Get Plucky With The Ukulele: A Quick And Easy Guide To All Things Uke

An interesting look at the history of the ukulele and the entertainers who played it. The second half is an instruction on how to teach yourself to play. Songs and uke progressions are presented in the chart method used by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain , of which Will Grove- White is a member, which is different than standard tab. I would recommend this book there is a lot to learn between its covers. I like on the back cover it says” Designed to get you playing the uke without the tiresome bother of having to study too much.”Highly recommended!

Ukulele Friends...Will Grove-White's new book - GET PLUCKY WITH THE UKULELE is amazing. It arrived in my mailbox on Saturday and by Monday I had finished the first full read-through. I'm sure I will read it again and again. I highly recommend it. Will's love for the uke and great sense of humor permeates the entire book as he touches on his Ukulele Heroes, Ukulele History and his approach to playing. Great story about how he lost Ian Whitcomb's Vintage Martin, too. Very cool and colorful artsy pictures and lots of "how-to's" as well. There is even a chord chart pull out. You will not be disappointed.Will is a member of The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and has been making his living as a fulltime ukulele player for over 25 years. How many people can say that? His enthusiasm for all things ukulele is as fresh as the first strum on a new uke. If I was writing a book about Ukuleles, He would certainly be listed as one of my Top Ukulele Heroes. I dont even have to write a book to tell you that I think Will's playing and writing is worthy of Hero Status. Will is certainly one of the good guys!I have a lot of ukulele books...This one is my new favorite!

If you are looking for a book to learn how to play songs on a uke, buy a songbook. The "Jumpin' Jim" series is outstanding. Get Plucky covers in detail the history of the uke, famous players (pluckers), types of ukes, etc. It is a very interesting book, but I repeat it is more about the instrument and less about learning songs. It is amazing how popular this instrument is and how pluckers pluck it all over the globe. I wish the author would have written a piece about the banjolele (ukulele in the shape of a short-necked banjo) as played in Brazil. It is used to play tunes also played by the cavaco (cavaquinho), a cousin to the ukulele. The big difference in sound is the volume.

A bit over a year ago I bought my first ukulele and this book. Those purchases are among the best I've ever made. The book is outstanding--fun to read, lots of background on the instrument and, from my perspective, the right amount of instructional material to get a beginner started. The instruction is sound, and Will presents it clearly, effectively and in a light-hearted manner that encourages the beginner simply to have fun.The book is meant to be a starting point, and it provides the background that will allow the reader to begin attending jams, learning more songs and otherwise building skill. I've shared it with friends who I've encouraged to take up the uke, and all have found it useful and fun.

I used this book to teach myself how to play the ukulele, and I'm so glad I chose this one specifically. The songs get progressively more difficult, making it a no-brainer to follow along with while improving your skills. The information on the history of the ukulele will provide you the perfect motivation to keep going. Will Grove-Whites laid back humor will keep you from beating yourself up when things get a little harder. I also purchased Ukulele for Dummies, and I can honestly say this book is more useful for complete beginners. It includes the info you need to get started and nothing more. From there you can use other books or youtube videos to learn more strumming variations, genre styles etc. If you are total beginner, you will not regret purchasing this awesome book!

The contents of the book consists of two to three parts. The book could be used as a resource book, not really for instructions to teach. The first part of 96 pages is redundant to the title of the book... Beginners... How to play. From the title of the book, one would expect the contents to go straight to the practical aspects, which is only covered from pages 100 to 161. Steps to learn how to play an ukulele are not progressive and repetitive enough to master the basics. However, pages 86 to 99 are useful when choosing how to buy an ukulele. To my opinion, the book tries its best implicitly to imbue interests to motivate players to pick up an ukulele; for this I would rate 4 stars. However, for a Beginner's book on 'how to play a ukulele' I would rate 2 stars.

Will Grove-White who is a member of the great Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, has written a very entertaining and informative book on the History and mechanics of playing Ukulele.While I'm an experience player, I found it to be a fascinating read both in the contents and the beautiful layout. Lots of tidbits and inside info on the ukulele world and the UOGB. Even though I have read and own all the books I could find about the history of the Ukulele, Get Plucky brings a fresh view with good narrative, plenty of information and lots of fun anecdotes.I highly recommend this book as a must have addition to any Ukulele enthusiast, be it a beginner or an advanced player.Well done Will, Well done!

This is a great book for the beginner. Also has a lot of really interesting and surprising factoids about the instrument, its history and its players over the years.

As anew ukulele owner I thought this book would be the ideal tutor book.It was a severe disappointment. We get authors history as ukulele owner, lots of photographs of various musicians with their instrument. Page 109 a very loose approach to tuning and then one chord song. Dreadful as route into playing this little instrument,

I already have this book under the title of 'Get Plucky with the Ukulele'. That's right, this is exactly the same book, just with a different title and cover. On opening the book, I discovered that every page is the 'Get Plucky' book repackaged. Now I have no complaint about the content: There is much fascinating and entertaining history of the instrument and a simple fun guide to playing uke. It is a fabulous book, whichever title you pick up. I'm only dropping a star because I think it's a little bit cheeky to simply put a different cover around the same pages to presumably sell it as another book. Tut Tut to whoever had this idea...... Still, it's a joyful book nonetheless.

As a complete beginner, I assumed that the book being called 'Ukulele for beginners' meant that it would be of good use. The title of the book should in fact be called 'The entire history of the Ukulele with a couple of pages at the back showing you the basics'. It wasn't what I expected at all. Personally, I just wanted to play my Uke, not read about it. I looked at the book once and it's stayed on the shelf ever since.

NOT the best book to learn the ukelele...But not a bad read and at current sale price its good value. Contains lots of interesting stuff about the ukelele and is a good general intro but contains too few songs to learn. I was disappointed at first until I came across Robert Johnsons "Hot tamales" which gave me a real sense of satisfaction.Useful but not on its own you will need a better range of songs in a more focussed book. Still, no one book does it all that I have found.

This is clearly a very popular book indeed, and we love it!Many of our family & friends who are into ukuleles will be getting this for Birthday/Christmas/whatever...But...A word of warning from reading all the other reviews - it seems to be unanimous that the Kindle edition does not work well on the Kindle-slab itself - reportedly OK on the Kindle App when installed on something more substantial.We loved everything about the book - it's a mini-encyclopedia of all things Ukulele - the fascinating history and personalities who have played and promoted the Uke particularly interested me.Jimi Hendrix started with a ukulele!Who'd have thought it?So very many fine reviews have already been written that (to save your time) I'll recommend the one by my new friend "Urbanmeister" whose review immediately persuaded me to buy this excellent book.....................What he said!.................<grin>Strongly recommended for anyone who enjoys the ukulele, or just thinks they might.