For music and learning an instrument like the ukulele or guitar, it's all about the making the connection between the Mind, the Hands and the Ear. When listening to music, we enjoy it at the tempo the composer or artist intended, in real time. Only the ear is involved in listening. This is passive listening and you're simply enjoying the music. This is what we do everyday and it's what draws us to want to learn a musical instrument.

There are two approaches to learning chords, the song based approach and learning the fundamentals approach. I'm a big advocate of building a solid base of the fundamentals. A lot of players new to the ukulele like to jump right in and learn songs.

Most players struggle with learning the names of the notes of the ukulele fingerboard. There doesn't seem to a pattern and notes repeat. There is an easy way and "it's easier that you think." Most players know the names of the open strings for their favorite tuning.

"Where Do I Start?" This is a common question. This workshop-lesson covers ukulele tunings, learning the ukulele fingerboard, basic chords and strums. This workshop gets you rolling on having some fun playing the ukulele. This is the workshop-lesson handout that I give ukulele players attending my Learning Ukulele - A Recipe for Success beginner workshop.

Learn the Blues ( Minor Pentatonic ) and Pentatonic ( Major Pentatonic ) scales on ukulele. A practical approach to learning theses two essential scales using the Blues. These five note scales, the Major Pentatonic and the Blues or Minor Pentatonic scales are two of the most common scales used in contemporary music.

Listening to songs and wanting to play the same songs on ukulele – that's what draws most people to the ukulele. That and it looks like a load of fun and easy to play – which it is. Then you need to actually remember the songs that you're learning, so you can play them again. And, hopefully, not have to read them off a sheet all the time.