Ukulele Learning Resources

(The most important thing is that you have fun exploring the instrument! Never let chord sheets tell you what you can and can’t do, make that negative reharmonization of Independent Together a reality)

Web Resources

ukulele chord finder: For when you want to look up what the heck Dbsus2 is, and for when you play something cool and you want to know what (0422) can be called.

comprehensive chord diagrams: If you want to compare chord shapes or just learn more chords for the sake of learning them/their names.

how to change strings: explainer from Cordoba – very useful because they show what to do with the strings on a large model.

how to tune an ukulele
with a tuner: From Cynthia Lin. Good explanation of the whole tuning process for beginners.

if you are comfortable with tuning by ear, you can tune it ‘to itself’. video explanation here. I recommend at least making sure the C (thickest) string is tuned to middle C on a piano/piano app, then tuning the other strings from there.

chord sheets and tabs
ultimateguitar.com is a great resource for both chords and tabs – a chord is a chord no matter if it’s on piano, guitar, or ukulele, but they also have some ukulele specific tab and chord sheets. Most of the Steven Universe songs are there! You can transpose the chords to make it easier for you to play or sing along to. Note that these are all user-submitted, so accuracy is not guaranteed.

ukulelehunt.com also has a couple of Steven songs, most with small embedded videos with demonstrations of particular picking or strumming techniques.

Parts of the Instrument

Diagram from UkuTabs.

ii-V-I-iv medley (Dm G7 C Am)

Other chords to try here:
Dm7 (2213)
Cmaj7 (0002)
Am7 (0000)

             Dm
Where did we go?
            G7
What did we do?
                  C
I think we made something
          Am
Entirely new --

[PAUSE]

Dm                       G7
Come on and sing it with me (Sing?)
C                       Am
The words relate to the key (Key?)
Dm                 G7         
If it's a pattern, if it's a pattern
 C                     Am
Then just repeat after me!

              Dm    G7
You do it for him.
                     C     Am
And you would do it again.
              Dm               G7
You do it for her, that is to say,
                  C  
You'll do it for him.

     Dm                
If I had my way, I'd do it all day
                 G7
That's why it's really really hard to say...

      Dm              G7              C
It's over, isn't it? Why can't I move on? 

            Dm                        G7          C
All I wanna be is someone who gets to see a giant woman.

               Dm               G7               C
Why don't you let yourself just be wherever you are.

More questions?

Feel free to reach out to me at @SUkuleleTechniques on YouTube.