Play Ukulele Today! Complete Kit Review – Unrivalled Ukulele Value!

Body And Neck:
Hardware:
Sound:
Value:

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What can you get for around twenty-five bucks? A week of coffee at Starbucks? A couple of CDs? How about everything you need to learn how to play the ukulele? With this super-value ukulele kit from music publisher Hal Leonard, you get the instrument, and a host of tuition that ensures you’ll be playing tunes in no time. The perfect ukulele choice for beginners or a gimmick that’s not worth your time? Let’s find out.

Body & Neck

We’ll move on to the kit in the section below, but for now let’s discuss the actual ukulele on offer. As you may expect, it’s incredibly basic in its look and build, but that’s not to say it’s bad. It feels much more than a toy and looks quite nice on first impressions – a good start.

As for the build, it’s a standard four-string, non-cutaway soprano ukulele with a length of around 22”. Great for kids, although adult hands can easily find their way around. The entire body is made of lindenwood, and is finished in a high gloss. The neck features a birch fretboard with 12 frets, all in the clear. Sure, the finish can show a few rough patches, but generally it feels capable of being played without breaking, which is all you can ask for this tiny price.

Hardware

A note on the tuners – they aren’t fantastic at holding your tuning, especially for the first few days after a string change, but they are acceptable. Moving on to the instructional material, which is the area Hal Leonard is best known for, and they don’t disappoint. Included in the box is the ‘Play Ukulele Today! Level One’ method book, featuring plenty of songs, chords and techniques to get your teeth into, as well as tips on how to play and sound good. You also get a CD, with demo and backing tracks, as well as an instructional DVD, which is very good for the price.

Sound

There’s actually not a lot to discuss when it comes to this ukulele’s sound. There’s not much character and it’s a little tinny, but with clarity and fair projection it’s more than ample for practice. Changing the strings would certainly help brighten the tone a little, but for such a great price it’s hard to complain.

Conclusion

As we’ve established, the build and sound are fine for helping complete beginners get up and running in the world of ukuleles, however after learning the basics you’d probably be keen to upgrade. Still, for less than thirty dollars, you will be hard-pushed to find a better instructional set than this one from Hal Leonard. Plus, as it comes boxed up nicely, it also makes a great gift.

For more info about the Play Ukulele Today! Complete Kit, click here.
For more Best Ukulele For Beginners you might like, click here.