Yousician - mini review of application for learning ukulele and other instruments

Yousician is application from Finland for learning ukulele, guitar, bass guitar or piano playing.

There are versions available for Windows on PC or Android and iOs (smathphones, tables). There was also version for Linux, unfortunately recently they stopped supporting it. For using the app you have to register on their pages. Basic free variant works with daily lesson time limited to about 15mins. The app does not work without Internet connectivity. It can be used with tyhe same account on more devices.

For the learning the app prepares a daily lesson, which usually includes some songs from last time, a new exercise and then some songs, sometimes also instructional video. Then you can also find songs for practice in database, with difficulty marked. The ukulele lessons are about both chords and melody and are structured into several difficulty levels, which unlock as you handle the previous level.

Samotné cvičení či hraní funguje pro ukulele tak, že aplikace vám zobrazuje pohyblivou tabulaturu s čísly pražců které máte použít, navíc s barevným vyznačením doporučených prstů. Přitom poslouchá mikrofonem co hrajete a rozpoznává tóny či akordy, u některých cvičení pak přímo přehrávání pozastaví dokud nezahrajete správně, nebo u písniček sice nezastaví ale barvně označuje co jste trefili správně zelenou barvou a také ukazuje zda jste zahráli brzo, akorát nebo pozdě. Je možné si zpomalit rychlost, nebo ji může sám upravovat podle toho kolik děláte chyb. Je také možné vybrat si jen část skladby a tu cvičit dokola. Zobrazení je také možné přepnout na notový zápis místo tabulatury. (Pro představu jak to vypadá v praxi stačí zadat „yousician“ na youtube, je tam hromada videí).

If you pay for one of the premium options, the app will not limit your daily lesson time to about 15min. You can select one or all insttruments for the premium, monthly (more costly) or year subscription. But I suggest first trying the basic free option thoroughly, for ukulele the lessons and songs amount is not so huge (in comparison to guitar or piano). You can also try premium for free for one week, but beware - if you not cancel it, it automatically starts and charges from you card the yearly subscription after the week.

The tone recognition has sometimes problem with G string, if you are using low G. Supported is only standard GCEA tuning. If your uku has a pickup (electro-acoustic or electric uku), it seems better to connect it directly instead of using microphone, the app then recognizes tones better and does not hear itself.

There is a discussion forum on the app pages for solving problems, but it doesn't look like the app developers pay attention to it.

Generally the app is not bad, but I would recommend it more like supplement, not replacement of lessons with human teacher.