Ukulele For Guitarists 1

Overview"what this lesson is about"

Introduction to the course and tuning the Ukulele

About The Ukulele

The ukulele is made from all wood with nylon strings and, usually, metal tuning pegs. The different woods used will give the Ukulele a slightly different ‘flavour’ of sound. Solid select woods are used for the more expensive Ukuleles and give a rich tone to the sound but all introductory Ukuleles use a laminated wood for the body; this gives good strength and sound to the instrument but isn’t quite as good as solid plains of wood.

The best woods for tone are spruce and mahogany but there is a big selection of wood to choose from, especially if you can afford the more expensive ukuleles.

The 4 main sizes to the Ukulele are listed below. It is most common for beginners and all children to play the Soprano Ukulele also this is the cheapest way to start playing Ukulele. After you try out the Soprano Ukulele you may want to buy another bigger Ukulele too!!

Soprano (tuned G C E A)
- Scale Length – 13 5/8”
- Ukulele Length – 21”

Concert (tuned G C E A)
- Scale Length – 14 ¾”
- Ukulele Length – 23 1/4”

Tenor (tuned G C E A)
- Scale Length – 17”
- Ukulele Length – 26 1/4”

Baritone (tuned D G B E)
- Scale Length – 20 1/8”
- Ukulele Length – 30 11/16”
- (Scale length is the length of the playable strings. Ukulele length is the total length of the instrument)

How to tune a ukulele

The standard tuning for a Ukulele is G C E A. The G string is tuned to a high G. (Baritone Ukulele tuned D G B E)

It’s a good idea to us a clip-on electric tuner to help you tune the Ukulele. They are inexpensive and will help you keep the Ukulele in tune.

Because the strings on a Ukulele are made of nylon when you get a new Ukulele or change the strings they are very stretchy and will require a fare bit of tuning in until they become stable.

In the following lessons it is assumed that you have already tried playing a couple of chords on the Ukulele or that you know your way around the guitar. Don’t worry if anything gets a little tricky you can always run through the lesson again and look up chords from the other Ukulele courses on Rock Star Academy.

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