” with the waltz strum.
• Week 2. Add G and Dm. Switch to the down-up eighths. Songs: “La Bamba”, then the verse of “Let It Be” at half speed.
• Week 3. Learn the island strum on one chord, then on the loop C, G, Am, F. Add Em. Songs: “Stand by Me” and “Jolene”.
• Week 4. A second and third key: D, A, A7 and E7. Songs: “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” in G and “Three Little Birds” in A. Then pick the first song from the ranked list and play it through without stopping.

Fingertips are often sore in the first week or two. Short daily sessions help more than long ones, because the skin firms up between them. If a chord buzzes, press closer to the fret before pressing harder.

Ukulele for kids and classrooms

The ukulele is a common first instrument for children, for the same reasons it suits adults: small size, soft strings and chords that sound good after a day. A soprano fits most young hands. A child needs shorter sessions than an adult, five to ten minutes, and songs they already know.

Ukulele for Kids, by Chad Johnson, is the Hal Leonard method written for children. It takes one idea at a time across 32 pages, from choosing and holding the ukulele to reading music, chords, strumming and picking. Its 16 songs include “Three Little Birds” and “You Are My Sunshine”, with online demonstration and play-along tracks, and a parent or teacher can guide it.

Ukulele or guitar: which to start on

Start on the ukulele if you want to play songs quickly, have small hands, or want an instrument that travels. Start on the guitar if the music you love depends on the guitar’s sound, its bass notes and its six-string chords. Neither choice is wasted, because the skills transfer.

The connection is exact. The four ukulele strings, G, C, E and A, are tuned like the four highest strings of a guitar raised by five frets. So every ukulele shape is a guitar shape on the top four strings, with a different name: the ukulele G chord, 0-2-3-2, is the shape a guitarist calls D. A ukulele player who moves to guitar already knows the shapes, the strumming and the changes, and learns two more strings and new names. The baritone ukulele makes the match complete, since it is tuned exactly like those four guitar strings.

Frequently asked questions

Is the ukulele easy to learn?

Yes, it is one of the easiest instruments to start. Four soft nylon strings and a short neck mean the first chords take one to three fingers within three frets, and C takes one. Most beginners strum a two- or three-chord song in time within the first week or two of daily practice. Clean chord changes at song tempo and the first barre chords take a few months.

What size ukulele should a beginner get?

A concert ukulele suits most adult beginners, because it has more room between the frets than a soprano while keeping the same tuning and chord shapes. A soprano suits children and small hands. A tenor suits players who want a deeper sound or plan to fingerpick. Avoid a baritone as a first ukulele unless you plan to move to guitar, since it is tuned differently from most beginner books.

What are the first ukulele chords to learn?

Start with C (0-0-0-3), Am (2-0-0-0), F (2-0-1-0) and G7 (0-2-1-2), in that order. They take one, one, two and three fingers, and together they play hundreds of songs in C major. Add G, Em and Dm next, then D, A, A7 and E7 for songs in the keys of G and A.

How long does it take to learn the ukulele?

With ten to fifteen minutes of practice most days, a beginner usually plays a simple song in time within one to two weeks and strums four-chord songs with clean changes within one to two months. Playing barre chords, fingerpicking melodies and reading tablature takes several months more. Short daily sessions move faster than one long session a week.

Is the ukulele easier than the guitar?

For the first months, yes. The ukulele has four nylon strings at low tension instead of six, so chords need fewer fingers and less pressure, and the neck is short enough that the first shapes sit within three frets. The guitar catches up later, and the shapes you learn on the ukulele carry over to the guitar’s top four strings under different chord names.

Your first session

Choose a soprano or concert ukulele, tune it to G, C, E and A, and learn C and Am today. Strum four downs on each, change between them slowly, and play the pair for a minute without stopping. Add F and G7 over the next few days, keep the metronome slow and the sessions short, and by the end of the week “Happy Birthday to You” is your first song.