Top 20 Songs for Ukulele Beginners

Posted by on May 6th 2021 @ 2:38 pm

51 ukulele players from all over the world responded to a recent survey on best songs for beginners to learn on their first day. There were 44 songs presented in the survey. The criteria for this list included broad familiarity and having 2-3 easy chords (though a couple with 4 might have slipped in). The songs were also filtered by 10 years of experience teaching first day ukulele players in my Ukulele Bootcamps. The results of which songs were chosen of these by surveyors is half expected and half surprising. Some songs I thought would be great, were lemons. Some songs I couldn’t have guessed at how popular they were. Here are results:

20 Ain’t That a Shame (Fats Domino)
19 When the Saints Go Marching In (Spiritual)
18 Rock Around the Clock (Bill Haley & His Comets)
17 Splish Splash (Bobby Darin)
16 Simple Gifts (Folk Spiritual)
15 I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (U2)
14 This Land is Your Land (Woodie Guthrie)
13 Ghost Riders in the Sky (Johnny Cash)
12 Sugar, Sugar (The Archies)
11 Swing Low, Sweet Chariot (Spiritual)
10 Old Time Rock & Roll (Bob Seger)
9 Day-O, i.e. the Banana Boat Song (Harry Belafonte)
8 Surfin’ USA (The Beach Boys)
7 Ode to Joy (Classical Instrumental)
6 Blowin’ in the Wind (Bob Dylan)
5 Leaving on a Jet Plane (John Denver)
4 You Are My Sunshine (Johnny Cash Version)

THE TOP THREE

3 Singin’ in the Rain (Gene Kelly)
2 Twist and Shout (The Beatles)
1 Feelin’ Groovy (Simon & Garfunkel)

I love Feelin’ Groovy, and have since I was in High School when I bought a cassette tape of the best of Simon and Garfunkel. I was surprised though that it came in as peoples number one favorite. Twist and Shout made more sense to me as it is so upbeat. Again, I love Singin’ in the Rain, but another surprise to me to see how popular it is with others.

Full Survey Results

Other Suggestions

I did get a few other great suggestions that weren’t included in the original survey.

  • El Condor Pasa (4 chords)
  • Riptide (4 chords)
  • White Sandy Beach (3 chords)

Though 4 chords on the first day is probably not going to work well in a quick bootcamp, in the following weeks it is entirely possible.

There you go! I hope you find this useful! And here are some more Uke Dogs:

Uke Dogs by Folsom Natural

Ryan's favorite starter ukulele: The Enya Nova U Concert Ukulele 23” on Amazon sounds great, is easy to play, in tune and nearly indestructable. "I left it in the car through the heat of summer to see what would happen, and it still plays beautifully."

Post filed under All UkulelePlay! Blog Posts.

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