Ukulele Songs for Beginners

The best part of learning ukulele is being able to play harmonic accompaniment with so many familiar songs in different styles and genres! I teach ukulele in 6th grade general music so we don't have a ton of time to develop advanced skills beyond the first 4 chords. Here are some of my favorite songs to have students play in elementary music using just a few basic chords.

3 chord songs (C, F, Am)

I always teach C major, F major, and A minor chords in one 25-minute lesson- they are all pretty easy to learn and students get them pretty quickly! Once we spend the first lesson just practicing each chord on its own, the second lesson is focused on getting more comfortable with those 3 chords and practicing switching between chords. Here are a few songs I like to use to give them a chance to practice switching between C, F, and Am chords with music that my 12 year old students don't groan about (usually):

4 chord songs (C, F, G, Am)

Once students are comfortable with C, F, and Am, it's time to add G. Learning a G chord is always a bit frustrating for students because it's much more difficult than the first 3, but they quickly realize how many more songs they can play and they get used to it after a few lessons of practice! Here are some of my favorite songs using those 4 chords for my 6th graders:

I hope this gives you some fresh material to use with what I know can often be a difficult to please age group! If you want to learn more about how I teach ukulele, including basic ideas about what instruments to purchase, storage tips, and more, here is my post on all things ukulele. You'll also find all of my sequenced lesson plans and materials incorporated into my 6th grade general music curriculum here.