Learn to play ukulele – ukulele blog

Learn to play ukulele 24 Jan 2011

Let's Get in Tune! — How to Tune a Ukulele

Tamás Gáll

This post is about the practical details of tuning a ukulele. Because many people asked me to explain tuning in greater detail — and because tuning really can be difficult for beginners — I decided to devote the first tutorial video to tuning. UPDATE (10 May 2019): The video above was made more than…

Learn to play ukulele 18 Jun 2015

A Question of Fingernails

Tamás Gáll

If there can be a thorny question, perhaps there can be a nail-related one too :). And no, this is not about nail salons :D. Over the past few years I have received several emails about “fingernail policy”, so I thought the topic deserved a short post. Interestingly, questions have come from both di…

Learn to play ukulele 19 Sep 2012

For New Ukulele Owners I - Holding and Strumming the Instrument

Tamás Gáll

Since the blog began I have received many kind and complimentary messages (thankyouthankyouthankyou!), and at least as many questions, mainly from beginners who find the first obstacles in learning the ukulele difficult to overcome. With them in mind I made a two-part summary video that helps you ge…

Learn to play ukulele 20 Sep 2012

For New Ukulele Owners II - Your First Chords

Tamás Gáll

I could just as well have called this post "the first steps", because learning to fret and sound chords is when the little masterpiece we call a ukulele truly becomes a musical instrument in our hands. Learning chords is a long process. Week after week and month after month we will encounter new one…

Learn to play ukulele 10 Sep 2019

Eight Tips for Beginners

Tamás Gáll

Based on the experience of many, many years, I have collected a few thoughts that I would like to share with you in a slightly unusual video. It is unusual because this time you will hear only a few random chords — in other words, we are not learning a song — and I will be talking even more than usu…

Learn to play ukulele 09 Apr 2025

With a pick or without?

Tamás Gáll

One of the eternal—almost religious—questions among ukulele players is whether you are “allowed” to use a pick. In the video below I explore the subject a little, but if you do not want to watch it, I will give away the answer: yes, you are. Who could forbid it ? Of course, it is another matter what…

Learn to play ukulele 25 May 2018

Chords 01: C major

Tamás Gáll

We are starting a new series whose aim is to teach complete beginners as many chords as possible. In today's video we learn C major, the simplest chord and probably the one with which almost every beginner starts learning chords. Over the course of the series we will go through the basic chords, pro…

Learn to play ukulele 07 Sep 2018

Chords 02: A minor

Tamás Gáll

In this part of our series for beginners we learn A minor. LikeC major, A minor is not a difficult chord; it is easy both to play and to remember. Like every chord, A minor can be fingered in several different ways. We will learn the simplest version, written as 2 0 0 0. This means pressing the seco…

Learn to play ukulele 01 Dec 2018

Chords 03: F major

Tamás Gáll

In this part of our beginner series – followingC major and A minor – we learn F major. This is the first chord that requires more than one finger – two, to be exact. If C major and A minor already feel secure, it is time to put the middle and index fingers to work at the same time. It is not a diffi…

Learn to play ukulele 25 Feb 2019

Chords 04: G major

Tamás Gáll

The fourth basic chord is G major. Add it to the C major, F majorandA minorwe have already learned, and we will be able to play quite a large number of songs – at least accompany them with chords. Compared with the first three chords, G major initially seems the most complicated, because the first t…

Learn to play ukulele 24 Mar 2019

Chords 05: C major, A minor, F major and G major

Tamás Gáll

We have already learned four chords. I hope you have managed to memorise how to fretC major,A minor, F majorand G major . These are excellent basic chords with which to begin learning because they appear in songs constantly. There are very few songs in which at least one of the four does not occur.…

Learn to play ukulele 21 Jun 2019

Chords 06: D major

Tamás Gáll

We have completed the first four chords and hopefully can now strum C major, A minor, F major and G major with confidence. The series continues with D major, taking us into the category of slightly more difficult chords. The challenge with G major was forcing the fingers into a somewhat unusual hand…