Guitar tabs for uke?

EddiePlaysBass

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Hi gang,

Perhaps a silly question but ... If you want to play a song on the uke, and you have some guitar chords handy, can you simply use those?

What I do not mean is the guitar chord shapes! I know a guitar D chords looks the same as a uke G chord. What I mean is: guitar tab says "Bm" so on the uke I play a Bm chord.

Thanks!

D.
 
You can definitely use the same chords. However because of where those chords are on a uke compared to a guitar, the progression might not sound the way you think. So to get the same type of melody (ie, the chords and notes going higher and lower in the same way as the original) you can do two things:

1) Find a chord sheet on Ultimate Guitar. Use the transposing feature to bump it up 5 half-steps. This will automatically change the chords on the sheet, but the progression will be the same and when you play it on the uke the positions of the chords will be fairly similar as well. Especially useful if the song you're playing is in E and you haven't mastered the chord yet. But bear in mind this will change the key of the song and if you're jamming with someone else or singing along you'll need to adjust for that.

2) Find out the other positions for the chords you need up and down the fretboard and play around with playing those chords to get the feel you want. You'll still be playing the original chords from the chord sheet, but you'll either be able to put a different feel to it or get closer to the original than you would in the first position.

An alternative third option:

Just play the chords as they appear and say it's a unique take on the song!
 
An alternative third option:

Just play the chords as they appear and say it's a unique take on the song!
It certainly will be unique depending on the uke's tuning. Low vs high G and/or C; on my 6-string, the C doubled an octave up and the A doubled an octave down; an 8-string with the lower courses doubled an octave up. Strumming chords, all these give varied flavors; picking distinct (counter)melodic lines, the notes could go anywhere. Call it jazz, or maybe hocket, hey? Think of the Balinese Ramayana Monkey Chant on uke. :D Then there's my banjo-uke, tuned standard. I finger-pick fast, fretting chords mostly on the top 3 strings and letting the high-G ring like a big banjo's 5th string (but it's easier to fret as needed).

Think of any tab chart as a jumping-off point for musical exploration. Like Korzybski said, the map is not the territory.
 
I use them all the time. I get a lot of songs off of ultimateguitar.com.
 
I've just been working on a song using chords from a version published on the internet for guitar. I firstly found it was too high to sing so I transposed it down a tone, but then found the chords just didn't sound 'right' so I transposed it down another tone where it sounds a lot better and the chords are easier to play too. I can put a capo on 2nd fret (or tune the ukulele up a tone ADF#B instead of GCEA) to bring it back up to nearer the original key. Some songs just work ok "out of the box" but others do need a fair bit of fiddling with to get them playing and sounding ok on the ukulele.

Of course the chords for some songs are just really badly written in the first place - be prepared to tinker with them or just discard the version you're working with and look for another one. Usually songs from the music publishers (for example on www.musicnotes.com) have the better arrangements than those submitted to song-sharing websites, but even the paid-for music publishers sometimes sell awful arrangements (you usually, but not always, get what you pay for).

The more different songs you play, the more you will get a feel for what chords are going to sound nice in any song you're working on.
 
The more different songs you play, the more you will get a feel for what chords are going to sound nice in any song you're working on.
Quite true.

I learned guitar from songbooks (actual paper!) with chord diagrams and names over the staff and lyrics. Those diagrams often showed only the basic chord for that passage, not any definite fingering, so I drew-in diagrams for that. Or if the music was in an unsuitable key (so many seem to be scored for brass or reeds, not guitar) I wrote in my transpositions.

OP could take a similar approach re: adapting for uke. If the score's diagrammed chords are usable, write-in the transposed names; if not, transpose and draw your own chord diagrams and fingering tabs as needed.
 
Quite true.

I learned guitar from songbooks (actual paper!) with chord diagrams and names over the staff and lyrics. Those diagrams often showed only the basic chord for that passage, not any definite fingering, so I drew-in diagrams for that. Or if the music was in an unsuitable key (so many seem to be scored for brass or reeds, not guitar) I wrote in my transpositions.

OP could take a similar approach re: adapting for uke. If the score's diagrammed chords are usable, write-in the transposed names; if not, transpose and draw your own chord diagrams and fingering tabs as needed.
Learning how to do all those things in itself makes one a better ukulele player.
 
I've just been working on a song using chords from a version published on the internet for guitar. I firstly found it was too high to sing so I transposed it down a tone, but then found the chords just didn't sound 'right' so I transposed it down another tone where it sounds a lot better and the chords are easier to play too. I can put a capo on 2nd fret (or tune the ukulele up a tone ADF#B instead of GCEA) to bring it back up to nearer the original key. Some songs just work ok "out of the box" but others do need a fair bit of fiddling with to get them playing and sounding ok on the ukulele...

There are two separate issues here. The first is finding a key that is comfortable for you to sing in. That should be the first thing you do. If the given chords on the site mean you are singing too high or too low, then you need to transpose to find a key that's comfortable to sing in. In that respect, the chords may not be wrong; just in the wrong key for you.

The other issue is about chord voicing. That need not involve changing key or even particular chords just finding a version of the chord that sounds better to you. Using different tunings or a capo is one way of achieving that. Another way is to use moveable chord shapes. I tend to prefer using different tunings and I have ukes tuned in four different keys. Others, especially those who play jazz prefer the moveable shapes approach. Both are correct, it's a matter of personal preference.
 
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