The Easiest Songs to Learn on Ukulele
- Lloyd Crowley
- Oct 2
- 3 min read
This is a question I get asked a lot - what are the easiest songs to learn on ukulele? I always start my students on a simple 2 chord song and work our way up from there. Here, I'll give you some of my arrangements for free so you can see how you can easily start on ukulele songs!
Dance the Night Away - The Mavericks
This is my favourite to teach people first off. Why? It can be played with just 1 finger! Using C7 and a 1-finger version of F called F-ish, you can strum your way through this entire song in no time!
The melody is simple and easy to remember, and the strumming pattern can be just downstrums.
Starting on your F-ish chord, play 4 downstrums, followed by 4 on the C7, and repeat that for the entirety of the song.
Finish on one big strum of F-ish, and hey presto - you can play the ukulele!
Click below to download a printable PDF.
A Horse With No Name - America
This brilliant song by America is a classic. And guess what? You can play it with just 2 basic chords!
Am is a simple 1-finger chord, with Em7 being an easy 2-finger chord with a really great sound on a ukulele. As with Dance the Night Away, you just switch between these 2 chords for the whole song!
The strumming pattern for this one can be a bit tricky, but to get started you can use downstrums as normal until you get the hang of it.
Click below to download a printable PDF.
Achy Breaky Heart - Billy Ray Cyrus
Another song from the era of music where you don't have to use a lot of chords to write a good tune, Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus has an incredibly (annoyingly) catchy chorus that'll get everyone singing.
We can use an F and C7 sequence, very similar to Dance the Night Away. However, if F gives you trouble, you can just use F-ish again instead.
Either way, this has a nice simple strum and an easy-to-remember melody to help you along the way.
Click below to download a printable PDF.
Don't Worry, Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin
This song is a great one to learn at this stage, as it only has 3 chords in, and the slower speed of it means you have plenty of time to think about where to put your fingers.
As well as our standard C and F chords, we introduce the Dm chord here. The only difference between F and Dm, is that we add one finger to the latter between the F shape.
The chorus is a nice, easy whistle or humming melody (or even if a kazoo if you're that way inclined), and the verses are pretty laid back with slow changes.
Click below to download a printable PDF.
Other Songs
Once you've got a few of the chords above under your fingers, there are a lot of songs that you can play featuring just 2 or 3 chords in various orders. I'll be uploading some more soon, but in the meantime, Jim's Ukulele Songbook has a tremendous selection of songs to look through, and to transpose into whichever key you like.
Keep an eye on my social media - there'll be a new Downloads section coming to the website soon with more songs, tips resources for you. We'll even have the odd spooky tune to celebrate Halloween!
Easiest Songs to Learn on Ukulele - Leave a Comment!
Let me know in the comments what type of articles you would like to see on the blog, or if you want any particular songs written out. Pretty much anything will translate to the ukulele (I'll probably regret saying that...) so the sky's the limit!
Take care folks, and happy strumming!
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