Ukulele Method Book 1 - Hal Leonard | Step-by-Step Beginner Ukulele Lesson Book for Adults and Kids | Learn Chords, Strumming, and Reading Music | Ukulele Songbook and Technique Guide

After purchasing a subpar ukulele primer by another author, that only taught how to strum chords, this book delivers exactly what I was looking for. Humorously, it was the one star review that convinced me that this was the book I needed, based on a photo they shared of music they apparently couldn't read. Even though they claimed they could.This is a straightforward, simple, yet serious approach to the ukulele. This is more than just strumming along, and if you follow the lessons, you will be picking songs (way more fun imo) as well as being able to harmonize with chords. It's a well rounded approach that mirrors lesson books for instruments that people tend to take more seriously, such as the piano or violin. I appreciate that, because even though I want to play just for fun, I also want to be able to play proficiently.

My daughter used this book to start learning how to play the ukulele. I really like that the book displays both musical clefs and tablature, so she is learning how to read music too. There are plenty of musicians that use tabs to play that don't know how to read actual music, and I'm glad she will know how to do both. It is providing a great foundation for her to build on.

My wife got me a ukulele for my birthday. I picked it up quickly as I am a life long guitarist. However, I needed instruction as the tuning is not the same as the guitar. This book does an excellent job of introducing music theory in the format of familiar songs.

This book, along with the second book in the series, is a complete course for teaching the beginner to play the ukulele. It's designed to take a total beginner and teaches them to play. You have to start at the beginning and progress your way through to the end - it doesn't work to just dip in the middle.The author's approach is a bit unusual because he starts off teaching finger-picking individual notes to create melodies (tunes). Most books or classes start by teaching strumming chords, singing at the same time. In this book, chords are taught later. Some music theory is also taught, but not to a major degree.I actually bought this book then joined a class. The book's approach didn't mesh with the class's approach (which emphasised strumming songs), so I put the books aside. It was only much later, after attending the classes for about 18 months (great fun, by the way), and reading about ukulele playing and music in general that I began to appreciate the clever way this book is put together.It's pitched to the total beginner. It doesn't ask too much, and gradually builds the learner up. The songs are chosen to be playable by the beginner. It also introduces some music concepts along the way. The CD is very good at demonstrating the play described in the book and the author gives further explanation. I think the CD is essential to the book.The book is not without it's faults, but most of these are minor. I think an explanation of it's approach and what the student will be able to do at the course's end would have been helpful. Perhaps some further advice on how to go about practicing would have been good. Some descriptions of the likely difficulties a student might encounter as they are learning and how to get over them would have been useful (and encouraging). For example, the awkwardness of getting your left hand into the correct position to form the chords, and also discomfort and slowness changing chords. Perhaps more explanation of how the individual techniques being taught fit into the big picture of playing ukulele songs. What do they contribute? Maybe some advice on how to choose a good beginners ukulele (and avoid a bad one).Most of these are minor tweaks, rather than deal-breaking complaints. I've come back to these books as I'm now learning finger picking. I now realise what the author was trying to do.I think it is possible for a beginner to learn to play the ukulele - both strumming and finger-picking - from these two books. I don't think the learning experience would be overwhelming for the total beginner. I guess that's the beauty of the author's teaching method.

This is helping me with the notes, chords, strumming and basics of playing ukulele. I am a senior that purchased to promote mental dexterity. I found plenty of on-line help with everything except the notes. This book fills that void...

I use this for my beginner ukulele students and I really like that it has all 3: tabs, chords, and sheet music.

Purchased for a beginner ukulele student. It was recommended by our music teacher.

This is a decent book for beginners that will help you learn music theory and some basics for playing the ukulele. It is relatively easy to follow even with only some prior musical experience, and something that can supplement lessons very well. I like it, but am also very disappointed that Hal Leonard has a website for digital recordings for some of its books and this one is NOT included. An introductory book should have audio recordings so learners can hear strumming techniques and the included songs to begin to develop their own playing techniques and style.