Confused on music theory

Yulies

Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2016
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Hi guys,
creating a D chord on my ukulele tuned DGBE .Music theory tells me to use the 1.3.5 degrees to create a chord. For. D chord it is D.F.A notes, this is where my confusion lays ,on the fret board when I finger the chord I am actually playing A.D.F#. The F note is a half a tone below on the first fret which is not the Dchord shape . What am I missing here guys any help appriciated. I am just learning music theory for fun so no great issues here .
Thanks
 
I don't know DGBE tuning, so I can't help you on the chord shape. But, I note that a D chord is D, F#, A. So, it appears you're playing it correctly.

Notes in D Major scale: D E F# G A B C#
 
Welcome to UU Yulies!
Baritone ukes traditional DGBE tuning is the same as guitar tuning for strings 1-4. That means you can apply guitar charts to your bari uke tuning. With both guitar and ukulele, and many stringed instruments, there will be many versions of any chord, which will include inverted patterns. A basic baritone D cord should be 0232 (4th string open, 3rd string 2nd fret, 2nd string 3rd fret, 1st string 2nd fret). Different keys will add sharps/ flats to your 1-3-5 formula as SeattleSean describes.
–Lori
 
Thank lori Seattle Sean so from your info ,the music theory I am trying to learn is not logic ,it differs from instrument to instrument. You see I thought once you learn the theory it can be applied to all instalments after all a C is a C note,
So maybe I need to delve a little deeper or just play the uke and enjoy the music . Mmmmm thanks guys
 
Hi guys,
creating a D chord on my ukulele tuned DGBE .Music theory tells me to use the 1.3.5 degrees to create a chord. For. D chord it is D.F.A notes, this is where my confusion lays ,on the fret board when I finger the chord I am actually playing A.D.F#. The F note is a half a tone below on the first fret which is not the Dchord shape . What am I missing here guys any help appriciated. I am just learning music theory for fun so no great issues here .
Thanks

The D Major chord IS the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes in the D Major scale... which is D, F# and A. You got a bit confused between the key of C Major and D Major.

Quick primer....

A chord consists of three notes (or more). You can think of them as "stacking" major and/or minor thirds on top of the root note. Let me explain:

In the key of C Major, you have seven notes - C,D,E,F,G,A,B (no sharps, no flats). If we want to make a chord with C as the root, we stack E and G on top of C to get a C Major triad (C,E,G). E is a "third" above C, and G is a "third" above E... but here comes the interesting part. E is FOUR half tones above C, while G is only THREE halftones above E. Four half tones up is called a major third, while three up is a minor third.

You can stack major and/or minor thirds in various combinations to give you different types of chords:

1. A major third followed by a minor third gives you a major chord.
2. A minor third followed by a major third gives a minor chord
3. A major third followed by another major third gives you an augmented chord
4. A minor third followed by another minor third gives a diminished chord

if you stack another third on there, you get the various 7th chords... again you get 9ths, etch, etc.

It's like musical Legos, and not as complicated as some would have you believe.

I hope this rambling post is helpful.
 
A major chord is composed of the first note of the major scale (D) the third note of the major scale (F#) and the fifth note of the major scale (A). All major chords follow the same formula. So C Major is C (I) E (III) G (V).

Got it? Good. :eek:ld:
 
the music theory I am trying to learn is not logic ,it differs from instrument to instrument.
Nope. It does not differ, in fact it is the very same. On that level, music is like math.

Maybe it helps (in addition to the posts above) to keep in mind that the whole octave consists of 12 semitones(*); a major scale steps 2-2-2-1-2-2-2-1 (2 semitones from root to 1st, another 2 semitones to 2nd, another 2 semitones to 3rd, only one semitone to 4th, ...)

The degrees 1-3-5 are not full tones (nor only white keys on a piano keyboard) from root but rather 1st-3rd-5th note of the respective scale.

C major scale: C D E-F G A B-C
D major scale: D E F#-G A B C#-D
etc. (half steps indicated by -)

* e.g. C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C
 
Very good thread y'all. I'm studying music theory too. Lots of this is familiar.
 
If you are playing Baritone, and playing the D shape, your notes would be:

DADF# (0232)

By definition, this is a D Major Chord, which is spelled in root position as DF#A

In "pure" music theory, having the highest note as the 3rd of the chord could be an issue in authentic cadences--but that isn't usually much of an issue on ukuele.

You can also play a d minor chord on the Baritone ukulele:

DADF (0231)

In root position, that would be DFA

You could also make a D diminished triad:

DAbDF (0131)

Or even a D augmented triad:

DA#DF# (0332)

By definition, all of these are D chords of some type.

Thanks for asking the question--I had to take down my Baritone ukulele and walk through the fingerings and chords!

Chris
 
First of all thanks for all your input guys very ,very helpful , after analysing your info it seems I was in the right ball park but playing the wrong game. This was how I was trying to work it out the scale for 1.3.5 chord ...D D#E F F# G G# A A# B C C# so from this I got D E F# this ,I think ,is where the confusion is
So thanks again guys
 
The major scale is a combination of seven different notes in a specific sequence. Music majors talk about this in terms of half steps and whole steps. Between an octave (e.g. C to C) there are 12 distinct half-steps in Western music (this is important to note, as some cultures share other scale tones).

Every major scale is spelled this way: WWHWWWH (the space between the notes, W=whole step, H=half step).

When I have taught music theory to guitarists, they have always felt it useful to think of the scale in terms of frets...each fret is a half step.

So in the key of C, there are half steps between E and F and B and C...Thus the major scale of CDEFGABC(C repeated at the octave)

D Major, as noted in the thread is spelled:

DEF#GABC#D, moving the two half steps between F# and G, and C# and D. Those half steps occur in the same (relative) place in every major scale, regardless of the starting pitch (between the 3rd & 4th steps, and between the 7th step and repeated "tonic" or home note).

So your understanding of theory in terms of major scales was pretty close...and I'm pretty sure you have it now.
 
Every major scale is spelled this way: WWHWWWH (the space between the notes, W=whole step, H=half step).

A good memory aid for this is that the sequence is made up of two WWH sequence separated by a W interval: WWH W WWH.
 
Top Bottom