One finger chords for ukulele

Subject: RE: One finger chords for ukulele
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Jan 14 - 08:14 PM

Correction regarding the names for those chords. My mind was wandering.

They're for using in the key of G, not D as I said. In fact the first (finger on second fret of C string) is the one to use for G ( it's not actually a chord but a dyad, since its only got two notes.)

The one with the finger on the D string is a C chord.

And the one with the finger on the G string is a sort of depleted D7.

But they work well enough for songs, whatever you call them.

Subject: One finger chords for ukulele
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Jan 14 - 08:51 AM

Lots of ukulele's around this Christmas in the hands of kids (and others) who haven"t a clue about playing them.

Even the simplest chords can put people off getting into playing, so making it really simple to start with makes sense.

So if you switch the tuning a little you can get a perfectly usable three chords set that require only one finger.

The standard tuning for a uke is GCEA. So if you tune down the higher strings a tone to make it GCDG you've got the equivalent of DADGAD on a guitar.

One finger on second fret of C string, that's a D chord. One finger on second fret of E string, that's your G chord. One finger on the top G string and it's an A7 ( well you really should finger the other G string as well, but it sounds OK enough.

It's fun even if the player doesn't need it simple. You can always do stuff like adding in the fourth or fifth frets as required to vary the sound a little.

Incidentally, why is it that while the convention is to number strings in one direction it's also the convention to spell them out in the opposite direction?