Question for everyone.

Hello everyone,

So, I was playing a song on the ukulele today, and something happened that puts a question in my mind. To help you understand it, I'm going to use piano notation for the strings.

The tuning for my ukulele is G4, C4, E4, and A4. One of the song I'm trying to play goes up to E5 on occasion.

I can't seem to do a chord that makes the song sound good when I go that high on the fretboard. For example, I can't do a G chord and have a D5 at the same time.

Because of this, I'm just going an octave lower when the notes get that high and start from C4. However, I'm curious to know what you guys think and do.

I can manage the song just fine on the guitar, but I'm still having problems on the ukulele.

Any thoughts?

Jared

I’m not sure I understand. The E5 note is 1st string 7th fret. If you want to play it off a G chord you just play a G as 0-2-3-5 and stretch to the 7th. I usually barre through 3-2-1 strings on the second fret, note the G on the 2nd string and use my pinky for the 5th to 7th. I do it for a lot of songs.

The key to fitting a note around a chord is to throw out the standard (basic) chord shapes and just find the notes you need for whatever chord and make that a shape. For example a recent find for G7 for Silent Night is 0-5-3-5. With only 4 notes it may technically be called something else, but I don’t care, it works.

John

Yeah, just as you can play an F as 2010 or 2013. ACFA or ACFC. Adding the pinky adds the fifth of the major triad. Bar it and move it up and down the neck.

Well, "octave folding" is a perfectly valid technique, especially when you're trying to adapt a piece written for a different instrument and you run into range issues on the instrument you're trying to play it with. Moving up or down an octave where needed can be a very effective arranging technique and "makes it yours".

I run into this all the time with my flutes and whistles. I don't play melodies often on uke so it happens less often there. John and Kimo are correct that you can surely find chords around the note you want, and that's one approach. But that shape/position might not work with the rest of the arrangement. So if it sounds good going down octave, I say just go with it.

Thank you guys for the help. I appreciate it. Looks like I still have some things to learn. You know what? That's okay. I enjoy learning.

For right now, I'm going to stick with transposing an octave lower. It's what seems to work for me.