Help with chord sheets

Hi all,

Okay, I have two things needing help with here.

First one, what does it mean on a song chord sheet when it says, for example, C/E over a word. Does that mean you can play either a C or an E? Or does it mean play them both in quick succession? What?

Second thing is more to do with the actual chords. I have a ukulele chord chart which I use (less frequently as I get better) but certain chords still elude me somewhat. Take, for example, Dm7. First fret on the E, second frets on the G and C, third fret on the A and then there seems to be a barre chord layed across the fifth fret, but with hollow circles as opposed to dark ones on my chart. What exactly does this mean?

Thanks a lot, Guys.

Steve.

It's called a slash chord. I did a search and found a good thread about them.

Hollow circles imply that the string is played open, so the barre fingering probably isn't going to work.

PS - the best way to search the forum is with Google, not the internal search function. I used the syntax:
site:ukuleleunderground.com/forum "slash chord"

Poggie said:

Take, for example, Dm7. First fret on the E, second frets on the G and C, third fret on the A and then there seems to be a barre chord layed across the fifth fret, but with hollow circles as opposed to dark ones on my chart. What exactly does this mean?

Click to expand...

In this case, I'd wager that those hollow circles are giving you an alternate way to play a Dm7 chord. You can play it as either 2213 or 5555.

DogBisquit is correct that hollow circles indicate open strings, but that's when they're written along the top of the chord diagram "grid", rather than on the frets. Using them like your chord chart does, to indicate alternate fingerings is, I believe, non-standard.

JJ

To answer you first question, it's called a slash cord. The C is what you would play and the E would be the bass line. Here's another thread you can read.

Second question. What chord chart are you using? Your example, Dm7 is G(2) C(2) E(1) A(3). The next inversion would be 2553 and next one is 5555. Uke Chord Finder is an excellent tool. Also check out 'Ukulele Resources for chord sheets and I would recommend downloading Ian Chadwick's charts or Live Ukulele's charts.

Kanaka916 said:

To answer you first question, it's called a slash cord. The C is what you would play and the E would be the bass line. Here's another thread you can read.

Second question. What chord chart are you using? Your example, Dm7 is G(2) C(2) E(1) A(3). The next inversion would be 2553 and next one is 5555. Uke Chord Finder is an excellent tool. Also check out 'Ukulele Resources for chord sheets and I would recommend downloading Ian Chadwick's charts or Live Ukulele's charts.

Click to expand...

I am using Michelle Kiba’s “Pa Mele O Hokulea Ukulele Academy” student ukulele chord chart. I downloaded it somewhere online, can't rememeber where. It's been invaluable to me.

Thanks, I will check out those links. And thanks everyone for the information.