2 Best Ukulele Songbooks – The Votes Are In!

Last week, I asked everyone to suggest their favorite uke SONGBOOKS.

My plan was to write a big long article about the best songbooks available, but I haven’t had time for that — and I don’t want to leave you hanging!

So, here’s a very brief summary of what I heard, from about 150 responses:

Surprise Number 1:

A lot of people mentioned ONLINE songbooks (as opposed to physical, paper ones). I hadn’t even thought of that when I posed the question.

In fact, it was almost 50% — which I simply did not expect!

That said, there were a huge number of DIFFERENT online songbooks mentioned. Eking out a VERY slight majority was:

Jim’s Ukulele and Guitar Songbook: https://ozbcoz.com/

I concur that for quick look-up and for the convenience of being able to change keys on songs, change chords, even words — all adds up to a slick and handy package.

“Jim” seems very open to making corrections if you report them, but do beware of the many mistakes the linger in the songs, and don’t take everything at face value. 

NON-SURPRISE NUMBER 1:

The other 50% of the votes went for traditional paper ukulele songbooks, and LOOMING over the competition was Jumpin’ Jim’s Play It Daily Ukulele Songbooks, Volumes I and II (Leap Year edition).

Not only are the books vast, covering many eras and genres, but the songs have been arranged in uke friendly arrangements, and unlike most online “chords and lyrics” songs you’ll find, these include melody in standard notation, which is great for those who like to work the tune in to their tunes.

PS: If you really prefer a digital songbook, these are available as Kindle and PDF files, too.)

SHOCKING CONCLUSION

It seems like you can’t go wrong if you pick a song collection from someone named “Jim.”

Focused on the fun,

PS: Have you see our other posts on Ukulelele Books?