A modern pop classic, this song lends itself exceptionally well to being played on a ukulele. The chord progression is straightforward and its strum pattern offers variation within a rhythm that new uke players should find easy to play.
It’s an enjoyable challenge to experiment with the tempo on this piece, and speed it up for an especially pop sound. Just remember to keep your fingers rounded while playing at their tips to achieve optimal performance!
Blink-182 – Counting Stars
This track from one of rock’s biggest bands serves as an outstanding example of how an otherwise straightforward song can sound fun and exciting. Utilizing only G, C and D chords with a strumming pattern of “DUDU”, this tune offers beginners the perfect opportunity to both practice their strumming techniques while having lots of fun while doing it! This tune can serve as the ideal way to both improve one’s skills while having plenty of enjoyment while doing so!
Bruno Mars’ tune “Uptown Funk” is another fantastic pop track designed for beginning musicians to learn. Only three basic chords are used from start to finish, and you can experiment with various tempos and other sounds for this tune to give it different sounds.
This song is perfect for beginners because of its straightforward chord progression: G and D chords make up the entirety of this tune; furthermore, adding G7 chords will add another level of interest by keeping the tune fresh – although this requires practice as D7 chords require barred fingers on one hand to perform correctly.
Vance Joy – Riptide
Modern pop music lends itself well to being played on the ukulele, and this tune is no exception. By learning just a few simple chords you’ll soon be strumming away this tune with confidence! Additionally, this tune makes an excellent introduction to palm muting, an effective technique which produces percussive effects that add rhythmic interest in each tune.
This catchy pop song from 2009 serves as another testament to how well the ukulele handles contemporary music, while providing an opportunity for beginners to learn how to strum a descending scale.
This classic rock tune may present more difficulty for beginners than other songs on this list, yet still fits nicely on ukulele. All it requires are four repeating chords – C, F and G – all relatively straightforward for most learners to master. You can use regular strumming pattern with C and F chords while for G chord use quick successions of downstrums instead for maximum effectiveness.
John Fogerty – I’ll Be There
Another classic rock tune that is perfectly adapted to the ukulele is “Lean On Me.” This track provides a great opportunity for beginners to practice strumming rhythms and dynamics as its chord progression is relatively straightforward from start to finish. Additionally, duet practice can also be conducted easily as there are two lead vocal parts which beginners may share between themselves when singing duets with each other.
This Bruno Mars track is an energetic pop ballad that works surprisingly well on the ukulele, especially given how easy it is to learn. Following a standard I, V, VI, IV progression makes this song accessible even to novice ukulele players.
Dreams by Fleetwood Mac is another incredible song to learn that can be played using only two chords! Just alternate F and G chords while keeping things interesting by shifting around between F and G to keep your song sounding interesting.
Ed Sheeran – The A Team
An ukulele version of this classic protest song doesn’t need to be overly complex; with just three chords (C, F and G) and an easy strumming pattern you can easily bring its power alive on the ukulele.
Ed Sheeran is one of the biggest contemporary singer-songwriter pop artists around, known for his intricate lyrics and intricate acoustic guitar grooves that create modern love songs that are fun to play. Luckily for us, the ukulele makes an excellent way of replicating his style!
Focusing on the dynamics of this song’s verses and choruses is key to playing it well on ukulele, which does not lend itself well to shouty tones like those heard on its original track. Try adopting a more relaxed approach when playing the verses before building into more dramatic choruses. One easy way to start exploring this idea is changing the second chord from G7 to C7 for each verse – giving your performance a jazzy edge that makes playing enjoyable!