Which key is easy to play?

zztush

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Thank you very much for the tips and suggestions in previous thread about E chord. Some friends suggested alternative finger positions. Others suggested other tunings or ways of practice. The others suggested to transpose to other keys. Especially transpose key is the easiest way and fastest way to fix this problem for me.

Then I want to think which key is easy to play on our ukulele in terms of our fretboard and tuning. Ukuleles belongs to the group of instruments that can be said to be tuned in 4ths same as guitars. That is to say, with the notes of a linear tuning in 4-step intervals (red lines in the figure below).

View attachment 94228

We have 4 fingers, 4-step intervals is very good, we can play a scale along with holizontal finger
moves without vertical move on the fretboard. We don't need to play 5th fret, because 5th fret is
same as next open string. There is only 3-step interval (green line in the figure above) between
2nd and 3rd strings. Why? Because it gives us no semi tone on the open string.

C, G and F major scales include our G,C,E and A tones (green circles in the figure below). On the contrary D major scale doesn't have C tone. Hence C/Am, F/Dm and G/Em keys take advantage of ukulele's open strings. We can play diatonic chords on these keys easier than any other keys.

View attachment 94229

Let's transpose keys to C/Am, F/Dm and G/Em!
 
I'm so glad you appear to understand Music Theory and can figure these things out.

For me, and for my students, I just teach them 5 basic keys and some of the more
useful chords that go with them, utilizing my Ukulele Boot Camp Practice Sheets.

Tonight, my uke class will be venturing forth into the key of G, having already been
introduced to the keys of C and F. (keys of A and D in the coming 2 weeks :) )

I teach these 5 keys because they seem to appear in the various songbooks available
to us ukulele players, and so that if they want to learn to transpose individual songs
so that they match their vocal ranges, they'll have these 5 keys in their 'bag' so to speak :)

keep uke'in',
 
I'm so glad you appear to understand Music Theory and can figure these things out.

For me, and for my students, I just teach them 5 basic keys and some of the more
useful chords that go with them, utilizing my Ukulele Boot Camp Practice Sheets.

Tonight, my uke class will be venturing forth into the key of G, having already been
introduced to the keys of C and F. (keys of A and D in the coming 2 weeks :) )

I teach these 5 keys because they seem to appear in the various songbooks available
to us ukulele players, and so that if they want to learn to transpose individual songs
so that they match their vocal ranges, they'll have these 5 keys in their 'bag' so to speak :)

keep uke'in',

Way ta go, Uncle Rod. That's what I did too, and it's worked well. If I happen to come upon a chord I don't know, I either work on it or transpose. Most of the music I play is in those keys too.

I really think music should be fun unless one is gonna be a teacher or a professional entertainer. :eek:ld:
 
my hat is off to those who know, understand, and can use Music Theory to help themselves ... and us! :)

I'm sure those who have taken the pains to learn about how music works can be way ahead of the rest of us, and
can be great resources when we get into technical difficulties :)

Anyway, I don't see myself spending much time and effort on book-learning Music Theory, or taking a class.
However, our Aussie friends have a wonderful Ukulele Wheel Chart that could pay handsome dividends to those
who spend some time figuring out the relationships among the chords on any given key.

I got one via eBay, ($15.50?) and I believe it's worth it. Also pretty compact for all the info it makes available.

I recommend it to all of you :)

keep uke'in',
 
Hi, Uncle Rod Higuchi!

For me, and for my students, I just teach them 5 basic keys and some of the more
useful chords that go with them, utilizing my Ukulele Boot Camp Practice Sheets.

Yes, we all appreciate your Ukulele Boot Camp Practice Sheets very much. But I appreciate your MP3s, which you offer in your site, much more than boot camp sheets. :) They are still in my iPod and I still enjoy them. Tadahiro Wakabayashi is a world music player in Japan. He plays many ethnic instruments. He says that ukulele has not much tension in its strings and sound is small. If we play it hard it sounds just bad. Calm strumming is best for its style. I agree with him, and your strumming is perfect to me. Thank you very much again for the free download those nice MP3s in your site.
 
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