Ukulele Chords: Learn To Play Chord Changes

Ukulele is a great instrument to use when you play chords to songs. Your chord playing on your ukulele can be more effective if you apply a few guitar playing principles. In this ukulele lesson you will find out how you can change between chords better and easier!

First a few easy to follow principles as you play any chord:

1. Fingerings. The left hand fingers you use as you play chords can make chord changes easier or harder.

2. Minimize finger movements. Try to take the shortest distance between two frets if you have to move a finger to change chords.

3. Keep fingers down on frets that are shared between two chords.

Let us take a closer look at these principles:

Fingerings

As an example of the first principle we will take a look at two common ukulele chords. We will use the common C-tuning. In this tuning the C-major chord will look like this:

C-major: 04 03 02 31

The number pairs tell you how to put your fingers to play the chord. The first number in the pair tells you which fret to press down and the next number which string to play. The number 0 means that you will not press down any fret. For example 04 means play the fourth open string. The number pair 31 tells you to press down the third fret on the first string.

The strings are numbered from the string with the highest pitch. This string is called the first string and is the bottom string when you play your ukulele.

In the C-major chord written out above you can see that there is only one fret to press down. This makes for many fingering alternatives. The easiest way to finger this C-chord is of course to use your index finger. But let us look at the next chord to play, G7, to see if there is another way to finger the C-chord. Here is the G7 chord:

G7: 04 23 12 21

The most common fingering for this chord is using the ring finger for the first string, the index finger for the second string and the middle finger for the third string. Try it out and see if it is this way you have played it.

A common chord progression is to move from C-major to G7. In order to make this chord change as smooth as possible I suggest that you use your ring finger to play the third fret on the first string in the C-major chord. When you move to G7 you simply slide your ring finger to the second fret and add the remaining two fingers and you have the G7 chord.

If you are going from G7 to C you only have to reverse the procedure.

Minimize finger movements

As an example of this principle we will use the chords A-minor and and F-major. Here you have these chords written out:

A-minor: 24 03 02 01

F-minor: 24 03 12 01

Suppose you have to move from Am to F. As you can see there is only one change to make between Am and F. The only thing to do is to put your index finger on the first fret on the second string and you will have the F chord. To make this chord change as smooth as possible you can keep your index finger as close as possible to this fret even when you play Am. This principle applies to other chord changes as well.

Keep fingers down on frets that are shared

In order to illustrate this principle we will use the chords F-major and G7. I have already showed the chords above so I just have to describe how to move your fingers. If you take a look at the two chords you will find that the first fret second string is shared by both chords. This fret is pressed down with your index finger.

As you move from F to G7 you only have to move your middle finger from fret two on the fourth string to fret two on the third string and press down fret two on string one with your ring finger and you are done!

Using the chords and principles we have already discussed you can practice the following sequence that is very common in many songs:

C Am F G7 C Am …and so on.

How to practice

The best way to practice chord changes in a song is to take two consecutive chords and practice them by strumming once on every chord as you move between them. Slowly at first, making it possible to apply the principles we have discussed. In a short time you will find that you automatically will use the right fingerings, minimize finger movements and you will also find that your playing will be more effective and enjoyable!

How do you play the D7 chord on the ukulele?

I am new to playing the ukulele and the book I have on how to learn it isn’t quite clear on a few things. The D7 is confusing to me, along with the D chord. If someone could please help me that would be lovely

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Using A Baritone Ukulele Chord Chart

A baritone ukulele chord chart is not something required only by beginners. In fact, very experienced players oftentimes use these charts. While there are some common chords that any player needs to be able to recall from memory, there are also some very rare chords that most people will not be able to fret without assistance. Some of the chords will simply be odd enharmonic representations of common chords, and others will simply be new chords which the player hasn’t had to employ in a song yet. They are very inexpensive and useful tools.

There are some things to which one must pay attention before they get frustrated trying to use a chord chart. For starters, there are two tunings commonly-employed for baritone ukuleles. One tuning is the standard ukulele tuning transposed to an octave suitable for a baritone instrument. The other is a standard guitar tuning, consisting of D-G-B-E, from the lowest-pitched string to the highest. Depending on one’s tuning, a chord chart may be very useful or totally useless. If the chords don’t sound right, check to make sure that the correct chord chart is being employed for the tuning used.

Sometimes, sheet music looks inordinately complicated and can make an inexperienced player question whether they could really move their fingers fast enough to play all the notes in a piece. Most composers, however, compose around chords. Using a baritone ukulele chord chart, a player can reduce complex melodies to simple chords and, thus, conserve their energy, while still increasing their accuracy and their faithfulness to the piece as it was originally written. Many experienced players use chord charts in this way as they make the process of learning a new piece much simpler. Watch out for chord names above melodic lines, as they are put there by the composer to facilitate easy play in this fashion.

A baritone ukulele chord chart, if it is written for the guitar tuning, will look familiar to anyone who plays that instrument. For a ukulele player, it will look familiar if one is accustomed to standard ukulele tuning. Either way, most individuals will generally be able to decode these charts very quickly. The preferred finger for each position indicated is usually given—1 is the index finger; 2 is the middle finger, 3 is the ring finger and 4 the pinky. This makes proper fretting very easy.

Finding a baritone ukulele chord chart is not hard. They are available from most dealers and come in many different varieties. There are versions which are included with instruction books and versions which are stand-alone products, oftentimes designed to be easily carried in the ukulele case. Some song books also contain them. If one happens to be purchasing a ukulele for a gift, this is a great item to include along with the instrument. Between the instrument, a tuner and a chord chart, the recipient can more or less pick up the instrument and start playing right away.

Ukulele Chords: Learn To Play Chord Progressions In The Key Of C

The ukulele is a very nice istrument to use as you sing your songs. It is also fun to use just to strum chords. Today you will learn some common chords and patterns in the key of C.

We will use an easy ukulele tab notation so you will not have to know sheet music. Tablature or tab notation shows you by numbers what string to play and what frets to press down.

The most obvious ukulele chord in the key of C is of course the C-major chord. Let’s take a look at it:

0/4 0/3 0/2 3/1

The digit before the slash indicates which fret to press down and the one after the slash what string to play. In other words 3/1 means: Press down the third fret on string one.

String one is the string with the highest pitch, the string nearest the floor when you hold your instrument the ordinary way. In order for my descriptions of the chords to be applicable to your ukulele it is to be tuned the ordinary way with the first string to an A.

You will now learn the chord F:

2/4 0/3 1/2 0/1

The best way to practice ukulele chords is to play them in a progression so you have to change chords. That is the difficult part of playing chords so we will start with a chord progression with the chords you have learned so far:

C / / / F / / / C / / / F / / /

An easy way to explain the previous notation is that you strum the C chord once when the C letter occurs and continue to strum the chord once for every slash that follows. In other words, strum four times on the C chord, four times on the F chord and then repeat the sequence.

The important thing is to strum with your right hand evenly not slowing down as you change chords. If you find this too difficult you can practice changing chords by strumming once on the chord C, then changing to F and strum once on that chord and continue changing chords strumming once on the chords.

You have to do this slowly at first so you don’t make a lot of mistakes. Making too many mistakes pressing down the chords will tend to slow down your progression by confusing your muscle memory.

The next ukulele chord will be G7:

0/4 2/3 1/2 2/1

Here’s a progression with these three chords:

C / / / F / / / G7 / / / C / / /

You will now learn a minor chord on your ukulele. It will be the A-minor chord:

2/4 0/3 0/2 0/1

The following chord progression can be used to play the first part of the old pop evergreen Diana with Paul Anka:

C / / / Am / / / F / / / G7 / / /

What about the fingers to use on your left hand?

The fingers on the left hand are usually numbered the following way:

Index: 1

Middle finger: 2

Ring finger: 3

Pinky: 4

The G7 chord fingering can be notated like this beginning with the fourth string:

0 2 1 3

The other chords as follows:

C: 0 0 0 3

F: 2 0 1 0

E: 2 0 0 0

The ordinary G chord can also be used in the key of C. It looks like this:

0/4 2/3 3/2 2/1 and the fingering like this 0 1 3 2

Here is a progression involving the G chord:

C / / / G / / / F / / / G / / /

Try to experiment and come up with your own combinations of chord progressions. At the same time you will learn to change chords and develop your ear and your musical abilities.

Ukulele Chords: Learn To Play Chord Progressions In C

Have you ever tried to play chords on an ukulele? Today I will show you how combine the most common chords to so called chord progressions that sound good.

The names of the chords we will play are dependent upon the tuning of the uke. In this ukulele lesson we will use the common tuning in C. This means that the first string of the ukukule is tuned to A. The first string of your uke is the bottom string when you play.

The second string is tuned to an E, the third string to C and the fourth string to G. All these notes can be found in the middle octave of a piano.

A chord progression consists of a series of chords played in a sequence. We will start with three common chords on ukulele. It will be the C-major chord, the F-major chord and the chord G7:

C: 04 03 02 31

F: 24 03 12 01

G7: 04 23 12 21

Every note to play in the chord is notated with two numbers. The first number tells you which fret to press down and the next number indicates the string. 31 for example means, press down the third fret on the first string. 04 means that you play the open fourth string, that is, without pressing down a fret.

The important skill when playing chords on an ukulele is to be able to change chords smoothly. To make it easier to change between chords i suggest the following:

1. Be careful how you finger the individual chords. For example, I suggest that you use your ring finger to press down the third fret of the chord C-major which will facilitate the movement from C to G7.

2. Take advantage of the fact that many chords share some notes. For example, when moving from F to G7 you can let your index finger remain on the first fret of the second string.

We will start to play an easy progression with the chords C and G7:

C / / / G7 / / / C / / / G7 / / /

To make it simple, strum once on every note name and then once using the same chord on every following slash.

When you move from the C chord to the G7 chord I suggest that you slide your left hand ring finger from the third to the second fret and then just add the index finger on the second string and middle finger on the third string. When you move back to the C chord again you just repeat this sequence the opposite way.

We will now add the F-major chord to make the following chord sequence:

C / / / G7 / / / F / / / G7 / / /

As you probably notice you you have the note 12 in common in the chords F and G7. That means that you can hold your index finger on this note as you change between the two chords making for a smoother chord change.

In the last chord sequence we will add the chord A-minor:

Am: 24 03 02 01

Here you have a very common chord progression:

C / Am / F / G7 / C / Am / F / G7 /

As you can see in this chord sequence you have one note in common in the A-minor chord and the F-major chord. I suggest that you keep your left hand middle finger down on the second fret on the fourth string as you move from Am to F.

As you learn the chords to a song on your ukulele it is very effective to practice the chord changes by concentrating on two chords at a time trying to move as effectively as possible between the chords.

Ukulele Tab: Play Chord Progressions In C-Major With Tablature

With your ukulele you can play many nice and fun chord progressions. You will use ukulele tablature so you don’t need to know sheet music.

The following chords presupposes that you have tuned your ukulele in the most common way with the first string with the highest pitch to an A.

We will first learn the two ukulele chords C-major and A7. In order to be able to show you how to play these chords I will present the ukulele tab notation I will use in this article.

Tablature is a form of notation that shows you how to put your fingers on your ukulele to play melodies and chords. The digit before the slash shows you which fret to play and the digit after the slash what string to play. Here is the C-major chord:

0/4 0/3 0/2 3/1

To clarify the before mentioned tab notation: 3/1 means that you press down the third fret on string one. I will also show you the fingerings for your left hand. The left hand fingers are usually numbered:

Index: 1

Middle finger: 2

Ring finger: 3

Pinky: 4

The fingering for the previous C chord is beginning with the fourth string: 0 0 0 3

Let’s start to strum on the ukulele with this chord:

C / / /

You can use your right hand thumb to strum the ukulele chord progressions or use a pick.

This chord notation means that you strum once on the C chord when you see the letter C and then once for every following slash. Time for the next chord A7:

0/4 1/3 0/2 0/1 and the fingering 0 1 0 0

Now you can create your first progression:

C / / / A7 / / /

Remember to strum with your right hand in an even pace even when you change chords. This can be difficult at first so you might need to concentrate on practicing the changing part before you can play the progression.

Well, I guess you feel that the progression is not complete. You will need two more ukulele chords. Let’s choose D7 and G7:

D7: 2/4 0/3 2/2 0/1 Fingering: 1 0 2 0

G7: 0/4 2/3 1/2 2/1 Fingering: 0 2 1 3

Now you can make a complete ukulele chord progression:

C / / / A7 / / / D7 / / / G7 / / /

The next ukulele chords you can use in the key of C are two minor chords, A-minor and D-minor:

Am: 2/4 0/3 0/2 0/1 Fingering: 2 0 0 0

Dm: 2/4 2/3 1/2 0/1 Fingering: 2 3 1 0

Remember to strum the chords in a slow even pace in order to feel the pulse. These progressions are turnarounds meaning that as you come to the end of the progression you can start all over again without stopping.

Here is the next ukulele chord progression:

C / / / Am / / / Dm / / / G7 / / / /

Now it’s time for you to learn the F-major chord:

F: 2/4 0/3 1/2 0/1 Fingering: 2 0 1 0

Now you can play the previous chord progression with a variation using the F chord:

C / / / Am / / / F / / / G7 / / / /

You will end this practice session by playing a diminished C chord and a little longer progression. Here is the C dim chord:

Cdim: 2/4 3/3 2/2 3/1 Fingering: 1 3 2 4

Time for the progression:

F / / / Cdim / / / C / / / A7 / / /

D7 / / / G7 / / / C / / / C / / /

Now it’s time for you to use these progressions to experiment with and create other combinations of chords. This will develop your ear, your musical ability and give you practice in the art of changing chords.

The Baritone Ukulele Chord Bible: DGBE Standard Tuning 2, 160 Chords

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The Baritone Ukulele Chord Bible: DGBE Standard Tuning 2, 160 Chords

Hal Leonard Baritone Ukulele Chord Finder

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Mandolin Banjo Ukulele Chord Rubber Stamp 5 Frets / With Black Ink Pad

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Ukulele Chords: Learn To Play Easy Chord Changes

It is very fun and mostly easy to play ukulele chords. Let’s take a look at some easy chord changes!

Before we delve to deeply into our ukulele chords let’s take a look at the tuning of your ukulele. The resulting names of the chords we play depends on how we tune the ukulele.

In this ukulele lesson I assume that you play a soprano ukulele and that you have tuned it in C.

What does C-tuning mean?

Let’s take a look at the piano keyboard to find out how to tune the ukulele.

C-tuning means that the third string on you ukulele is tuned to a C. If you use a piano when you tune your ukulele you will find these notes in the octave in the middle of the keyboard.

The notes in this most commonly used octave on the piano are called C4-B4. The number 4 indicate that the notes are on the fourth octave on an ordinary piano.

The first string on your ukulele will be tuned to an A4 as we call it. The next string will sound like the piano key E4. The third string will be the note C4. The fourth string will be the note G4.

Our first chord is C major. Let’s take a look at it:

C: 0/4 0/3 0/2 3/1

What type of notation is this?

This is a type of ukulele tab notation where we use numbers to indicate which fret to press down and on which string.

3/1 for example means: Press down fret 3 on string 1.

We will now proceed with the chord G major:

G: 0/4 2/3 3/2 2/1

As you can see this chord is the same chord as a D major on a guitar. A little bit confusing if you also play guitar but I guess you will get used to it.

The chord F major looks like this on your ukulele:

F: 2/4 0/3 1/2 0/1

Now we have three chords at our disposal and we can create our first ukulele chord progression:

C / / / G / / / F / / / G / / /

What does the slashes mean?

The most basic way to interpret this notation is:

Strum once on a chord name. Continue strumming on the same chord once for every slash!

Let’s add one more chord to make this progression a little bit more interesting. Here is G7:

G7: 0/4 2/3 1/2 2/1

Here is the progression:

C / / / G7 / / / F / / / G7 / / /

Before we end this ukulele lesson we will add just one more chord. Here is D minor:

Dm: 2/4 2/3 1/2 0/1

Here is the ukulele chord progression:

C / / / G7 / / / Dm / / / G7 / / /

To really learn to play chords on your ukulele it is important to play them together. The most difficult part is to change from one chord to another smoothly without slowing down the tempo.

Try practising playing two chords at a time. The actual training consists of changing between the chords.

This is a great way to rapidly learn to play the chords of any ukulele song!

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