Uke & Singing lesson: Total BEGINNERS/NEWCOMERS Sunday in Grey Lynn

Hi and welcome to the Auckland beginner ukulele & singing lessons!

There are various levels of classes offered on Saturdays & Sundays. This Sunday 4PM class is for Newcomers/total beginners. The class times will be a bit changeable as I play in various bands with occasional weekend performances, so please do sign up weekly via Meetup to make sure you have up-to-date times. Thanks!

This Beginner's class is intended for those with little or no experience with the ukulele. We will start from scratch, learn basic knowledge needed to get acquainted with the ukulele and start to gain an understanding of how music works - become comfortable strumming and fingerpicking some very simple songs and singing along as you play, in the safety of a friendly group setting.

For those more experienced but not yet intermediate, I have a class called "Seasoned beginners" at 3pm on Sundays with a wider range of chords, introduction to tab, more strumming patterns, more elaborate songs, etc.

📍 Location & Access for Classes
As many of you know, we’ve recently had to say goodbye to our wonderful venue at the Nix, as my 6-year artist residency with the Ockham Collective has come to an end. The good news however is that we now have a new venue very close by. On November 8th 2026, we will be inaugurating a brand new Auckland music venue! The classes will be taking place at 38 Monmouth Street, a new music venue called "The Woodshed". This is a lovely spacious and luminous professional music venue with great acoustics that I will be renting on the days I teach classes. There is a free parking lot available right next door that you can access from Nixon Street (a few doors down from our old venue, The Nix) - the individual spaces are marked 38 Monmouth Street and you can park in any of those for free if attending one of my classes (which usually take place on Sundays, occasionally Saturdays) then walk through the gate and enter to the right. I will post some photos of the venue and parking lot for easier access. Please note there is (unfortunately) a flight of stairs to access the venue and the elevator I'd been promised has turned out to be too expensive to build. Sorry about that... I will look into having one or two accessible (no stairs) weeknight classes in Mt Eden Village once I get these classes up and running again.

💰 Booking & Pricing

$25 per class (cash on the day or bank transfer)
Please also bring/include an extra $5 to help cover the room rental

Account details:
ANZ Freedom Account
Name: Sonia Wilson
Number: 01-0205-0083380-00

Bulk options:

$120 for 5 sessions (+ extra weekly $5 for room rental)
$230 for 10 sessions (+ extra weekly $5 for room rental)

(Sessions don’t need to be consecutive—just keep track of your attendance please 🙏)

📌 Booking is required – Max 20 people per class (first come, first served).

What we'll do

We'll be learning to tune the ukulele with a clip-on tuner, exploring basic music theory (no rocket science, just enough to get you started), learning chords, strumming patterns and songs. When time allows, we may venture into the realm of playful group improvisations! :)

One of the challenges of playing uke and singing is the art of putting those together, so we'll spend time getting to know the phrasing of songs and developing your ability to synchronize singing & playing so you can build skills and confidence to perform in front of an audience someday, if you wish to do so (not obligatory). As I am experienced in choir singing, we will also look at some harmony singing.

What to bring

A ukulele! Many of my students find it helpful to have a strap on their ukulele. I also recommend a clip-on ukulele tuner (the simpler, the better - more fancy buttons can lead to more confusion).

If buying a new ukulele, I would advise a Makala or Kohala as the cheapest to consider. Anything cheaper and it's buyer beware - they can be difficult to tune and don't produce such a nice sound. Kala is good but a little more expensive. As regards size, I'd recommend a concert or tenor size to produce a good sound. Try the instrument before buying, if possible: try Lewis Eady, Rockshop, Music Planet, KBB Music, Music Works or Bungalow Bills. Most shops have a range of instruments and can advise you based on your budget and future plans.

Click on the following articles for suggestions for buying a ukulele if you do not have one:

www.takelessons.com/blog/types-of-ukuleles-z10
www.ukuleletricks.com/5-best-ukuleles-to-buy-for-beginners

Note about left-handed ukulele: my suggestion would be to buy a normal (right-handed) ukulele. This just means your fretting hand (the left hand) will be more agile than the average right-handed player (whose fretting hand would be their weaker one, the left). I think the ukulele is a wonderful instrument for helping us all to develop ambidexterity.

Learning to tune your uke will be a key skill to learn. I'm happy to answer questions on that at the start of the lesson. A well-tuned ukulele will make you want to play more frequently.

Also, it will be much easier to play the notes / chord shapes on uke if the nails on your left hand are not too long.

My invitation
Please don't shy away from this learning experience by fear of not being good enough. This is specifically a beginner's class and everyone is musical in my opinion. It's just a matter of exposure, experience and practice. I intend for these group lessons to be educational in a fun and relaxed kind of way. My intention is to create a "safe zone" for musical play and growth in good company.

Thanks so much for being part of this community—hope to see you on Sunday!

xoxo Sonia