This is often the first thing that a budding ukulele player wants to ask. Its such a daunting question that some people decide to not even pick up the instrument up!Â
The short answer is no. You don’t need to be able to read music or have any music theory knowledge to start playing the ukulele. You can learn to play songs by using tabs, chord charts and strumming patterns. Those resources are more than enough to get started with the ukulele.
Playing the uke, just like any other musical instrument is extremely rewarding. So let’s discuss the many ways you can learn songs without needing to read music.
Why Its Not Essential To Read Music
If you were to ask 100 ukulele players if they can read music. I imagine only a handful of them would be able too. Of those that can, its highly likely that music theory came at a later stage. It’s always best for your confidence that you jump in and start with the practical side first. Imagine reading 20 books on how to make clothes. Are you going to be able to make them afterwards? I doubt it. So start on the actual doing it first.
Chord Charts
The first step for most beginner ukulele players is learning chords. These are images that tell you where to place your fingers and what fingers to use. You could search online for the chords to any song and easily find them. There’s literally millions of them.
Strumming Patterns
With ukulele chord websites, you will often find that they show you the strumming pattern too. These are simple to understand and are usually shown in up and down arrows.
Tabs
Tabs are simialir to chord charts in that they tell you want to do on the fretboard. You can think of as looking down from above. Its a visual representation of the fretboard. Tabs tell you which fret to use and which string. They aslo show you musical dynamics like hammer-ons and pull-offs.
Ukulele tabs are becoming increasing popular online. Here are a few that have a great selection.
Why You Might Consider Learning To Read Music
While there’s no need to learn to read sheet music. There are certainly some benefits if you do.
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Chord charts and tabs give us the immediate answer of what to do. We can follow a song and play along. But what if we didn’t know how to song sounded? The chords and tabs don’t really mean much at that point. Whereas sheet music tells us everything we need to know. The notes you will play and the specific length of them. It tells us what key we are in and how fast to play the song.
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If you are a curious person, you might just be interested in knowing how things work. Music isn’t a magical thing, it’s all mathematic. There are specific chords that you play together that make them sound good. Knowing how that happens gives you an extra perspective when learning new songs. Undoublnt it’s going to make your ukulele playing easier.
Summary
Its absolulty not nessacry to know how to read music to start playing the ukulele. Dont let the fear of it stop you learning to play. Grab yourself a uke and start browsing the internet. Theres an wealth of free resources that can have you playing songs from day one.
