My headline might sound a bit harsh but this is very important if a child is going to make progress in their Ukulele lessons. In this blog article, I’m talking specifically about ukulele’s but it definitely applies to other instruments too. Please believe me when I say that I have your child's best interests at heart because I really, really (really!) want them to enjoy playing and for you not to waste your hard earned money!
Here’s the scenario... Your child says there’s a new instrument tutor at school and they really want to learn. With the best of intentions you find a cheap starter instrument so that they have something to practice on while they’re doing lessons. If you've got this far, I congratulate you because just having an instrument is a great starting point!
But... here’s the problem…
Unfortunately, despite all of our good intentions, cheap instruments bought at the supermarket or even on Amazon are often barely usable and put a big obstacle in the way of a child's learning.
Why?
Because...
They’re made out of cheap materials that aren’t designed to last.
They don’t stay in tune. Tuning can be tricky to learn as it is but if the teacher is having to tune the instrument multiple times throughout the duration of a 20 minute ukulele lesson, the student looses time.
They don’t work properly. When you press the strings of ukulele down, they’re meant to produce certain notes but cheap ones don’t do this very well.
They make buzzing noises because of poor build quality.
Lastly, be careful with the 'best seller' option on Amazon. These are sometimes poor instruments and in my opinion, shouldn’t be allowed to go on sale. I suspect that they only make ‘best seller’ because of the price.
OK. So that’s the unpleasantness out the way 😁
So what would I suggest for a beginner guitar or ukulele player?
I regularly play a ‘Makala Soprano Ukulele’ and at the time of this article they retail around £45.00. And that’s it, now you know what to buy and for a relatively small financial investment. I promise that your child's Ukulele teacher will be very thankful! Below is a picture of a Makala soprano Ukulele.
If you want to know more about this, please don’t hesitate to contact me via the contact form.
Happy Playing!
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