Just kidding as I don't play.
The 10 year old daughter bought one last Saturday and is plinking away. I thought this board would care. She is really serious about learning this. Youtube is teaching her too.
Tuning is not easy as she didn't have enough money for the high priced $40 version the guitar center guy was pushing.
What else should I tell her?
Keep at it, keep at it, keep at it. And start putting away a (dollar? quarter?) a day. In a couple years she'll be able to get a Martin.
There's a ukulele boot camp thing that I downloaded from the net that really helped. It's not so much about music as it is about chord formation and changing from cord to cord. It helped me a lot.
The electric tuner is worth it. You get good at hearing things out of tune only after you get used to hearing them in tune. It took me about 6 months of playing the violin an hour every day before I was able to hear if a note was less than half a note off. I simply hadn't developed the wiring in my head to hear the notes. Without a tuner I would have been screwed. Buy a tuner, hell, send me your address and I'll send you one, I believe in them that strongly.
^+1 to the tuner. I recommend the one that clips on the headstock. Snark makes a popular one, mine is a different brand but same thing.
Of course, there are iPhone tuning apps.
http://appadvice.com/appguides/show/tuners-for-the-iphone
Personally, I find it pretty easy to tune a fretted string instrument. Once you've got the first note down, you can hear the beats pretty clearly if they're out. Developing the wiring in your head isn't as important as it is with a violin.
Keith Tanner wrote: Of course, there are iPhone tuning apps. http://appadvice.com/appguides/show/tuners-for-the-iphone Personally, I find it pretty easy to tune a fretted string instrument. Once you've got the first note down, you can hear the beats pretty clearly if they're out. Developing the wiring in your head isn't as important as it is with a violin.
Harder with a Uke as the tuners are often a 1-1 ratio.
Go to ukulele underground they have video tutorials and tons of info on how to tune, playing styles down to simple chord structure.
With just the free video's you can play more then competently. After I broke my hands and could no longer play the violin/cello comfortably I moved to the ukulele. Its really my favorite instrument of all the ones that I can play and after ~ 5 weeks you can strum along to almost anything. After 10 years you can do things that would make a classical guitarist jealous.
FYI a really good ukulele is about 600$ after that its all bling or wood. So if she wants to upgrade at some point I highly recommend the kanile'a and kamaka concert sized instruments. On the lower end the flea's and flukes are vary good.
The guitar center mahalo's and no name brands are hit and miss. Occasionally you can find one of there in solid wood and is decent but you have to go through testing more then a few to find it.
You'll need to log in to post.
