Learn ukulele in lessons

One lesson a week, each building on the last – from holding the instrument and your first chords to barre chords, blues and music theory. Every lesson has a piece to play along, homework for ten minutes a day and a sheet to print.

For teachers: the numbers never change. Just write the address on the board, for example openstring.de/ukulele/en/lesson/4/.

For teachers and parents ›

First steps

  1. Lesson 1 Hold, strum, first chord You hold the ukulele relaxed, strum the strings and play your first chord: C.
  2. Lesson 2 Tuning and the strings G C E A You tune your ukulele with the tuner and know the names of the four strings.
  3. Lesson 3 Pressing the string properly You press a string so the note rings clearly – and play the blues with the band.
  4. Lesson 4 Am and your first change You learn A minor and switch calmly between C and Am.

The first songs

  1. Lesson 5 F major You fret F with two fingers and play “Bruder Jakob” in its usual key.
  2. Lesson 6 C7 and your first song with changes You learn C7 and accompany a whole song with two chords, F and C7.
  3. Lesson 7 Down-up You strum evenly down and up and use it in two songs.
  4. Lesson 8 G7 You learn G7 with three fingers and play “Hänschen klein” with C and G7.
  5. Lesson 9 Three chords: C, F, G7 You connect C, F and G7 and can accompany lots of children’s songs with them.

Rhythm and more chords

  1. Lesson 10 The island strum You learn the classic ukulele strum “down, down, up, up, down, up”.
  2. Lesson 11 Waltz in three You play in 3/4 time and accompany “Zum Geburtstag viel Glück”.
  3. Lesson 12 Four chords: C, Am, F, G7 You play the famous sequence C – Am – F – G7 that countless songs are built on.
  4. Lesson 13 Rocking in 6/8 You play the rocking 6/8 time and accompany a lantern song.
  5. Lesson 14 Picking with thumb and fingers You pick chords string by string and accompany a calm song.
  6. Lesson 15 D minor You learn Dm and play “What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor”.

Understanding music

  1. Lesson 16 Hearing major and minor You hear whether a chord is major or minor and know why.
  2. Lesson 17 Time signatures and note values You understand 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 time and know how long whole, half and quarter notes are.
  3. Lesson 18 The 12-bar blues You know the blues pattern with steps I, IV and V and jam with the band.

New keys and chords

  1. Lesson 19 G major You learn the full G major chord with three fingers and play an evening song.
  2. Lesson 20 A7 and D7 You learn A7 and D7 and play songs with five chords.
  3. Lesson 21 New key G: E minor You learn Em and play songs you know in the key of G.
  4. Lesson 22 Scale and melody You play the C major scale, read tablature and pick a melody.
  5. Lesson 23 New chords: D, A and E7 You learn D, A and E7 and play a song in A and in D.
  6. Lesson 24 Your concert You put together a little programme and perform it – including a song of your choice.