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By Peter Edvinsson

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.

Peter Edvinsson invites you to download your free ukulele tablature, sheet music, ebooks, music lessons and read his sheet music blog at Capotasto Music.

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By Peter Edvinsson

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!

Peter Edvinsson at Capotasto Music invites you to download your free sheet music, ukulele tabs, ebooks, music lessons and read his music blog at http://www.capotastomusic.com

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By Peter Edvinsson

How can you be in tune with your ukulele? The ukulele is a fantastic little instrument with many possibilities. You can play chords and melodies on it but a requisite is that your ukulele is in tune. Let’s tune up!

The most common ukulele tuning is the standard C tuning.

It is of course preferable to use a tuner or piano or tuning fork in ukulele tuning but it is not necessary to tune exactly to the concert pitch if you don’t play with others.

You can tune the ukulele by ear, using the method outlined below.

The strings on the ukulele is numbered from the highest pitched string. When you hold your ukulele in playing position string number one will be the string nearest your feet.

Now I will show you some steps in ukulele tuning to get your ukulele in tune.

1. Tune your first string to an A or a pitch that sounds okey to you.

2. Press down a finger on the fifth fret on the second string. Tune the second string until the pressed down fret will have the same pitch as the first string.

3. Press down a finger on the fourth fret on the third string. Tune the third string until the pressed down fret will have the same pitch as the second string.

4. Press down a finger on the third fret on the second string. Tune the fourth string until it sounds the same as the pitch of your pressed down fret on the second string.

We can test if your ukulele is in tune by playing the first part of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

The first notes you will play are on the third string without pressing down any finger. I will use a form of ukulele tab with numbers.

The first number indicates the fret. The second number after the slash indicates which string to play:

0/3 0/3

This means: Play two notes on the open third string. Let’s play some more ukulele tab:

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

Let’s explain some of the numbers: 3/2 means press down the third fret on the second string and play the note. 0/1 means that you play the note on the open first string.

Let’s play one more part:

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

If this sounds like the beginning of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star you can be quite sure that your ukulele tuning is correct.

We haven’t used the fourth string in this melody but you can listen to the two notes 3/2 and 0/4. These two notes should have the same pitch if you have tuned the ukulele correctly.

Good luck with your ukulele tuning!

P.S. Why not try to find out the rest of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star by ear!

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and ukulele tab at http://www.capotastomusic.com

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http://EzineArticles.com/?Ukulele-Tab:-Ukulele-Tuning-For-Beginners&id=180344

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by Mary Nicole Hicks

The Ukulele is not hard to play from a technical perspective, but it is hard to learn. Ukuleles are not a very common instrument, so you will not always be able to find a teacher or someone else to play together with. This means that you will have to learn it yourself and that will slow you down. I hope that the following tips can help you on your way.

Learn how to turn a Ukulele. It is important to have your ukulele in tune. If you want to have other people listening to you or want to sound good, being in tune is very important. Bad tuning can make even the best players sound bad, so it is important to get it right. There are many way to help check your tuning; Digital tuners, pitch pipes, or just using your ears all work, you just need to pick a method that suits you.

Buy only the best quality Ukuleles. The top quality ones do not cost a lot and it is worth spending. They will say in tune longer, will be easier to tune and will sound better.

As you Ukulele is so small, it is important that you hold it correctly. Make sure that as little of your body is touching the Ukulele as possible. The more of your body that is touching, the more smothered the Ukulele will sound.

There are so many great songs that only require 3 chords to be able to play. Start learning the chords C, F and G and you will be able to play all these songs.

Most of all you need to enjoy playing, There is no point putting in all the effort and time to learn if you are not going to enjoy playing. Have fun.

About the Author

Written by Mary Nicole Hicks. Read her latest article “Origin of the Ukulele” at http://www.musicguidebook.com/articles/origin-of-the-ukulele. You can reprint this article as long as you link to http://www.musicguidebook.com

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