How many ukulele chords

Something seasoned musicians might find odd about the uke is that its bottom G string is tuned an octave higher than expected. Purchasing a cheap knockoff will just leave you frustrated. If possible, check out some ukuleles from a local music store so you can hold and play a few different ukes before making a decision.

This chart is a visual aid that describes how accidentals, or sharps and flats, are added to each key signature in music. The key of C major at the top of the circle has no sharps or flats. All of the keys you see here are major ones, but each key comes with its own parallel minor which is found a minor 3rd 3 half-steps lower than the major.

There are three types of basic chords found in major and minor keys: major, minor, and diminished. These chords are built off of the root, which is the note name of the chord. Thanks Sal. What I mean is to take your index finger and barre the bottom three strings on the 2nd fret. Then, place your middle finger on the 3rd fret of the E string. That position might work better for your fingers. Just one small question — what do I do with my thumb?

Is it supposed to always be on upper back of the neck to provide support for the pressure my fingers are giving? Some times it just seems that it makes to so hard for my fingers to make it all around the neck to the top strong.

Yes, like most it seems — I have small hands. In the video sometimes it seems your thumb is not part of the grip at all. The best spot for your thumb to be is to put the ball of your thumb right on the back of the neck of the ukulele. For one, this allows you to get some good pressure on the neck so you can press down on your chords well. For some chords, you might even have to position the ball of your thumb on the lower side of the neck so you can reach with your fingers to the top string.

Hi Brett Barring the chord is working out well. Any tip on getting better control of the neck? Is it my thumb position putting pressure on the neck? Thanks ……learning is much easier with all the lessons,tips etc. This allows you to grip chords well so all the strings ring out clearly. This allows the neck to be supported and stabilized. For most chords, I find that I am still able to fret them this way. For some barre chords, I will sometimes have to adjust back to having the ball of my thumb applying pressure, but by default, I like to let the neck rest in the V of my fingers.

But I can also play upside down using a right handed ukulele. That is how I first started to play but seldom do that any more. I bought it early today and already learned so much from this site!

Hi Brett, you are a phenomenal teacher. Clearly, you love the uke and have a passion for helping people. I especially appreciate your help with reading music. Anyway, my question is, how can a baritone uke player I just got one last week take advantage of your phenomenal chord resources? My strings are tuned to DGBE. Many thanks. Hey PC, thanks for your comment.

My chord resources are tailored towards ukuleles tuned to standard tuning. A baritone ukulele is tuned like the bottom four strings of the guitar. The best thing would be to look up guitar chords and pay attention to the fingering for just the bottom four strings.

I hope to in the future. Hey Julie, are you talking about wrapping your thumb over the 2nd fret on the ukulele to barre the top three strings? Hi Brett, Making slow progress. I did notice some confusion in the fingering discussion for G Major as outlined in lesson 4 and 11 must know ukulele cords.

I believe the correct description is in lesson 4. Good catch, Gerad. It should be correct now. Thank you! Let me know how this works for you. Your videos are really fantastic. So glad i found your site! None that I can think of right now. There is some great material in the comments section that I think you could benefit from as well.

As always, feel free to post any questions. This website is fantastic! I am just a beginner and this site is really helping me! I am learning and this site seems to be good for both beginners and intermediate players. Good reinforcement of the basics which is key to good playing of any insturment.

Hey, thank you so much for these great videos and tutorials. They truly do help. Usually, it can be a finger that is accidentally muting a string and I just need to move my finger over.

For example, some folks find it easier to barre the bottom three strings on the 2nd fret with your index finger and use your middle finger on the 3rd fret of the second to bottom string to play a G major chord.

Isolating the problem and then experimenting is one of the best ways to figure out a better way to play it. Patience is also important too because it takes time for your fingers to get used to where they should go for certain chords. I do wish you had a quick PDF download of this.

Hey Jadon, have you tried my ukulele lesson book in the sidebar? I recommend that as a great starting place. I am having trouble with these chords shown. There is only two. B minor, and D major. Can somone help me? And go easy with it, because, I am just a beginner. For B minor, use your index finger to barre hold down all four strings on the 2nd fret.

This requires a bit of strength and some stretching so give yourself time. For D major, I like to use my middle finger to barre the top three strings on the 2nd fret, while letting the bottom string ring open.

Alternatively, place your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the top string, ring finger on the 2nd fret of the second to top string, and your little finger on the 2nd fret of the second to bottom string.

Great site. I got your free ebook. Do you have any other beginner songs in the format you did twinkle twinkle. I find it easy to follow.

Or do you have any instruction on reading ukulele sheet music? For beginners. I bought my uke a few days ago only. Thanks, Madhava. I am very confused. Can you tell me why the picture of the Uke with the dots on which strings to cover is upside down from what we are actually supposed to do. For instance, to play C major, we are told to use our ring finger to hold down the bottom string on the 3rd fret. However, the picture has the dot on the top string 3 fret.

I have been trying to learn to play on my own and to make things even more difficult I am playing left handed. Can you help me wrap my brain around this so I can then figure out how to wrap my brain around playing left handed in a right handed world. Thanks for all your help. You are really great! Hi Mary, this is a great question. Try to imagine the fretboard diagrams as if you are holding the ukulele normally and looking over and down at the fretboard.

In this way, the top string in the diagrams is the bottom string of the ukulele and the bottom string in the diagrams is the top string of the ukulele. This is great! The lessons are well explained and i love it. Learnt some thing from your lessons and they were pretty effective. Keep up the good work! Thank you for sharing this knowledg with everyone and teaching the newbies. I was in a ukelele band at school 40yrs ago.

I have decided to start playing again so was googling for uke advice and found your site. Enjoying reading stuff then clicked onto cord positons. OMW I will have to start learning all over again! Our teacher used to write the music for us, tunes I remember were Five foot Two, Kum Ba Ya, Aura Lee, Leaning on the lampost, alexander rag time band substitued to Breakfield Childrens Band , do you think he made the cords up or what???

Hey Shirley, great questions! The same common chords, such as G, D7, C, etc. I recommend checking out the chord library as well, to see different ways to play common chords:. I compared each chord with the corresponding note on the piano and it sounded about equal.

Are the two instruments supposed to sound the same? Hi Julia, the chords between a ukulele and piano should sound the same in terms of pitch that is if the ukulele is tuned to the piano.

Does this answer your question? Brett, thank you! Gave up trying the guitar a while ago, begged the universe for a ukelele, and it finally came to fruition. I also find my finger alignment to be out of sorts, your video was extremely helpful, 11 all the better. Hey Paige, definitely shoot me an email when your EP is finished.

How am i supposed to know what to do? Hi Charlie, the perspective of the chord diagrams is as if you are holding the ukulele and looking over the neck down at the fretboard. In this way, the top line in the ukulele diagrams is the bottom string of the ukulele and vice versa. Please let me know if I can help answer any other questions. I need help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cool website dude. I just bought me a new ukelele today and picked up the chords easyaz following your instructions. Shot Bro!! I was just wondering what strings you have on your uke? I bought my first ukulele yesterday and it has Nylon strings.

Thank you Brett! Your site is beautiful I found your site when I started with mi uke and I learn very good from this site! My fingers absolutely will not bend in the right way for B minor and E major. Hi Brett, thanks for this information..

I actualy learned 7 of the 11 chords on this page in about an hour! I cant wait to actually play a song. Thanks sooooooo much for this website. Keep up the good work.

Hi Brett, Wish you a very happy new year. I just wanna tell you that its really a great stuff that you have on this site. I really got a lot outta this and I feel I have improved a lot and I used your chords for the Christmas carols.

Loads of thanks. God bless you. I have trouble with B minor— I have a really small hand and I have trouble stretching to the 4th fret and barring with my other finger on the second fret. Hi JustMe, what finger are you using to reach the 4th fret of the top string? Then, use your little finger to fret the 4th fret of the top string. Oh, thanks! Thanks again for al the tips and everything.

These were very helpful! I just started playing about a month ago i gotta say, what a fantastic instrument! I just wanted to say thank you for having such a wonderful resource and website to learn. I just started ukulele today and I already know a ton of chords!!! Thanks for the site and the instructions.

Either my fingers are too big, or my uke is too small. Sorry to sound so dumb. But when I practice my chords I have my tuner clipped on and all of the major chords ring true. I appear to be hitting all positioning correctly. Looking closer and trying harder it D minor is showing as F and E minor is showing as F. What you think?

As a review, this is made by putting your ring finger on the first, or the A string at the third fret. In shorthand the C chord would be This means that strings G, C and E are not fretted, but A is fretted at fret 3. Another example is the C7 chord, which you make by putting your finger on the bottom or the A string at the first fret.

In shorthand, C7 would then be Shorthand chord names are a good way to remember where a chord is fretted but you still have to determine which finger to use for fretting. Muscle memory takes time to develop, especially in beginners hold an instrument for the first time. To track your progress and motivate you to keep playing, keep a daily practice log.

If you can, record a video of yourself playing every day. Good posture also prevents unnecessary strain in your muscles and joints. Practice chords using a metronome a physical one, an online metronome or a mobile app.

Start with a slow pace then increase the speed or tempo steadily as you become more adept at playing chords. For instance, play the F chord at 65 beats per minute BPM for 1 minute, then take second break, then play the chord again. Repeat this twice before moving to the next chord. If the song your want to learn plays at 85 BPM, start with a slower pace and build up until you are playing the song at 85 BPM.

When making chord transitions, it would help if you anticipate the next chord and prepare your fingers by hovering them over the strings they should fret. When you play it, only your ring finger is fretting, leaving your index and middle fingers free. When you need to transition to an F chord from a C chord, you can prepare your index and middle fingers by hovering them over the strings they need to fret E string at the first fret, G string at the second fret.

To help you get used to playing, include finger exercises as part of your daily practice to increase the reach of your fingers and let you play faster and longer. Ukulele strumming patterns consist of various combinations of up strums and down strums. Strumming is another aspect of ukulele playing that can impact the sound and feel of a song, so practice different strumming patterns too.

Remember to strum with your wrist and not with your arm because moving your arm up and down repeatedly will tire you out quickly. Allow your brain and finger muscles time to record your motor activity and make it easier for you to come back to the movement easily without that much conscious effort. This goes not only for making chords but for strumming as well. This will help improve your strumming and keep the right timing while allowing you to get used to using your vocals.

Another thing to love about the ukulele is that it gives off a relaxed and chill vibe. The verses are: G-G-D-G each chord gets 8 beats. The format of this song is verse, chorus, verse, chorus, chorus.

The verse and chorus of this song are the same format. Once you have the format memorized, this is a great song to practice soloing on. This is based on The Drifters version of the song. The verse of the song is G-E-C-D. Each chord gets 8 beats.

The chorus is Em-C-G-D. This song can also be counted in half time using a bpm of The chord progression for the verses and bridge is listed below. This song is a little different from the rest of the songs on this list. The rhythm pattern for each chord is different. Meaning each chord is held for a different number of beats. You will have to listen to the words of the song and listen to when the chord changes along with each word.

Using a chord chart like one found on Ultimate Guitar would be very helpful. Looking for more uke tunes?

Here are 10 more easy ukulele practice songs for beginners. You can also look them up on a site like Ultimate Guitar , which shows where the chord changes occur relative to the lyrics of the song. With just a few easy ukulele chords, you can play a variety of tunes that sound great and are fun to sing along with. A few extra bonuses — the ukulele is affordable, portable, and has a warm, uplifting tone.

If you think the ukulele is only fit for breezy tropical tunes, think again. You can use a uke for virtually any song, especially those originally written for the guitar. They all use the same tuning, but the main difference is in body size tenor is the largest. Need some extra help mastering these ukulele chords and songs? Nothing beats working with a teacher one-on-one. Your uke teacher will give you a fun and engaging pathway to uke proficiency, so you can get a big sound out of this little instrument.

By taking online or in-person lessons with an experienced ukulele teacher, your skills will noticeably improve in a short period of time. Search for a ukulele teacher today! Jeff S. He is both a songwriter and performer, and has taught music business and songwriting at various universities and music schools. Learn more about Jeff S here! Search thousands of teachers for local and live, online lessons. Sign up for convenient, affordable private lessons today!

Photo by Victor Engmark. I am an older adult and I want to learn this instrument, but I am scared, because I do not know how to read music. Hi Sally! There are plenty of easy chords beginners can learn to play dozens of songs right away. You can take some of our online ukulele classes for free to get started! Hope that helps.