Ukulele Tuner & Lessons: Kala Reviews

by F1oneOone

This WAS such an awesome App, I was recomending it to everyone I knew. I, without a musical bone in my body, was actually learning the ukelele. I was so impressed with myself, but even more impressed with the simple genius of UkuleleTunerLessons ! I took a break and came back to an updated version that looks fancy and works like crap. What the heck? Ugh, bring back the old version!!! This is not what I signed up for 😭.

It can’t get permission from my microphone, there is no option for it, so I can’t tune play along anything. No landscape mode anymore. Everything is so buggy I can’t open chords without it crashing or even hit the play buttons to here the songs. UGH and now I’m stuck with a subscription for this.

Can’t I just get the old version back? Or at least a refund? I can’t even use it!!

by 0kami_Rose

I was tuning my ukulele as instructed is stated for the first sting I started on it was too high therefore I turned it down and it was all good the string was tuned and I was happy. I went to the next one it stated it was too high and kept saying that no matter how low I went to tune it. Therefore I went to the a string it stated too low therefore I tuned it higher and higher next thing I know the sting breaks by this point I’m upset because now I’ve broken my ukulele and need to replace my string when all i wanted to do was tune it. Please fix this so it doesn’t happen too others. I understand that I should have knew it was getting to tight I had a feeling but decided to ignore due to positive ratings. I am deeply disappointed but not trying to be rude in any way or form because I know how notes, letters, texts, ect. Can and may be interpreted in other ways please state I know it’s my fault as well but please understand that I am a beginner whom is trying to play the ukulele and become good at the instrument I hope to at least get the hang of. Thank you for reading I know this takes time off from you but please fix this.

by 🐯føxÿ🐯

I like listening to the songs but one thing is that when you try to play one of the easiest songs on the game you still can do it! Can you add a easy thing because all ur songs are really hard to play you don’t even give us much time to do a song because the notes come by too fast! I’m rating this game 2 stars because I wanted to learn how to play the guitar but this game doesn’t really teach you anything but playing songs I’ll rate this game 5 stars if u can make it easier and make it so you have more time to get the correct note on playing the guitar! U did kinda good on this game I’m waiting for you to change and I’ll rate you 5 stars thank you! 😁

by Emiliegreen

**update** They’ve done a major update to UkuleleTunerLessons and so far the songs are buggy (lyrics and/or chords not matching up with the music), my playlist is gone, AND, most importantly to me, there doesn’t seem to be a way to eliminate the melody when the song plays or a way to transpose up or down. The primary reason I use UkuleleTunerLessons is to sing with it, and I hate hearing a cheesy melody in the background, and some of the songs don’t work in my vocal range so I need to transpose them. Hugely disappointing. Pros: huge song list, easy cords, ability to take out the melody or percussion when playing, slow down the tempo, easily pause the song, a few ways to tune, ability to transpose up or down Cons: I found the strumming tutorials to be lacking. Consequently, strumming is my weakest skill. Limited chords - only the most basic. This ends up making some songs sound off. Please add some 7 and minor chords! They irregularly update the song list so it will be months and months without any new material. Give us the hits! There are a ton of typos in the lyrics. The price is quite high. Every time you go between UkuleleTunerLessons and another app, it displays the logo when you return. If you sing, oftentimes the performance rating at the end is inaccurate. Also - UkuleleTunerLessons inspires laziness. I haven’t memorized one song, despite playing for a year. Recommend adding an exercise to play without chords displayed

by I❤️doggos_socute

UkuleleTunerLessons is ok, Let’s start with the tuner. I had another app before this with a tuner, my ukulele was tuned and ready to go in SECONDS. However, with UkuleleTunerLessons it took a while, the tuner had a hard time deciding whether the note was in tune or not. Now moving on to pausing the songs, sometimes when I was playing a song I would need to stop the song, but the song is hard to pause, I still don’t know how I do it. I just click random areas in hope the song would stop. Other than this UkuleleTunerLessons lets you pick what tempo you want and helps you keep the tempo and every thing else it’s supposed to.

by Jwolfe10

I received a Kala Ukelele Starter kit for Christmas. I like UkuleleTunerLessons but think a few things could be improved. The first thing that comes to mind is the whole “starter kit” marketing. The kit is really just the ukele - anyone can download UkuleleTunerLessons... I would give purchasers of this starter kit some sort of incentive like a free year to the full app. From what I understand you could buy any ukelele and use the kala app. The second thing is the lessons in UkuleleTunerLessons . They are so so, as mentioned by others most are about 10 second clips with a zoomed in camera and no real tips. My final complain is that in the progress section of UkuleleTunerLessons - none of my playing is saving. I’d love to see my progress and have played numerous songs to completion but it still says that I need to play songs to add data. On the positive I really like the interface of the strings to guide you as you play. UkuleleTunerLessons has the right foundation just needs a couple tweaks and the kala starter kit needs more bang for its buck - doesn’t really separate itself from any other ukelele.

by Jingle Bella Batman Smella

Let me begin by saying I love UkuleleTunerLessons, but loved it way more before the update. I had spent serious time creating my favorites folder and they are nowhere to be found, so last night I spent an hour creating new favorites and this morning they were all gone again. There is also not a place where you find all of your favorites, you can only change the song list to list your favorites first. Or am i missing something? I’m not sure why they messed with it.
LOVE Kala but bummed about the update.

by Gamer033009

Ok, I have a Kala uke and I love it! UkuleleTunerLessons has helped me learn A C D E F G and more! I went from a girl with no experience to playing a whole song in minutes! But some songs aren’t the whole song they only let you learn half of it! But I still practice daily and now I’m playing let it be by the Beatles! I totally recommend UkuleleTunerLessons for soon to be musicians but they need to be beginners, i feel like after how long i’ve been playing UkuleleTunerLessons isn’t as affective, maybe add like harder stuff, love it tho🎵!

by Beaglebach

My husband bought me a Kala ukulele Christmas 2019, and I was excited it included info about the Kala app so that I could get started learning and playing right away! At first I was going to try UkuleleTunerLessons for a month to see how it went, but I loved it so much I bought it for the year. I have learned many chords, strum patterns, and some of my favorite songs with UkuleleTunerLessons. I love how many choices of songs and genres are offered, with more songs added all the time. Playing my uke with the help of UkuleleTunerLessons has really encouraged me. I wish someone would come up with an app this user friendly for the guitar, too. I highly recommend the Kala app, and also the ukuleles they sell!

by Trini5501

I have no experience with stringed instruments. In fact the only instrument I ever played was the Steel Pan in high school. Guitars etc. have always been intimidating. I got a Color Chord Ukulele for Christmas and can already play along with several songs. The videos, the finger placement guide, the strumming guide and the feedback are all incredibly easy to use and helpful tools. I like that I can search for songs with the notes that I feel most comfortable playing.

by SamsunRo

This is a very useful app for a beginner, even the free content. They have a selection of videos teaching a handful of basic chords and strumming patterns which are very efficiently and clearly produced. The free songs (as well as paid) include chord guides and strumming patterns for each chord used in the song with links back to the chord instruction videos for clarity.

This is more than sufficient as a starting resource for a beginner who is a motivated self-learner. I have tried learning mandolin and guitar in the past but struggled because I have very weak hands, but with UkuleleTunerLessons I have already played a song on the ukulele and greatly enjoyed the learning process. It felt more like a game than a learning drill. I’ll work through more of the free songs and chords but I’m already considering paying for full content.

by Toucan45

I’m a teacher in the SF Bay Area and I went to a conference a few months back where Ukulenny presented a session on classroom Ukulele ensembles. Since then I’ve been curious how to integrate different types of ensembles into my teaching curriculum. Ukulenny’s presentation made the ukulele experience so accessible for me, and that ease of access transfers into UkuleleTunerLessons so seamlessly. I’m excited to use UkuleleTunerLessons as a tool for me to gain mastery on this instrument so that I can start sharing ukulele inspiration with my students!

by Liz Del Oro

Over a year ago I got a ukulele. I had some books that showed how to play the chords and I started playing. Then this past Christmas I received an iTunes gift card and I got UkuleleTunerLessons and I love it. It has tons of songs from old traditional to the Beatles to Adele and more and they are always adding new songs. When you pick a song UkuleleTunerLessons plays the melody and you play the chords and as the melody is playing it shows you what chord to play next. When the song is over it will say show results and it will rate how well you did on that song. For each song it also shows you a strumming technique to use for that song. I am having so much fun with UkuleleTunerLessons. It also has a tuner so you can tune your ukulele first. If you are trying to learn the ukulele UkuleleTunerLessons is for you.

by BelaMore

Love the wide variety of great song that are available on UkuleleTunerLessons. I also really enjoy how simple and straightforward the teaching is, and how they break down the tempo, strum and cords. With available videos for further demonstration. UkuleleTunerLessons has made the learning experience much smooth, and more enjoyable for me as a visual learner. This has also been the only app where the tuner still works offline, which is super helpful when I’m on nature trips. Keep up the great work guys!

by Oldielocks

I picked up a ukulele a few months ago and was playing some simple sheet music. UkuleleTunerLessons lets you adjust the speed of the song and once you have learned the song, you can put it back up to speed. It has strumming patterns and tuning too. What I didn’t realize was how many times I hesitated between chores. This has helped me get out of that habit. Test your ability by getting all the chords right, strumming the correct pattern and singing along. Sometimes you really can teach old dogs new tricks.

by PapaPip

My wife and I purchased ukuleles during a recent trip to Hawaii. We found the Kala app shortly thereafter. After using the free version I decided to purchase the full access and I am thrilled with it. It is a great visual for building the chords for beginners. I love that I can change tempo as well. We have been streaming it via AirPlay to our TV at home and have daily “jam sessions” as we hone our craft. I’ve tried all of the beginner apps i could find and this one out shines them all! Not that we are a bit more adept, UkuleleTunerLessons is still a daily fave for us.

by Kempo Mike

So great! I used to play a little years ago, and couldn’t quite get the hang of it until I started looking for Teaching Apps. This was the most fun, easy to re-learn App I used. The tuners are great and extremely accurate. The song library is always growing, and has classics, all the way up until this week’s top hits (I’m not kidding- they have Doja Cat already). The videos of the chords and strums were easy to follow and very clear. You can also play along WITH the song that’s playing, and they even have the chords pop up to the timing of the tempo (which is changeable if you want to slow it down if it’s a harder song, or speed it up to kick your jamming skills a notch). So with the chords popping up to the timing it’s almost like guitar hero, but for Ukulele (“Ukulele Hero…”). ;-)

by Hi_there6492

I really like UkuleleTunerLessons ! It’s super easy to use and I like the format. I also appreciate that you don’t need to be able to read music to use it, although I can read music pretty fluently so this doesn’t really affect me. I’m sure it would be very helpful for someone who can’t read music. My only complaint is that many songs require a paid membership to access more than the first thirty seconds of the song. Other than that, this is a really great app that’s easy to use and had me playing the ukulele ok within a week.

by Mackenzie._.

I wouldn’t care for it so much in my opinion if I didn’t get the premium, just because when I want to learn songs I want to learn easy, fun songs, and that’s exactly what the premium gives me. Of course there’s some songs they don’t have, but there’s also a lot of songs that I wouldn’t even think was easy to play on the ukulele. It’s so easy to play along with, you can adjust the tempo, it tells you the strumming patterns and fingerings for the notes as you’re playing along! This is by far my favorite ukulele app and I have tried many. 100% worth the premium!!

by Windupmike

My wife and I are both loving the Kala app. We love that there are so many great songs to play. The scrolling bar makes it pretty intuitive. It really helps to play along with UkuleleTunerLessons . I love how lots of songs can be played a step up or a step down. That can help when the chords are more difficult or when a song is sung outside of my vocal range. It’s fun to have the lyrics and sing along!
I love the built in tuner and the song selection is pretty strong, too. I love when UkuleleTunerLessons also shows a strumming pattern for a song.
It would be cool if there were a place to suggest new songs.
All in all, great app! I recommend it all of the time!!

by 24 RavenAMP

So, UkuleleTunerLessons gives you a free trial. I didn’t know about this, and a few days after I downloaded UkuleleTunerLessons , it said I had to buy a subscription to be able to play or even access certain songs. The ones it DID let me play, it only let me play for like 30 seconds. But the tuner is free, and that is good (the only good thing about UkuleleTunerLessons). You should get it if you are willing to pay. Also, it doesn’t have every song, even with the premium. You can suggest songs, but the ones that aren’t originally played with a uke they don’t have.

by Shawnjuanster

UkuleleTunerLessons has a nice tuner and some fun songs to play. As someone new to playing music, I find their tutorial to be lacking. The tutorials for chords are links to videos that last 10 seconds without any verbal instruction. They need to offer more for people actually trying to learn music. Like suggested finger placement, as I find some of the chords difficult to place my fingers for. Also for the iPhone 10 and 10S they have not optimized their app for these phones screens. It is often cut off near the top of the screen.

by Nutsonewfs

Okay, I just thought I couldn’t play the uke and was so sad. I have a great instrument and it was gathering dust. I’ve tried books and videos and while I learned some basics nothing helped me get past the hurdle to playing. In one week with UkuleleTunerLessons , I’m already seeing good progress. It’s easy to play along with the ocarina and scrolling music and the videos seem to cover every question. UkuleleTunerLessons makes learning fun and completely nonjudgmental.

by Anewbern

I can’t say enough great things about this ukulele app. It is an all in one ukulele app with quality functionality, quality songs and EVERYTHING you need to start playing songs immediately and correctly. I love the catalog of songs and the fact that they give you a strumming pattern is what sold me. Strumming pattern has been my greatest challenge in learning to play songs using tab or chords online. It’s amazing and I’ll be a subscriber for life!

by Ukecampergal

I have never played a stringed instrument...haven’t played any instrument, since high school and I am 61 now...

UkuleleTunerLessons has helped me learn the different strumming patterns, play chords...and many great tunes...of which some are current hits...So worth the money for the annual fee.

Just wish you could also get UkuleleTunerLessons on a Microsoft based notebook or tablet...several friends want to get this but don’t have an iOS based device...darn

by Eve13021

This is my first uke. I’ve tired guitar here and there years ago but need stuck with it because I didn’t have consistent instruction. The kala app keeps my uke and tune and there are plenty of songs to learn easily- with chord and strum overview. Additionally the ability to adjust the tempo of the play along song makes it fool proof. Finally I love that UkuleleTunerLessons hears what I’m playing and scores how well I did- it keeps me motivated :)

by Swmorrisus

I started learning to play the ukulele a couple of months ago and I have really enjoyed UkuleleTunerLessons and have already signed up for the subscription. UkuleleTunerLessons is easy to navigate, simple to follow and packed with information. The only thing I would like to see is the ability to scroll through the tab to get a feel for the songs before starting they streaming play along. Great job!