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Close friends and family members know that I love to tidy. I read organizing books for fun, I enjoy cleaning out closets, and I get energized by finding new homes for the things my family no longer needs or uses. An organized life makes for an easier life, and an organized music system makes for easier playing. There’s nothing more annoying that trying to find a lost song sheet or not being able to find your beginner’s handbook!

Make playing your ukulele easier by taking a little time to organize your materials with these tips for organizing your printed chord sheets, songbooks, and digital files…

After inheriting a special set of music from a neighbor, I put the delicate papers into sheet protectors and re-homed them in a new binder.

Keeping your songbooks easily accessible in a magazine holder = more playing time.

How to Organize Chord Sheets and Song Printouts

My favorite way to store printouts and individual song sheets is to slide them into sheet protectors and put them in a three-ring binder. I use binders to organize all kinds of things, for work and home, but my happiest binders are my music binders. It’s a practical way to keep all of my songs in one place, and the sheet protectors keep favorites from getting tattered and torn. I create custom cover pages for the binders using canva.com, and tomorrow I’ll be sharing a few designs as free downloads!

How to Organize Songbooks

Ukulele songbooks are often petite in size, making them easy to lose on a crowded bookshelf. Increase their presence by grouping them together in a magazine holder. It’s nice to have all of your songbooks in one place, and it’s easier to find the book you’re looking for when your collection is contained. If your songbook library is extensive, buy a set of holders and categorize your books by genre, difficulty level, or artist (or however it makes sense to you).

How to Organize PDFs and Digital Downloads

Keep all of your PDFs in one place… and I don’t mean your Downloads folder! Move them all into one master folder, using sub-folders if need be. Rename your files, too, so that they’re easy to find. You could organize by song title, artist, online source, difficulty level, or however it makes the most sense to you. Once you have a system, make sure your files are getting backed up into the cloud (or keep your files in Google Drive). In the event of a digital catastrophe, you may lose your tablet or laptop but at least you’ll have your music.