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.