Rock to the islands in the late 1800s, this little Portuguese instrument was instantly
popular with Hawaiians. We named it ukulele, literally meaning jumping flea, and began
learning to play and incorporate it into our music. Today, thanks to this gift from the
Portuguese, the distinctive sound of the ukulele has come to be associated with
Hawaiian music from this, our beautiful land of Aloha. Aloha, my name is Teresa Bright,
and today I will show you how to play the ukulele. Everyone can enjoy this delightful
instrument. This is for first-time ukulele players, so let me tell you a little bit about
myself and then we can get started. I live in Hawaii on the island of Oahu in a town
called Kaneohe. I am of Hawaiian-Caucasian descent, and I've been playing ukulele since
the age of five years old. I've been entertaining for many years and recorded a few albums. You
can find them in record stores throughout Hawaii, the mainland, and Japan. Over the years, I've
taught many people beginning ukulele. Everyone seems to enjoy this instrument because it's light
and portable. Once you've learned to play your ukulele, you'll see how easy it is to follow me
as I sing a few of my favorite Hawaiian songs. The beauty of this instruction tape is that you
can rewind it as many times as needed until you're comfortable with your ukulele.
This is your ukulele. I like to think of your ukulele as being a body, the head, the neck,
and the body. The tunipigs are on the head, the frets are on the neck, and the sound box is the
body. The strings stretch from the tunipigs over the neck and across the sound box.
So now I'm going to teach you how to hold and position your ukulele. I'm right-handed, so I'll
teach you in the right-handed fashion. Those of you that are left-handed, you can actually
flip your ukulele over and reverse the strings or you can actually learn how to play right-handed.
Okay, so let's take our ukulele and we're going to place it actually under your forearm here
and behind of the belly is going to be against your chest, so it leaves your hand free to strum.
We're going to take your left hand, make a U like this, like you're waving in the parade,
like the Queen of England, and we're going to flip it over and fit the neck right into the crook
of your left hand. And the thumb of your left hand will be supporting the back of the neck here,
so it helps to support your fingers as you lay it upon the frets.
So this is the way to position and hold your ukulele.
So now I'm going to teach you how to tune your ukulele. You can either get a little music pitch
pipe that you can buy in the music stores that's really inexpensive, or you can use your piano if
you have one close by, or I use a little G harmonica to help me tune my first string.
So we're going to start from the top string here, which should be in a G tuning. So let's see.
It's not quite on there.
You can turn your tuning pigs as you tune to tighten or to loosen the strings to help you
quite get it on the key there.
There we go. Okay, so that's your G tuning. You can tune along as you watch this video,
so you can get it right on key. We're going to go to the next string,
which should be tuned in the key of C.
Okay, did we get that?
Okay, we're going to move down to the next string, which should be tuned in the key of E.
Okay, very good. And then our last string, which is going to be tuned in the key of A.
Okay, you can either turn, tighten if it's too slack or you can loosen it up if it's not quite.
There we go. Okay, there we go. Okay, this is it. G, the top string. C, the next string.
E, the next string. And the last string is A.
Okay, does your ukulele sound like this?
If it doesn't, you can rewind your tape at this time and then
make sure it sounds almost close to mine.
If it is, great, we'll move on. I'm going to teach you how to strum the ukulele next.
Now, I'm going to teach you how to strum your ukulele. Now that we're in position,
we're going to take our right hand and we're going to use our index finger and our thumb.
And we're going to actually use the back part of your thumb, the nail part,
and the nail part of your index finger. So what we're going to do is we're going to
strum upwards with your thumb like this. And then we're going to use your index finger
and then we're going to use your index finger and strum it downwards.
So it's actually a movement like this. Up with your thumb, down with your index finger.
Up with your thumb, down with your index finger. So let's try a little. Here we go.
Up with your thumb, down with your index finger.
Okay, very good. Let's try to strum eight times. It sounds like this. Here we go. One, two, three,
begin. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Very good. You can practice your strumming
now. We can move on. Okay, now that we know about our ukulele and we know how to position,
we know how to strum, and we know a little bit about our ukulele, I'm going to teach you how
to play the ukulele. In this segment, we're going to learn the keys of C, D7, G7, and F.
So let's begin. First of all, we're going to number our fingers because that's important. So
when you look at the chart, you know exactly what I mean. Our index finger on our left hand is going
to be number one, number two, number three, and number four. So when you see the dot on the chart,
you'll know exactly what finger it is when you see the numbers there.
And on the charts, we're going to have the notes of the string. So again, we have G, C, E, and A.
Okay, so let's begin. Our first chord that we're going to learn is C. We're going to take our third
finger, put it on the third fret on the A string, which is here. This is the chord of C.
So now we're going to strum. When you see C16, that means we're going to strum the chord of C
16 strokes. Again, refreshing your memory, one stroke is thumb up, index finger down.
So now we're going to do C 16. Here we go. Let's begin. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three,
four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Very good.
So now we're going to do C8. Let's begin. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight. Very good. So let's do C4. Here we go. One, two, three, begin. One, two,
three, four. Very good. C2. Here we go. One, two, three, and one, two. My kai. That was very good.
If your hands are getting kind of cramped now because you're a beginning ukulele player,
let's take the time to shake our fingers and move on to the next chord.
Okay. So the next chord, we're going to learn D7. Now that we're in the C position, we're going to
add our number two finger and put it over the second fret here. Press a little hard
so you can get a nice clean sound, but we're going to cover all the strings.
If you're having a hard time at this time because your fingers are not used to yet,
kind of pinch your thumb in the back here and that helps you to support and brace your second
and third finger. Here we go. We're going to do D7 16 times. Okay. D7 16. Here we go. Let's begin.
One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight. Very good. Let's do D7 eight times. Here we go. Let's begin. One, two,
three, begin. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight. Very good. Your fingers should
be getting a pretty cramped here, but let's carry on and we're going to do D7 four.
Hang in there, gang. Let's begin. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four. Very good. D7 two.
One, two, three, begin. One, two, very good. Okay. So now we're going to learn how to position our
fingers on the G7 chord. Okay. So we're going to use our three fingers,
one, two, and three. Our first finger is going to be positioned on the first fret
on the second string, which is the E string. We're going to take our second finger and place it on
the second fret C string. We're going to take our third finger, place it on the second fret A string.
This is your G7. Okay. So let's begin. G7 16. Here we go. One, two, three, begin. One, two,
three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Very good.
Okay. Well, this wind is so lovely here in Hawaii. Now we're going to do G7 eight. Here we go. Let's
begin. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Very good. Moving on.
G7 four. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four. Very good. G7 two. One, two, three, begin.
One, two, maika'i. Very good. That's our G7 chord. So now I will teach you the F chord. We're going
to use two fingers. We're going to position your index finger, the finger number one here
on the first fret on the E string. Second finger, place it on the second fret G string. This is your
F chord. So let's do F 16. Here we go. Let's begin. One, two, three, and one, two, three,
four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight. Very good.
Let's do F eight. Here we go. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
and eight. Maika'i. Let's do F four. Here we go. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four.
Very good. F two. One, two, three, and one, two. Maika'i. That is the F chord.
Now that we have learned four chords in the C segment, we're going to put it all together.
So what we're going to do is we're going to do D seven 16, G seven 16, C 16,
F 16, and C one. Let's begin. Here we go. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. G seven, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. And C two, three,
four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. F two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. And C one,
so now we're gonna do D seven, eight, G seven, eight, C eight, F eight, and C one. Here we go,
let's begin. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. G seven,
two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. C two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. F two, three,
four, five, six, seven, eight. C one, very good. Now we are going to do D seven, four, G seven,
four, C four, F four, C one. Very good. Here we go, one, two, three, begin. One, two, three,
four, G seven, two, three, four, C two, three, four, F two, three, four, C. Now that we have
learned the four different chords of the C segment, we're going to put it all together and do a Hawaiian
vamp. It's gonna consist of D seven, two, G seven, two, and C four. And then we're gonna repeat it
again. D seven, two, G seven, two, and C four. Here we go, let's begin. One, two, three, begin.
D seven, G seven, C two, three, four. D seven, G seven, C two, three, four. Again, D seven,
G seven, C. Very good, last time. D seven, G seven, C two, three, down. Very good. That is the end of
our C segment. So stay tuned for our first song. Mahalo. Here's a song called Ho'olauna Aloha,
and these are the chords we will be using.
Listen for the count off now. Enjoy yourself. One, two, three, and.
One, two, three, four.
This segment is the F segment. In this segment, we'll learn chords F, which we already know,
F seven, G seven, which we're familiar with, C seven, and B flat. So let's position our hands
on the F, which is here. We're going to add the third finger on the third fret on the C string,
which is here. Okay, so let's do F seven, which is this, 16. Let's begin. One, two, three, begin.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Very good. If it's kind of uncomfortable for you, again, your thumb becomes handy,
where you can help to support your fingers on the frets. Let's do F seven, eight. Let's begin. One,
two, three, begin. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight. Let's do F seven, four.
Here we go. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four, and F seven, two. One, two, three,
begin. You can practice this whole sequence as much times as you want to. Again, the repetitious
movements make it simpler for you in the long run. So let's move on. Since we know G seven,
I'm going to move on to C seven. We're going to use one finger. We're going to put it on the A
string on the first fret. Simple. C seven. Let's do C seven, sixteen. Begin. One, two, three, and
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Mai kai. Let's do C seven, eight. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
and eight. Mai kai. Let's do C seven, four. Here we go. One, two, three, and one, two, three, four.
Very good. C seven, two. One, two, three, and
Mai kai. We're going to move on now. We're going to do B flat. Okay, so our B flat three fingers.
We're going to spread it across the board. Our first finger will be on two strings. We're going
to hold on the first fret both E and A. Okay, we're going to take our second finger,
second fret on the C string. We're going to take our third finger and kind of
manipulate it so you can put it third fret on the G string. So it should look like this. Okay,
let's do B flat, 16. Let's begin. One, two, three, and two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Very good. If your hands start to get tired,
you can shake it around a little and then let's apply it again. B flat.
B flat. B flat eight. Let's begin. One, two, three, and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight. Very good. B flat four. One, two, three, and one, two, three, four. Very good. Let's do
B flat two. One, two, three, begin. Very good.
Now we're going to put the F segment together. We will do F 16, F 7 16, B flat 16, C 7 16,
and F 16. Here we go. Let's begin. One, two, three, and one, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight. F 7, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight. B flat two. Five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six,
eight. C, seven, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight. And F, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three,
four, five, six, seven, eight. Very good. Now we will do that whole segment of chords
on the eight count. F eight, F seven, eight, B flat eight, C seven, eight, and F eight again.
Here we go. Let's begin. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
F seven, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. B flat two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight. C seven, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. And F two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight. My coordinate. Very good. We will do this now on the four count F, four,
F seven, four, B flat four, C seven, four, and F four again. Here we go. Let's begin. One, two, three,
and F two, three, four, F seven, B flat two, three, four, C seven, two, three, four, and F two, three,
Okay. Let's try on the two count. F two, F seven, two, B flat two, C seven, two, and F two.
Let's begin. One, two, three, begin. F, F seven, B flat, C seven, and F. Very good.
That concludes our F segment, and good luck.
Now we will do a Hawaiian vamp in F. That will consist of G seven, two, C seven, two,
and F four, and then we will repeat again. Are we ready? G seven. Here we go. One, two, three, and
G seven, C seven, F. Very good. Let's begin. G seven, C seven, F two, three, repeat. G seven,
C seven, F. There we go. G seven, C seven, and F two, three, down. Very good.
Now we're going to do He Aloha No O Honolulu, and we're going to be using chords from the
F chord series, which again are F, F seven, G seven, C seven, and B flat.
So get ready to play along with me now. Here we go. One, two, three, and.
He aloha no o Honolulu, Ka ua ku ka la ha ha lei, Ka nuku a o ma ma la, E aua e nei ma ho
lei, Ka umai ana ma mua, Ka ma lunua o lei, Ku kui a a ma hu, Pia o lei ki kawa ula.
He aloha no o Honolulu, Ka ua ku ka la ha lei, Ka nuku a o ma ma la, E aua e nei ma ho lei,
Ka umai ana ma mua, Ka ma lunua o lei, Ku kui a a ma hu, Pia o lei ki kawa ula.
He aloha no o Honolulu, Ka ua ku i ke kai loa, Oni mai ana o hu poru, O kumo ia ma hu kona,
I ka makani a pa a pa, E viki oe a pa nei, E i o ka wai hai, Ho ho hai hai na ulu, Ka makani ku e hu a lei.
He aloha no o Honolulu, Ka ua ku i ke kai loa, Oni mai ana o hu poru, O kumo ia ma hu o kona,
I ka pewa a o ka ma nini, Ha i na mai ka puana, O ka heke no na kona, No kona ke kai malino, Ka o lana i ka lehu lehu.
He aloha no o Honolulu, Ka ua ku i ke kai loa, Oni mai ana o hu poru, O kumo ia ma hu o kona, Oni mai ana o hu poru, O ka heke no na kona, No kona ke kai malino,
Ka o lana i ka lehu lehu.
Now we're going to learn our G segment. Our G segment will consist of keys A7, D, and G. So let's begin.
The first chord we're going to learn is A7. We're going to use our number one finger,
index finger, on the first fret on the C string. It will be positioned here. We're going to do
A7, 16. Here we go. Let's begin. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight. Very good. Now we will do A7,
eight. Here we go. Let's begin. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
and eight. Mai kai. Let's do A7, four. Begin. One, two, three, and one, two, three, four.
Very good. A7, two. One, two, three, and one, two. Mai kai. That is the A7 chord.
We will do a D chord at this time. The D chord again will consist of two fingers.
Our first finger will be located on the G string on the second fret. The next finger will be
located second fret, second finger on the E string. And it looks like this. Here we go.
We will do D, 16. Let's begin. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight. Mai kai. Let's do D,
eight. Here we go. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight.
Mai kai. Let's do D, four. Here we go. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four.
Very good. Our last, D, two. One, two, three, begin. One, two. Mai kai. We have just learned
the D chord. Our next chord we will learn G. The G will consist of three fingers.
Our first finger will be located second fret on the C string. Second finger will be located
on the A string second fret. Third finger will be located on the third fret on the E string. This is
your G. Let's begin. G, 16. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight. Mai kai. Let's do
G, eight. Here we go. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Very good. Let's do G, four. Let's begin. One, two, three, begin. One, two, three, four.
Mai kai. Last time, G, two. Here we go. One, two, three, begin. One, two. Very good. We had just
concluded the G segment. So now that we have learned our G segment, A7, D, and G, we will now
put it all together. So let's do A7, 16, D, 16, G, 16. Let's begin. Here we go. One, two, three, and.
Three, four, five, five, six, seven, eight. G, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two,
three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Very good. You got the idea. So let's move on.
I'm gonna do A7, eight, D, eight, G, eight. Let's begin. Here we go. One, two, three, and.
A7, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. D, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. G, two,
three, four, five, six, seven, eight. You're getting the idea. The repetition of the segments
is very important because your fingers will get to know and get used to the positions.
So when we call out the keys, your fingers will probably move automatically. So that's why the
repetitious movements are important. So let's move on to A7, four, D, four, and G7. Oh,
G, four. There we go. Let's not get mixed up here. Okay. A, A4, D4, G. Here we go. One, two, three,
and. One, two, three, four, D, two, three, four, G, two, three, four.
We're getting closer to the vamp now. So our next few chords are gonna be our Hawaiian vamp,
which is gonna be A7, two, D, two, and G, four. And then let's repeat that same A7, two, D, two,
and G, four. Let's begin. Here we go. One, two, three, and. A7, D7, G, two, three, again. A7, D,
G, again. A7, D, G. Mike Ka'i last time. A7, D, and G, two, three, down. Very good.
This song is called Lehua Maknui. It is in the G chord series. Have some fun and enjoy yourself.
And let's go. One, two, three, and.
We're getting closer to the vamp now. So our next two chords are gonna be our Hawaiian vamp,
which is A7, D, two, and G, four. And. One, two, three, and. A7, G, two, three, and.
A7, D, G, two, three, and. A7, D, G, two, three, and. A7, D, G, two, three, and.
Oh, that was very good. Mai ka'i. We've learned so much today. Let's reveal all the chords we now know how to play on the ukulele, the C chord series, which consists of D7, G7, C, and F.
The F chord series. F, F7, G7, C7, and Bb. The G chord series of A7, D, G, and C. And we've learned the Hawaiian vamp in three different keys.
The key of C, D7, G7, C4. The key of F, G7, C7, and F4. And finally, the Hawaiian vamp in the key of G, A7, D2, and G4. Mai ka'i.
Now, wasn't that fun? Mahalo for enjoying this ukulele lesson with me, and I'm looking forward to meeting you maybe one day here in Hawaii. And aloha.
A7, D, G7, A7, G7, and Bb.