Free from the shop · no signup walls · no ads
Free music tools
Ten years of teaching people to play in Hilo, folded into tools that run right in your browser. Learn a chord, tune up, play your first song. All free, because getting you playing is the whole point of this shop.
The flagship · about 20 minutes
Play your first songtoday.
Pick ukulele or guitar. Learn three chords you can hear and see. Practice the switch, then play a whole song with a beat behind you and a coach in your corner.
TICKET NO. 001 · ADMIT ONE BEGINNER
Three chords. One song.
Reference · tap to hear
The chord library
Every beginner chord for uke and guitar with finger numbers, difficulty tags, real sound, and the order we teach them in at the shop.
Utility · uses your mic
The tuner
A real chromatic tuner in your browser, tuned for guitar and ukulele, with reference tones for every string when you would rather tune by ear.
Song lessons · chords only, zero lyrics reprinted
The songbook
Step-by-step chord charts for songs worth knowing, from Queen Liliʻuokalani's Aloha ʻOe to Kolohe Kai's Ehu Girl and the campfire standards. Each one links its chords straight into the library.
Tonight's setlist
- Aloha ʻOeQueen Liliʻuokalani · 3 chords
- Ehu GirlKolohe Kai · island reggae, 5 chords
- Kaimana HilaHawaiian standard · the classic vamp
- On the Beach at WaikikiHenry Kailimai · the 1915 hit
- Oh! SusannaStephen Foster · 3 chords
- House of the Rising SunAmerican folk · 5 chords
And more. Every lesson: chords, strum pattern, story, no lyrics.
The honest part
No uke or guitar yet?
These tools are free forever, no signup, and we mean that. But a screen can only take you so far. Come in and play a few. New and used ukuleles, guitars and basses on the wall, and a crew that will put the right one in your hands. Nobody rushes you.
Already have your instrument and want a real teacher watching your hands? Lessons run seven days a week at the shop.