10 Essential things to IGNORE when learning the Ukulele...

[@Kie77]

I played the ukulele to a guitarist recently. He was trying to be positive and friendly when he said "that's really good, you should step up and learn the guitar". I remained zen, but jeez it's annoying

[@UkesWithAlex]

Yep 🤣

[@VCaamano]

I’m a guitarist who just started learning uke. I get similar responses from friends. Ignorance.

[@catch22again]

I quiet often get people telling me that they heard me playing a guitar and sounded really good and they are then really shocked when I tell them its a ukulele. Another comment when they see me get my uke out and play they say " well that's not what we were expecting " and are pleasantly surprised .

[@madcyril4135]

From u.k. Got a baritone uke A year ago, struggled with guitar for years. all over it in no time! Wish I knew about them earlier!

[@balinttoth2339]

I am a bassist and bought a ukulele a few weeks back to mess around for fun, as a kind of "less serious" instrument. Boy how wrong I was. I am now completely hooked and have since upgraded to a solid mahogany uke. It is an amazing and deep instrument.

[@zekragash4294]

Im 6'-6" and 225 lbs. First uke was a concert and my fingers had problems forming chords and finger picking. Acquired a tenor, learned to play, loved it. Picked up the concert after my fingers got trained and now pick up the concert when i want to play/practice. Sweeter sound.

[@dahur]

I'm left handed, and when I took up the uke 3 or 4 years ago, I decided I wasn't going to restring it, but learn, and play the chords and everything upside down. Now after these few years, I can tell you there are certainly some challenges to doing this. But what I've found out is chords like E, D, Bb for example are simple to play upside down. My understanding is these chords can be tough for a right handed beginner. They're so easy to play upside down. Chords I can NOT play upside down, (in position 1), are like F#, F7, Ab, that I can think of. However I can play those chords in position 2, and they're simple there. I've found I like playing chords in position 2, it seems to add more voices to the song, and it's less boring to move from 1 to 2 and back. I would recommend to any left hander looking to learn ukulele, try learning the chords upside down, and you'll be able to play any right handers uke you come across. I could find NO instructional videos or books on learning the chords upside down..I took them on one at a time, and I can play all the major, minor, 7th, and a lot of odd ball others. I feel most comfortable with my Concert size.

[@j5s9c]

Very interesting. Never occurred to me to try that. As a leftie guitarist of many years with left-hand instruments, someone told me to just re-tune a right hand ukulele to suit me, which I did. It's not ideal, though. Your idea seems better.

[@LairdDavidson]

I'm a lefty and learned to play right handed. Saved me a lot of money and hassle on getting left handed instruments.

[@fraserl1744]

Dear Alex I have (twice) journeyed from North of Oxford to the Southern Ukulele Store. I have bought from you a Snail Concert, which not only looks beautiful it sounds wonderful and just a few weeks ago I bought my Flight Comet (blue) and love it equally, but for different reasons. I'm writing to just say that the advice you give is exactly the "experience" I had at Southern Ukulele Store - good, sound, myth-busting advice based upon and focused on the player in all regards......and it wasn't you that served me! 😁 The buying experience was a real pleasure and second to none. I've been meaning to write for ages to thank Adam, who was just great and you too for your informative videos. Adam's support, candid advice, guidance and quizzing lead me to a very happy place - and I cannot recommend Southern Ukulele Store highly enough. THANK YOU😊

[@MariUSukulele]

10 times good advice ✨

[@michelle-psl4441]

Wonderful tips, Alex, as always! When I wanted to learn ukulele 3 years ago, I went to my local Guitar Center and received absolutely NO help. Wound up ordering my first uke on Amazon after watching a handful of YT videos. And from someone who'd started playing ukulele and later learned guitar, you are absolutely correct about the guitar store/guitarist attitude. To most, ukulele is the poor little stepchild of the guitar to be patted on the head and ignored. Just saw Jake Shimabukuro in concert. Are they ever WRONG.🙂

[@zekragash4294]

I put some black nylon on my concert. Been there for almost a year. No stretching, stay in tune, and have the sweetest sound.

[@petestack]

Re. low Gs for fingerpicking, Alex didn't quite say this, but I have seen videos from other people implying you really *need* low G for fingerpicking. You don't. I love picking and, as an experienced guitarist coming to ukulele, sometimes find the absence of lower notes frustrating. But I'm simultaneously excited by the different possibilities of re-entrant tuning and challenge of arranging things to exploit it even when they might not initially look like fitting. While I'll probably still add a low G and/or a baritone sometime, there's just something quintessentially 'ukulele' about the standard tuning, which is perhaps why some of the world's great players stick with it for the most complex arrangements! Also, re. choosing your instrument, consider visiting a specialist store even if, like me, you live hours from the nearest and have to travel. While videos by Alex, Barry Maz, Matt Warnes et al. are a treasure trove of demos and expert advice, you can watch scores of them and still make poor choices without seeing/hearing/feeling the instruments in the same physical space (just don't ask me how I know this!).

[@CocoCapitainePoulet]

I've been playing for 15 years, I have a dozen of ukes, most of them solid wood. My favourite is a laminate, my beloved Kiwaya KS-1

[@billeckelberry6502]

I am a guitar, banjo and ukulele player and completely agree with everything you said! Great job!

[@lcmagill]

One little note: I'm 6 foot and, at the moment, prefer sopranos exclusively. As far as the frets being too narrow I think it has more to do with the player's finger width than anything else. I think people should pick sizes exclusively based on the sound they want to produce, and of course not buy anything that doesn't work with their body. I prefer soprano because to me it makes the most ukulele sound of all the ukuleles available, and I prefer ukulele as an instrument over guitar because of the sound. I think most people's fingers are not so wide that they can't play a standard soprano ukulele in most of the common areas of the neck and wouldn't actually have trouble.

[@ukeleleEric]

As someone who is 6 foot 2, and started on a soprano, I agree that most people can play them. I think it is more about the nut width. Most Far-eastern-produced ukes have a smaller nut, so the space between the strings is tighter. I have ukes of various scales (including a sopranino) - the easiest to play is my main soprano - only my 8-string tenor has a nut as wide.

[@UkesWithAlex]

Thanks for your feedback. Both valid experiences, you would be in the minority though of people that gravitate towards Sopranos. Many manufacturers don't even bother putting a Soprano in the range at the moment because the market has veered so drastically away from it. My comments reflect that experience... not to say you are wrong, just the point is that other people shouldn't dictate what size a newbie should buy when there are many different valid paths

[@jameslarosa2396]

I started playing after watching a Jake Shimabukuro video. Also I picked up one of my Ukuleles that I hadn't played in a year. It has Aquila strings. After a year it was still in tune except the G string which was at F#.

[@judih.8754]

I use a clip on tuner because its so easy. I click it on, tune and turn it off! No distraction at all. Great video Alex.

[@michaelholbrook4401]

My first Ukulele (a tenor) is arriving on Sunday. After perusing a good chunk of ukulele content on YT, I find myself already wanting to start a collection of different sizes, type, strings, etc. I'm gonna need to keep a short leash on myself. :)

[@Panurg81]

haha, nice one. I found myself guilty with the Aquila and the low G part. By the time though I have now both a high G and low G instrument. Coming from the guitar, low G feels just more natural and for me it helps with some lower frequencies to support vocals. But I also got to like the high G Uke sound which is probably the most common sound ppl have in their ear when they think about a Uke. Keep up the good work!

[@jimsatola4971]

AMEN! as to #2, related to Aquila strings. While they are better than, say, Kamaka factory-issue strings (pretty much all-but-defined here as the crappy black nylon strings), my feeling is the earlier one gets rid of the Aquila strings that are so often the “factory issue” and changes them for pretty much any fluorocarbon, is the sooner moment your instrument comes alive and shows its real potential. I don’t hate Aquila strings, . . . they sound nice. It’s just that I think pretty much every fluorocarbon string set sounds better. I agree with all 10 of these.

[@gmoneypoppy]

I hope that this message gets to someone searching for that first Uke before their buddys do. Experience is a great teacher but always less painful to piggyback on someone else's lessons learnt. I only regret selling one Uke and that was the first Baritone I ever bought for $AUS 50 *= 25 Quid secondhand. It was a Mahalo, had a nice deep mellow tone and reasonable intonation. I think Baritone is a great choice for a newbie if it suits your hand size and you don't need something compact. Two ukes for the price of one (Bari + Standard when capoed) and a welcome variation in tone if playing with others. As you say add a capo and you have a standard Uke (to play songs with an F). I generally have one or 2 ukes on the wall to grab when I'm sitting down watching TV. I don't generally subject my 'good' ukes to dust and heat / cold / humidity so a second hand inexpensive one is ideal for this and to expose to the elements outside. I think a lot of mature Uke enthusiasts won't have the desire or dedication to transfer skills to the Guitar but for younger beginners its a great option to minimise frustration, develop skills and techniques and achieve success for effort. I'm keeping a Bari for my grandson as a gateway to Guitar when he's interested/ big enough.

[@mikek4708]

Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge. Got to agree, some of the items you mentioned I dd fall foul of “damn those white strings” 🤯Have a great week

[@rnorburyuk]

Very informative. I would come out in defence of Enya plastic/carbon fibre ukes due to their radius fretboard. I find it much easier to play. I also like the sound of them, I am quite deaf and I find their less tinkly sound easier to hear with or without my aids. I am waiting for a concert version to arrive which has a sound port in the top, hopefully will be even better with limited hearing.

[@KSPicard]

Hi Alex thank you for this video. I actually came to Ukulele a couple of month ago. I bought an uke several years ago for about 20 €. I picked this thing (soprano) tuned it and then I throw it away. No new strings could save it, it was not tuneable. I play guitar for 30 years now. So you can trust me on that this thing couldn‘t be saved. So then I went with faboulous ideas to my favourite Music Store. The guy there is very nice and knows a lot about instruments. My idea was to buy a concert size. I am 6.2 ft. I played several instruments. Finally I found the one I loved. Guess what it is Tenor size and has a pick-up and looks like a strat in Ukulele size. In my opinion nobody shall set its mind to something that somebody tells. As a beginner go to a store check the ukes and buy the one that speaks to you. I wouldn‘t recommend to buy a uke online as a beginner. What you said about baritones, I think a baritone is an own instrument. I play a guitarlele also. It is also an instrument by its own. It should be tuned in ADGCEA. I have a lot fun with it. I can play all my guitar stuff with it and I can play all the uke stuff with it (two more strings different chord shapes😊) Idon‘t see the point to tune a guitarlele like a guitar. If you want to have a small guitar buy a travel size guitar. Again thank you very much for this video. I hope a lot of beginners will watch it and learn something.

[@AlexisBabayan]

I am nearly a foot shorter than you, but I also prefer playing tenor size ukulele! I tried several different ukuleles in a shop that had a good selection, and that was the instrument that felt the most comfortable and had the sweetest tone to my ear when I was shopping for my first ukulele. I would second the recommendation for beginners to try several different sizes/models in person if at all possible, to find out what feels comfortable and what speaks to them. (I would not make a general rule that "tenors sound better" as I have also heard smaller instruments that sound just as nice... for smaller hands, tricky chord shapes may be easier to reach on a smaller fretboard, while larger hands may find small fretboards annoyingly crowded-feeling, though some people with very large hands play with precision on extremely tiny instruments and some people with small hands manage to deal with the stretch on a larger one.)

[@dspboo]

Hi Alex. Just discovered your channel via a recommendation from someone on Reddit. Excellent videos, and most useful for someone like me who's still at the beginning of their ukulele journey. I can see a trip to Bournemouth in my future...

[@roberteverest]

Really good video.

[@MatthewQuilliamMusic]

Really informative video, and very interesting. Thanks for sharing

[@judynpeterjones3307]

Excellent, informative video Alex, will share to our group!

[@Studio42dotCom-Real]

As new players, it's easy to get distracted by things. As a professional musician on trumpet, ukulele is completely different for me. Phone tuners are only good until your real tuner arrives. All my ukuleles except 1 use Aquila and I intend to keep them the same for a while. That one uses D'Addario Titaniums and they sound good too. Keep it stock, keep it simple and focus on learning. My learning is going slow and I'm enjoying it!

[@JJ_TheGreat]

19:50 LOL... 😂 I am looking for my first mandolin - and I just so happened to come to uke videos - because I view the uke like the mandolin - in that you need to go to specialist shops to get both... They are both underrated and have nice sounds (yes, I prefer the mandolin's sound, but I respect the uke's sound - and I feel guitars are too ubiquitous. Yes, I learned guitar for 2 months, but only so I could get a foundation in stringed instruments - and guitar is the most popular one). Because most music shops don't profit from either of these instruments - and so they don't give much thought to/care for them. Therefore, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to buy a uke or mandolin from them - as: 1) They must likely don't know the setup specific for your particular instrument - which is likely a lot different from guitars; and 2) Even if they do, they wouldn't be motivated to do it.

[@nigeldavey1043]

The big problem is most musicians and pretty nearly all non-musicians hold the opinion that the Ukulele is not a serious instrument, not helped by the press and it's image over the years with American Comedians and the like , Tiny Tim, that PeeWee bloke and the like. If you were to say Joe Brown plays Uke and so did George Harrison most would just laugh. I played Guitar a bit sixty years ago but was actually a drummer and on my own just relaxing and noodling I would use a Capo at the fifth fret because I liked the way it sounded. I actually bought a Ukulele back then in my local music shop in Twickenham and thought it would be good with the Trad Jazz band I played with. That didn't go well, if I remember rightly George Formby was derogatorily mentioned more than once and also there were those little plastic Beatles ones about the size of a Tenor which didn't help the image. I didn't really take it up seriously until I retired and had hand problems thinking that it would help with keeping my hand more supple. It did a d although I'll never be Jake Shimabukuru I get pleasure from the instrument. I tried a Ukulele club but didn't really find it a "musical" experience so turned for tuition from the internet. There are some pretty good teachers on KZbin and your advice helps a lot of people and is well thought out and accurate. Baz Maz , Matt Warnes and you , plus a handful of Americans know what your talking about. I have to say though, I really don't like wound strings, it's the sound. Just seems to overpower the other three courses but that's a subjective thing. Oh and I don't like the sound of a low G string on Concert or Soprano scale instruments. I don't know why I missed this one when you first put it up but I'm glad to have watched and listened to it now. To anybody who is starting out now, listen to Alex Beds he knows what he's talking about.

[@stevenroys]

Excellent advice from a professional! Thank you, Alex.

[@ValkieezUkelele]

Didn't know you sing! 😮 Been following your uke reviews for couple of years now

[@geniesmith7319]

I took my Islander soprano uke to a music store to see if it needs set up. I was told that ukes don't need set up.

[@UkesWithAlex]

This comment makes me sad.

[@anitajohannadrost]

Interesting 👍😁🍀Thank you.🇳🇱

[@ellens.8857]

Thank you Alex. This information is very helpful!

[@gordonreid3853]

Hi Alex Greetings from Johannesburg South Africa. I just watched your 10 essential ignores and smiled all the way through it. I don't have any 'friends' giving me advice but I get where you are coming from. During the Covid lockdown, I restored a completely broken Gallo Comet guitar and had a lot of fun doing it. I am now onto my 3rd guitar restore but I have been looking for a ukelele for my next project. I have had no luck at all in finding one. My current plan is to pick up a concert ukelele kit on Amazon when I am visiting the UK in December (diy assembly decorate etc) and build that as a small project. I am a mediocre guitar player and not a ukelele player (yet) but I want to learn. (I have an ancient Gallo ukelele banjo in my collection that I have never played) My question for you is...Are these diy kits any good? The ones I have seen on Amazon are relatively cheap so I am not too concerned about wasting my money as I am pretty sure I will still have fun assembling one. I would like it to be playable though. Thanks Gordon

[@TTdmhBT]

Thanks! I'm glad you made this video. I'm an intermediate musician at best, played guitar for 25 years and the ukulele off and on throughout that time. Now I want to get more serious with the uke, and the one question I had most about what to do, was about whether I needed it to be electric acoustic or just acoustic. This video answered that question. Now I don't feel as restrained as I did thinking I needed an acoustic electric ukulele. The videos I've seen on your SUS channel I find the best sounds are coming from the ukes with no pick-ups in them (a lot of the time is more accurate). Do pickups hold back the natural sound of a ukulele in some cases, or would that be another myth?

[@UkesWithAlex]

It totally depends. Most of the time there is no difference in sound but sometimes with heavier pickups it can stifle the uke a bit.

[@TTdmhBT]

@@UkesWithAlex did you record your album with an electric uke or tradition acoustic uke?

[@UkesWithAlex]

I used a Kanile'a Manako Mango Acoustic Tenor or a Kanile'a Manu Hu Redwood/Walnut Baritone for 90% of it. When I was layering stuff up I used a Flight A10FM or a Big Island Uli-T. I've dabbled with electric ukes but as a guitar player of 20 years, I would much rather grab an electric guitar than an electric uke.

[@JJ_TheGreat]

8:49 Ok, thank you. Good to know!

[@JJ_TheGreat]

14:20 Funny... I just watched a video that said the exact opposite - that low G is more beginner-friendly, because it is more intuitive because it creates more of a linear progression in the strings - going from low to high pitches - more like a guitar... That high G is akward for beginners, since the string doesn't fit in in that way. That It can create opportunities for more advanced techniques and taking advantage of what most would consider flaws - like campanella and ghost/drone tone - but these aren't beginner-friendly techniques.

[@tripodmaster468]

If you were to buy 1 concert ukulele under $100 USD what would it be? Looking for the best bang for m my buck as I don't have a lot to spend. Watched a lot of videos and when I think I have it nailed down other are saying these are great beginner ukes. Several names keep circling the recommendations but there are several I've only heard a bit about. No uke shop anywhere near and agree with your comment about guitar shops selling ukuleles. Curious about your recommendation.

[@Ukucado]

My local big guitar center and the service shop had no clue how to tune low G, then they used guitar strings. I had to order my low G strings from another music provider. They installed the strings (Aquila) but it still doesn't sound quite right. Much frustration.

[@UkesWithAlex]

That sounds really annoying

[@mxm7593]

These are actually some very valid advices - being "advanced" now (after 3 y of ukulele learning... and buying...) I approve 100% of Alex's hints! I follow the SUS videos since I started, saved a lot of money and avoided disappointments, learned a lot and actually am happy having (eventually) ended up in the ukulele community and not competing with the (sometimes) high-horseys-guitar-lovers . Anyway :Thank you, Alex (and SUS crew!), for being there and keeping it up! Die strumming or live forever (or both)!

[@jimb1138]

Which size uke to own has nothing to do with how tall the player is. It's all about the width and design of the neck. I guess it stems from the generalisation that the bigger scales have wider necks, but that's not always true.

[@BLAzinStRipePiPes10]

Great video! Would you do a review of 8 string ukes vs 6 string ukes vs 4 string ukes?

[@UkesWithAlex]

No... I can't think of anything more painful than tuning multiple 8 string ukuleles 😆

[@teresamcavoy3753]

Hi what is the make of the ukulele you have used in the video please great sound x

[@ukeing_lady721]

Hey Alex, you are right on the money. I heard someone say don't get open tuners because so much can get in the works, but they didn't mention the fact that closed tuners tend to waeigh more so the headstock may be heavy leading to imbalance. Youur thoughts?

[@UkesWithAlex]

Classic example that one! You'll notice practically nothing high end is a closed gear tuner and they are hard to replace. Don't let a machine head be the reason you don't choose a uke would be my advice

[@gustau4764]

Here's another one: koa is the best tonewood for a uke.

[@SouthernUkuleleStore]

Common one for sure.

[@mountfairweather]

False. Tonewood is a personal choice. The right uke is the uke you play everyday ! Koa is nice though

[@UkesWithAlex]

They are saying that Pablo. 🙂

[@gustau4764]

@@UkesWithAlex Indeed! And, for the record: I have both a koa uke and a spruce-top one, and I like my spruce one better.

[@kithg]

Or, here in the US on the mainland, that you have to get a mahogany uke. So silly.

[@JJ_TheGreat]

14:45 ...Again, unless you have experience playing guitar - then you can catch-on easily - and low G makes more intuitive sense to you...

[@shazziep5567]

Hi Alex Have you ever done a video playing a baritone in GCEA at all ..😊🦋

[@UkesWithAlex]

Yes there are a few on the Southern uke store youtube.

[@user-bs7td7do9z]

@@UkesWithAlex OK thank you I’ll have a look 🦋

[@JJ_TheGreat]

12:34 ...Or maybe you are coming from the guitar and want a baritone because you think it would be easier to transition - so you don't have to learn new chords...

[@SGBass]

I've got to push back against the low G sentiment. I think it is absolutely superior for anyone coming to ukulele from another stringed instrument.

[@SouthernUkuleleStore]

The Low G is superior... but its also a very confusing concept to someone who has been playing for five minutes. Especially if they are learning from videos or a book, the average beginner doesn't have a fleshed out concept of the music theory involved. They ask for a Low G, but they can not yet harness the immense power and responbility that comes with it! haha

[@SGBass]

@@SouthernUkuleleStore I rather appreciate that reply, tis very true.

[@4stringboy]

sick gonna tell all my students to go buy Nova U concerts and restring them with Aquilas and fuck baritones thanks Alex

[@4stringboy]

In all seriousness 13/10 advice, I have the pickup conversation very often 😁

[@UkesWithAlex]

Thanks for the emotional support

[@4stringboy]

@@UkesWithAlex anytime babes xx

[@ronalddobson3130]

I stopped watching after you found so much rubbish to talk about clip on tuners

[@UkesWithAlex]

🤷‍♂️ What did I say that was rubbish? Genuinely interested.