Ukulele
The ukulele is much more than a smart children's guitar. Many professional musicians appreciate its bright sound and the small instrument has gained something of a cult following among the general public.
The ukulele is here to stay. There's no doubt about that. It's already had a long life in various music circles, but in recent years it has also won the hearts of many people.
The little instrument has appeared on several popular talent shows over the years. But long before that, several great musicians around the world have helped spread the ukulele's fame.
Here in Denmark, we have Carsten Knudsen - you might remember him from De Nattergale. He was decidedly tireless on a ukulele. The combination of happy sound and cheesy storytelling appealed to the ironic taste of Danes.
Jump on the trend - or renaissance, if you will - and spice up your coolness with a ukulele. The four-stringed instrument is more popular now than ever before. It's easy to learn to play and easy to carry around.
How do you learn to play the ukulele?
Want to learn how to play the ukulele? The good news is that it's actually not very difficult. You can get to a level where you can entertain friends and family with easy songs pretty quickly.
If you need to start somewhere, you can tackle several Beatles songs. Many of them are perfect for the ukulele, as both John Lennon and George Harrison were very fond of the little instrument. For example, try one of these 6 Beatles songs that are perfect for the ukulele:
- Hey Jude
- Let it be
- Yellow Submarine
- Eleanor Rigby
- You've got to hide your love away
- We can work it out
How do you tune a ukulele?
Before you get started, it's a good idea to tune your ukulele. It's just more fun to play when the instrument is in tune. You can do this in several ways.
The most common is to tune the ukulele from the top down to the notes G, C, E and A. If you have a piano in your house, it's a good idea to tune it to that. Otherwise, there are plenty of videos on YouTube where you can see if you're hitting the notes just right.
The most accurate way to tune your ukulele is to use a tuner. For the ukulele, we recommend a clamp tuner. Attach the clamp tuner to the ukulele and you're ready to tune. Strike the strings - one at a time - and turn the tuning screws until you hit and the tuner shows the right note.
If you don't want to tune your ukulele with other instruments, you can also just tune it by itself. Start with the A string as a loose string and tune the other strings to match the A string. Find a tutorial online.
Every time you pick up the ukulele, check the tuning again. If you are missing strings for your ukulele, you can also find them on this page.
The history of the ukulele
It's common knowledge that the ukulele comes from Hawaii. You can picture it - hula hula girls with bass skirts and ukuleles.
However, there is more uncertainty about what actually inspired the development of the instrument. Most legends point to the ukulele being developed in the 1880s, inspired by small instruments that came to Hawaii with Portuguese sailors and immigrants.
Regardless of how the idea originated, we now have a very fine instrument that not only kun characterizes the music we associate with Hawaii, but has become a familiar and beloved sound in several genres of music around the world.
To think that such a small instrument with nylon strings and a light sound - it doesn't make much noise - can have such a big impact on the music we listen to. It's a great achievement.