Learning how to play the ukulele has no difference in learning how to play the guitar. It is not something you can’t do overnight.
For sure, it will take time as you’re bound to make mistakes before you get it right.
Also, it may take more time. It’s true if you don’t even know how to play the guitar or any instruments.
Don’t fret. Here are 13 options you can check to get started in learning to play the ukulele.
1. Uke Like the Pros
Terry Carter founded Uke Like the Pros. He used his more than 2 decades of experience in teaching and performing ukulele for this.
With an extensive background in music education, he believes he is different from his competitors. He does an excellent job of interacting with his students. He can handle them well, whether they are novices or experienced ones.
He also does some giveaways that you will receive once you sign up. It can be a free raffle that entitles one to win a Hawaiian koa wood ukulele.
Terry is interactive as he comes with a wide, large audience base. Nonetheless, his preferred teaching style is personal. Plus, he often comes up with new materials to offer.
He is a famous figure on social media. He is so approachable as you can get answers to any questions you might have.
Moreover, he often offers webinars and a few free options. Signing up for updates is 100% free. You get also free access to his blog. His website is full of useful content and ideas that can help you a lot in every step of the way.
Get started by taking the free lesson pack brought by Uke Like the Pros. This pack is allowing you to learn the basics.
You can either follow the footsteps of Terry or pay a small amount for further instructions.
2. Ukulele Buddy
If you want to learn how to play the ukulele at your pace, then why not consider this one? Ukulele Buddy is the best choice if you don’t want to interact with a teacher and his other students.
The website is different from the rest. It offers a comprehensive series of quick to understand lessons at an affordable price. When you buy the lesson pack, it will be yours forever.
If you think this may not be the right option for you, well, you have nothing to worry about. It comes with a 1-year money-back guarantee. This gives you peace of mind and convenience to cancel your subscription anytime you want to.
Like the available ukulele lessons on the web, the Ukulele Buddy can work on your device. The videos are comprehensive and produced with professionalism.
The video tutorials on this website include the basics such as Hawaiian, Pop, Classical, Soul, Blues, Reggae, Rock, and Folk.
JP Allen founded Ukulele Buddy together with Mitch Change, a uke master. This collaboration makes it easier for one to learn the ropes in some minutes each day.
There is a focus on practicing, consistency, and developing the skills you have learned. The instructors are approachable and friendly. Since all things are pre-recorded, interacting with them is impossible. That is not a big deal, though.
3. Ukulele Mike
The late Mike Lynch died in 2018, but he left the world with a wonderful legacy.
He is a multi-instrumentalist who teaches lessons to older adults and preschoolers and everybody in between, the Ukulele Mike has become a great lesson site that offers a rich source of information like useful videos, wonderful songbooks, and DVD lessons.
You can download the files as pdfs or, in some cases, bought as conventional songbooks. Many of the resources of Mike Ukulele are free.
A YouTube link will take you to a whole library of video lessons with exclusive tutorials, Disney covers, Beatles songs, Christmas songs, and a lot more. The products it offers for sale are all affordable and in good quality.
Give it a try, and you will be glad that you did. Ukulele Mike has been a good website to visit when it comes to learning how to play the ukulele online.
4. Ukulele Underground
Since its inception, this website has been providing video lessons, private lessons, and live coaching, Q-and-A podcasts, a big song library, and more videos everybody can watch.
The members of the Ukulele Underground can settle for a full-year plan that will give you access to the private forum.
Aside from the paid choices that can suit your budget, you will find some helpful resources that you can get for free. The videos provided here include the chord charts and fun, informative presentations.
Even when you do not want to pay for online lessons for ukulele, pay a visit to this website, and enjoy! It is a big website that contains more useful content that you can access and use for free.
5. Ukulele Tricks
It is a good resource for everybody. Ukulele Tricks is among the greatest ukulele lesson website for novices, thanks to its starter pack that you can get free of charge. This site came a long way since Brett McQueen, the instructor and founder, decided to put her dreams to reality in 2010.
Those days, there are many resources for intermediate and advanced players with exclusive lesson packs. These will break the concepts into some areas like fingerpicking, strumming, playing the jazz or blues, bluegrass, and many more.
These online ukulele lessons are available in HD format. It comes with the discussion area and printable worksheets featuring charts, chords, and a lot more. When you buy a lesson pack, you are free to open it anytime. There is no expiry date.
Everybody has access to the website’s chord library, blog, and ukulele tuner. These are the best places for finding relevant information, tricks, and tips that will help you learn and master the art of playing the ukulele.
6. Lesson Face
If you want to take your ukulele lessons on the spot, then the Lesson Face is the best place for you to go. Choose this website if you cannot find an instructor near you. Lesson Face has a group of experienced ukulele teachers who offer comprehensive online education.
This website is different from others as it provides live, interactive lessons with professional instructors. Most of them are in the industry for more than a decade.
The lessons are often available as short increments that last for 30 minutes. The prices of these lessons are so affordable, considering the integrated quality of the content and instructors.
Even when you cannot take live ukulele lessons every day, you have the option to book for a live lesson. This will save you from challenges and worries in learning.
Lesson Face does not have the most affordable lessons, but it offers great value for your money.
If you are a novice, then you better go for the free lesson from other websites in this list and learn the basics before you try these paid lessons from Lesson Face.
7. Udemy
If you’re looking to learn how to play the ukulele in a more convenient way, then you must try Udemy. It is the ultimate place for most students, especially those who want to learn at their convenience.
The website has so much more to offer that made it suitable for bridging the gaps in most lesson plans. Udemy is allowing you to choose what you would like to learn.
It allows old students to review and rate the lessons they took. Since their opinions matter, they are helping in this way to decide whether to pursue and invest in these lesson plans offered by Udemy or not.
There are no free options available, but the paid version is excellent in general.
You may either like what you can find on this website or not. It depends on what is available at hand by the time you accessed the website.
Udemy is frequently updating. New teachers arrive. Also, the website offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Hence, you can ask for a refund just in case you are not happy with your purchase.
8. Learning Ukulele with Curt
Curt Sheller created this website in the 1990s, even before the online ukulele lessons became popular. Since then, Learning Ukulele with Curt grew up and gave members access to several great tabs, lessons, videos, downloadable books, and a lot more.
The paid option has more than 600 lessons and over 60 lesson sets, more play-along tracks, books, songs with tabs, and videos.
Members who went for this option will enjoy extras like private lessons plus access to contact Curt via email, enclosed with a lifetime reference material.
Regardless of your budget, Learning Ukulele with Curt got something that is 100% perfect for you. Signing up for the Bronze membership is free and will allow you to access the website and over 140 lessons and more than 100 ukulele songs.
9. Ukulele Tabs
If you’re after free online ukulele lessons, then you can get them at Ukulele Tabs. This website helps you begin with playing the ukulele for free. It offers up to 108 online lessons.
Your focus is getting to know the basics, such as reading the ukulele tablature, tuning your instrument, and changing the cords. How to play a few of the most typical strumming patterns.
Song tutorials are available, too. The website even includes a complete series of ukulele covers that have lyrics and chords to help yourself learn how to play the famous ukulele songs.
Since much of its content has been user-generated and outdated, the quality significantly differs.
10. Take Lessons
If you want to work live with a local ukulele instructor, then you should consider Take Lessons. This website provides online ukulele lessons all in the interactive, 1-on-1 style.
The website goes with professional musicians who are there to help you get started. Each one of them comes with a bio that tells something about his or her educational attainment, location, specialties, and a lot more.
These online ukulele lessons are quite expensive than others. Nonetheless, they are suitable enough for anyone who is looking for a realistic 1-on-1 experience.
Some of the instructors on this website offers deals on the multi-lesson packages. Every instructor goes with reviews written and submitted by his or her former students and a star rating.
11. Live Ukulele
This website goes with a store that allows you to buy ukulele music albums and books. Apart from that, everything else on the site is free, given by Brad Bordessa, who owns the website and the instructor.
Whether you are searching for chord charts, scales, songs with lyrics and chords, comprehensive lessons, or ukulele tabs, Live Ukulele has it.
Moreover, the website has been well-planned. The lessons are in order according to topics and playing level.
Novices will deal first with the fundamentals before moving to advanced techniques.
Brad offers a variety of video lessons on Youtube channel that you can connect to through his website. It is an awesome resource that comes with helpful tools that help anybody become a great ukulele player.
12. Center Stage Ukulele Academy
This website provides comprehensive online lesson packs for novices, skill lessons intended for the intermediate and experienced players, plus song lessons coupled with videos and tabs featuring several camera angles.
The song lessons available are among the best things about the Center Stage Ukulele Academy. The website keeps them well-arranged according to the genre and rated based on the difficulty.
The website adds new lessons on a regular basis. Therefore, there is more content that you will enjoy every day. song requests are also welcome.
You can try a few free lessons before you commit. If you settle for the paid edition, you will get up to 7 days to explore and make sure these are great online lessons for your needs.
13. The Ukelele Way
Created and introduced by James Hill, The Ukelele Way is a structured and methodical strategy for novices to learn and develop their skills in playing the ukulele.
The whole program includes over 130 lessons comprising of 6 learning levels. The website also includes up to 6 corresponding books that you can buy separately.
Every lesson comes with online sheet music as well as multi-camera footage. The website also has a big online community of ukulele learners.
If you are searching for something affordable but useful enough, then it could be The Ukulele Way. Its free level includes an overview and informative content to assist you in getting started.
Full membership gives you full access that lets you enjoy everything. Truly, The Ukulele Way gives you the freedom to learn in the most convenient way.
The Benefits of Taking Online Ukulele Lessons
Taking online ukulele lessons is a great idea for several reasons. A website that teaches students of all ages makes the lessons quite personal. The instructors will explain the concepts to you, just like how they do it in traditional ukulele lessons.
Nonetheless, taking online ukulele lessons comes with several benefits. One is that you do not need to maintain a strict, definite schedule for your lessons. Instead, you have the freedom to choose when to take them. Learning is at your pace.
Instructional videos will be available anytime, unlike the music teachers who can see you once or twice a week.
If you have questions regarding the ukulele’s history, some properties of certain modes, and other instrument-associated questions. Those are some of the things that one tends to overlook in real life.
Nonetheless, online ukulele instructors address all the questions, even the basic ones.
Another benefit of taking online ukulele lessons is the chance to gain more knowledge without having to pay for them. Not everybody needs to deal with a teacher. Some have the proclivity to playing instruments and music.
If you’re lucky to be one of them, then take advantage of this natural gift and take online ukulele lessons for free. You just need some pointers and patience to understand the musical theory.
By taking online ukulele lessons, you can get whatever you need. You have access to YouTube channels, forums, blogs, and personal websites.
Paid websites usually have in-depth lessons designed for all students regardless of skills. Sometimes, free websites provide short lessons that are in video formats that you can stop, replay, or pause several times to learn and practice the fingering strategy.
It could be somewhat tedious and discouraging for newcomers, especially to kids. Paid websites, Nonetheless, are making those video lessons broken down and segregated into smaller portions. So, each video talks about a specific step in learning to play the ukulele.
The songs can have an intro, bridge, rhythm, solo, chorus, or outro sections.
Moreover, paid websites provide two forms of incentives. The first type is the more content coming with the lessons. They come as files, tracks, guides, sheets, and so on. The other type of incentive is more people do not realize.
When you depend on YouTube tutorials, you do not get the motivation and urge to learn. This is the other incentive that you can get from paid websites: you get encouragement and a strong urge to learn and master it soon.
What to Consider When Taking Online Ukulele Lessons
If you have decided to take online ukulele lessons, then you should take into consideration some factors:
Your Access to Lessons
Online ukulele lessons can go either free or in paid versions. When signing up for a website that offers ukulele lessons, take time to examine the website and your access to the lessons available.
While some websites can offer limited lessons, many of them offer all this stuff for free. You can get access to hundreds of lessons. It’s up to you what to choose.
Ukulele lessons online are often available in a combination of free and paid versions. Typically, signing up for a website that offers free lessons to give you a head start is great. This way, you have enough time to figure out if you are on the right website or not.
Your Budget
Again, online ukulele lessons are not always available free of charge. Many websites provide access to lessons but often limited. So, prepare your pocket to pay for access to ukulele lessons. Don’t worry because it will be affordable.
Money-Back Guarantee
Learning how to play the ukulele is not something you can take without sincerity. You can’t be a good player overnight. It takes weeks or even months to master this field. If you lack the motivation and patience, you may likely give up sooner.
In case you realized that playing the ukulele is not for you, quitting will not be difficult. If you signed up for a paid website, you get a money-back guarantee. This means you get enough time to try, experience, and figure out if you can pursue this new hobby.
With a money-back guarantee, you won’t struggle to ask for a refund. Yes, no one will ask you why you want to quit. No one will ever force you to continue your subscription.
You are free to commit today and leave tomorrow if you need to.
Conclusion
With a lot of great ukulele lesson websites to consider, it is way easy to take another step to become a professional player.
These websites give you the freedom to have fun with this musical instrument. Also, you have the time to prepare yourself to shine and amaze others with your skills.
You don’t have to spend hundreds or even thousands to pursue this hobby. Instead, you need more patience, perseverance, and determination to succeed.
Most of the online ukulele websites are very affordable. They can even be cheaper than traditional ukulele lessons.
You get access to resources that will enable you to master the best way to play the ukulele. They are keys to develop your skills without the help of someone. If you know how to play the guitar, things might be easier for you.
