You can also download a free audio tuner that uses a microphone from supernifty.com.au, HERE. You can install this on your computer, iphone etc. You need to select your instrument and tuning type (e.g.ukulele standard), then the string. It's very effective and useful (just note that it's difficult to get a string to vibrate to an exact frequency, but try to get it in the "green" zone). There are also apps for Android phones etc.

I bought a cheap clip-on "Eno" tuner online for around $10, and it seems to work fine. It can be changed to work with different instruments, and it even has a built-in metronome if you want to practise sticking to a regular beat.

Practise a little, frequently, so

a) your fingers don't get cramped

b) you build up your muscle memory and

c) you develop some hardness in your fingertips!

Strumming:

You can just strum with your right hand; use your thumb and/or fingers to get an even up-down rhythm.

Think about the rhythm of the song- is it a 3/4 (waltz) time or a 4/4 time? Strike the first beat, downwards, a little stronger on each bar: 'ONE 2, 3, ONE 2, 3' etc for 3/4 time or 'ONE,2,3,4, ONE,2,3,4' etc if the song is in 4/4 rhythm. (Listen to the song in a recording, or sing a bit of the melody, to hear the timing).

Up-strokes: In between the down-strokes, you can flick the strings lightly upwards with your thumb or fingers, e.g. strum "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and", where the 1,2,3,4 beats are down-strokes and the "and" beats are up-strokes. Don't stress too much about the rhythm; try to keep it nice and natural, with a loose wrist. It will become easier when you've been playing for a while.

Ukulele for Kids

Ukulele is an ideal instrument for children's little hands. They need to be old enough to be able to press the strings down on the fingerboard,and to remember the tunes and chord formations, but you can teach them an easy song or two and they will have lots of fun.

You can buy cheap ukuleles for under $30 (but make sure that you can tune them and don't expect them to sound brilliant). Even a toddler will enjoy just strumming; when I ran a creche group, the littlies just loved "playing" my small guitar - and a uke is a perfect size for them.

(* Note- these chord patterns are for right-handed playing, i.e. strumming with the right hand, making the chord forms with the left hand on the fingerboard. If you need to play left-handed, you would need to reverse the strings on the ukulele and 'mirror' the chord formations).