Ukulele Information

Thanks to the generosity of the Wilson PTO and several private donors, Wilson's music room owns a classroom set of soprano ukuleles! These will be used throughout the year by the 5th graders. Students are not required to purchase their own ukuleles for home. However, if you do own one, students will benefit from being able to practice chord fingerings and strumming on a real instrument at home. We encourage students to keep personal instruments at home to avoid accidental damage.

If you are considering purchasing a ukulele for your child, here are a few things to know:

•Wilson's 5th graders are currently playing Soprano Ukuleles. (Small size)

•Brand new ukuleles have a "breaking in" period. Strings come slacked down from the factory and will not be in tune when you purchase it. Once you tune those strings, they need to stretch in order to stay in tune. It will take multiple tunings before the strings settle in and require only minor touch-ups.

•Playing the ukulele is much more pleasant if it is in tune. An electronic tuner makes tuning your ukulele much easier. At school, we use Snark tuners. They are accurate and have a screen that is easy to interpret. Here's a YouTube video on how to tune using a Snark tuner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEB1QtT0zIA&feature=em-share_video_user

•Here's a great chord chart for beginners. It shows the finger numbers used for each chord. http://www.learntouke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Ukulele-Chord-Chart-for-Absolute-Beginners-from-Learn-To-Uke1.pdf

•Youtube has many, many video tutorials on everything from tuning, to changing strings, to learning chords for specific songs. (As with anything on YouTube, some videos are better than others, so parents should supervise any work with YouTube videos.) www.ukuleleunderground.com is a great website with short videos to get you strumming in no time!