5 Reasons Why You Should Learn to Play the Ukulele

From kids learning about music for the first time to adults interested in taking up a new hobby, Uke is a great way to introduce the magic of music.

Chances are you’ve considered getting into music before, but for one reason or another things just never panned out. We’re here to tell you that it’s never too early nor too late, and a great way to get started on your musical journey is to go buy yourself a ukulele for beginners.

Learning the ukulele is an incredibly rewarding process – you’ll go through ups and downs as you would with any other instrument, but there are plenty of reasons to consider the uke over some of its more “conventional” counterparts. For your convenience, we’ve outlined 5 of the ukulele’s countless selling points:

Easy to Learn

Difficult chords and bleeding fingers are the banes of every aspiring bedroom guitarist – these are two of the hardest obstacles for any amateur musician to overcome, and they’ve resulted in countless six-stringed beauties getting locked up in a basement or closet, never to be picked up again until the next garage sale. Thankfully, the ukulele is much more forgiving in these regards. 

Beginner ukulele players don’t have to worry about stubby fingers and complicated chord shapes getting in the way of their playing, so the instrument is perfect for those who are still trying to get a handle on the fundamentals of music. 

It also helps that the strings are generally made of nylon or fluorocarbon, as this allows for hours of uninhibited playing and significantly shorter breaks between practice sessions. Add to that the fact that you only have four strings to contend with, and you’re left with one of the easiest instruments to master. 

To get you started on your musical journey, we recommend taking a look at Ukulele Tabs and learning the few ukulele tabs for beginners.

Small, Easy To Handle and Portable

Any long-time musician will tell you there’s no bigger hassle than lugging around your instrument, as well as any and all accouterments that might come with it. 

The ukulele doesn’t have that problem – most ukuleles weigh less than 30 ounces, so you’ll have no trouble taking it with you on vacation, to a family get-together, or if the stars align, your very own public performance! 

You don’t have to worry about any add-ons either, as one of the ukulele’s main selling points is that it’s ready to go off the shelf. You may want to consider a case, but aside from that, you’ll be good to go.

Also, beginner ukulele players, especially those who have tried their hand at other instruments, will find that this tiny instrument fits most hands like a glove. Ukuleles are only some 20-odd inches in length, making them much easier to wrap your hand around than, say, a guitar. 

Songs Easily Adapt to the Ukulele

Although it comes at the cost of lowered harmonic complexity, a big perk of learning the ukulele is that you can play virtually anything on the instrument. 

Whereas the average piano boasts a staggering 88 keys, the ukulele’s four-string configuration allows for (and even incentivizes!) more simplistic adaptations of songs from any genre. 

Whether you’re dealing with a twentieth-century classic or a modern radio pop hit you don’t think too highly of, you might be surprised by the amount of life and emotion this instrument can breathe into a song.

This feature of the ukulele is especially helpful if you’re a singer, even if your vocal range isn’t particularly large – acting as more of a supporting element to your voice than a musical centerpiece, the ukulele’s vibrant, colorful tone can help elicit an emotional reaction from even the most stone-faced of listeners. Bonus points if your voice happens to be silky smooth!

Easy To Buy At Low Price

More people are learning ukulele now than ever before, largely owing to the influx of instructional videos on YouTube and other websites.

While it’s true that increased Internet exposure has broadened the instrument’s appeal in the past couple of decades, the main reason why over a million ukuleles are sold annually in the U.S. is probably the affordable price.

There are quite a few parallels to be drawn between guitars and ukuleles, but the production cost is definitely not one of them. As you might imagine, it costs significantly less to put together a ukulele, and that’s certainly reflected in the average retail price – you can get a decent beginner’s ukulele for around $50, or a high-end one for $500, with a slew of incredible choices in between. 

For reference, $500 is the minimal amount you’d need to invest to buy a serviceable guitar, and the numbers get even scarier when you start looking at electronic keyboards and pianos.

Exercise Both Brain Hemispheres

While it’s become something of a cliché, the notion that music is a universal language and the ultimate soul food might just be true, in more ways than one. 

For anyone who might argue that our emotional response to music is a learned behavior, a quick look at the average baby should put a pin in that theory – music therapy can improve health, and the ukulele makes for a fantastic pivot into the world of music, which rewires your brain in ways you can’t even imagine.

When making the transition from a beginner ukulele player to a full-fledged musician, you’re bound to start noticing some differences. 

You’ll likely find that your anxiety levels have gone down, and you can expect to see improvements in your memory and creativity. These are just some of the ways music therapy can improve health. 

When you’re playing music, every cog in your brain is turning to make magic happen, so get out there and start learning the ukulele!