5 beginner baritone ukuleles

Lately I've been thinking a lot about baritone ukuleles.  About 10 years ago, I walked into a music shop in the Kansas City area and found a lonely baritone.  It was used and slightly beat up with a price tag of only $20.  I, of course, took it home with me and it was a real joy to play.  Not knowing a whole lot about ukuleles at the time, I honestly don't remember the brand.  That ukulele ended up in the closet at some point.  It eventually ended up being sold in a garage sale.  Any time I've sold an instrument I always end up regretting it. 

Anyway, I'm starting to think about buying another baritone uke.  There's a lot of great entry level models out there that won't break the bank.  So if you're thinking about getting into the world of baritones, here's 5 starters to consider.

 Lanikai LU-21B Baritone Ukulele

 I actually have the concert ukulele from the LU-21 series and it's a fine instrument.  I wouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger and grab this baritone from that series.  You can get one new for around $100.  These also come up

How to change your ukulele strings

A couple of weeks ago I put new strings on a couple of my ukuleles.  I thought to myself, "why haven't I blogged about this?".  Changing your uke strings for the first time can be sort of intimidating, but it is in fact a very simple process.  Here is a fantastic "Uke Minutes" video from the nice folks at Ukulele Underground that shows you how to re-string your uke with both kind of bridges.  They do a much better showing you how to do than I ever could, so why try to re-invent the wheel, right?

The Uke Minute videos are a really fantastic source of all kinds of information, so I encourage you to browse through them a bit.

Hope this link helps and happy uke'n!

Ukulele building tools - fret calculator

My buddy, Daniel Hulbert over at Circuits and Strings builds some AMAZING stringed instruments (like this little pocket uke above).  Click that link and check out some of his work.  He also has some free building plans at his site!

In addition to all that awesomeness, he also put together this Fret Calculator Tutorial, complete with some guides to help people like me who aren't very good at building.

Rejoice novice uke builders!  Help is here! 

Slide Ukulele Chord Chart

A few weeks back I posted a blog called "Alternate Ukulele Tunings", covering some common and not so common tunings for the uke.  Following up here with a basic chord chart for "Slide Ukulele Tuning".

The tuning for this is G, C, E, Bb.  When strummed open, it creates a C7 chord.  As you can see from the chart to left, I've left a lot of blank chords for you to fill in as you go. 

This tuning is really meant for those that are playing with a slide (as indicated by the name), so for the most part, the way you choose to utilize chords is up to you.  Some slide players like to play with a slide on their index or middle finger and leave their other fingers open for fretting along with the slide.  Others prefer to stick the slide on their ring or pinky finger and alternate between slide chords/notes and fretting chords/notes.  The choice is yours!  As you develop your style for this, you can fill in

5 ukulele songs for a beginner to learn

In the last post, we talked about and diagrammed 5 chords on the ukulele that I consider to be the most important building blocks in your ukulele journey.  Those chords are C, Am, F, G, G7.  If you missed that post, check it out here.

Now that you have the groundwork laid down with those 5 basic chords, you can start to put 'em to use and strum along with a few songs.  Here's 5 songs that you can start to work on with just those 5 ukulele

5 ukulele chords for a beginner to learn

This will be a two part-er specifically geared at all you beginners that are just picking up the ukulele.  In this first part, we'll cover 5 basic chords that I consider to be the most vital "first" chords to learn. Here's part two where we cover 5 beginner songs that use these 5 chords.

I sometimes contemplate what I would do differently if I had a Delorean and I could travel back in time to when I first started playing the ukulele....of course, I would also need a flux capacitor, but anyway....

One of things that I keep coming back to is what chords I would have chosen to learn at the beginning of my ukulele journey.  As I thought about this, I narrowed it down to 5 chords that I believe are most important and essential for a beginner to build around.  It's my hope that these 5 basic chords will be a good foundation

Ukulele Dm7 chord - tips and alternatives

courtesy of ukulele-chords.com

That pesky Dm7 chord shows up in a lot of ukulele tunes.  It's especially prevalent in songs in the key of C.  It can be hard to transition to this chord due to the crowded space.

From everything I've seen, the suggested fingering method for the Dm7 is to place your middle finger on the G string (2nd fret), your ring finger on the C string (2nd fret), your index finger on the E string (1st fret), and your pinky on the A string (3rd fret).

However, a lot of people (myself included) have learned to play this troublesome chord with that same structure, only with the placement of the middle and ring fingers reversed (so that the ring finger takes the lead on the G string 2nd fret).  Really, it all comes down to how you've learned to finger the Dm chord, which is the same placement minus the pinky finger (the A string is open - 2210).  Coming

Ukulele Finger Pain Tips

You started playing the ukulele for fun, right?  So why all the pain and discomfort?  Unfortunately, it's just something that you'll have to go through, but believe me, it will get better!  In time, your fingers will get used to the new exercise that you're putting them through, and those sore fingertips will develop calluses and stop hurting all the time.  And that's probably the best advice that can be given to a beginner on the uke...just stay the course and play through the pain.

While there's not much that can be done to alleviate those growing pains, here's a few tips that might help you get through

Tabs & Chords

  If you'd like to make your own tab or chord chart, click here for some blank chord charts and tabs!

Just click on a song....

All of Me
Amazing Grace 
Bust Your Kneecaps - Pomplamoose
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Good Company - Queen
Got a Letter from my Darlin' - The Memphis Jug Band
Happy Birthday!
Hello Dolly!
Hey Soul Sister - Train
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
I Saw Stars
It's a Sin to Tell a Lie
Just a Closer Walk With Thee
Monkey Man - Toots and the Maytals
Oh! Susanna
Old MacDonald
One Cup of Coffee - Bob Marley
Real Situation - Bob Marley
She Broke My Heart in Three Places - The Hoosier Hotshots
Staten Island Slide - Craig Robertson 
When the Saints Go Marching In

Happy Birthday ukulele chords

Happy Birthday!
Ever uke player needs to know this one!  It's a great
beginner practice piece, but it's also great to know for
celebrating all those special folks in your life!

C                 G         
Happy birthday to you

                  C
Happy birthday to you

                       G  F
Happy birthday to dear name

F     C        G  C
Happy birthday to you

Old Macdonald ukulele chords

Old Macdonald

Alright, so it's not the most exciting song of all 

time, but it's a good beginner ukulele song. 

C             F     C     C   G7  C
Old MacDonald had A farm, E-i-E-i-o
    C               F        C       C   G7  C
And on this farm he had some chicks, e-i-e-i-o
       C
With a chick, chick here and a chick, chick there
C
Here a chick, there a chick, everywhere a chick, chick
C             F     C     C   G7  C
Old MacDonald had A farm, E-i-E-i-o

Jason Mraz - I'm Yours ukulele chords

Once again, I found myself greatly indebted to the fine folks at ukulelehunt.com for putting together a nice pdf of this Jason Mraz tune.  Grab that ukulele and start strummin'.

Click here for the chords

Hey Soul Sister ukulele chords

I'm always thankful when someone does the work for me!  

Here's a couple versions of this song in the key of C....

Hey Soul Sister - via ukulele-tabs.com

Hey Soul Sister - via ultimate-guitar.com

Amazing Grace ukulele chords

Amazing Grace - from www.liveukulele.com 

Go check out their site and tell them how awesome they are! 

 C                  F         C
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound 
                         G7
that saved a wretch like me! 
  C                  F      C
I once was lost, but now am found; 
               G7    C
was blind, but now I see. 


C                  F         C
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, 
                         G7
and grace my fears relieved; 
  C                  F      C
how precious did that grace appear 
               G7    C
the hour I first believed. 


C                  F         C
Through many dangers, toils, and snares, 
                         G7
I have already come; 
  C                  F      C
'tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, 
               G7    C
and grace will lead me home. 


C                  F         C
The Lord has promised good to me, 
                         G7
his word my hope secures; 
  C                  F      C
he will my shield and portion be, 
               G7    C
as long as life endures. 


C                  F         C
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail, 
                         G7
and mortal life shall cease, 
  C                  F      C
I shall possess, within the veil, 
               G7    C
a life of joy and peace. 


C                  F         C
When we've been there ten thousand years, 
                         G7
bright shining as the sun, 
  C                  F      C
we've no less days to sing God's praise 
               G7    C
than when we first begun.