Help with order of barred chord voicings up and down neck

Hi,

I'm at the point in my playing where I have realized the importance of playing different voicings up and down the neck.

Somewhere I read about the pattern it follows and there's an order to remember.

For ex. if you start with a barred C form of the chord, your next voicing uses a barred A form, followed by a barred F form. Can someone remember the formula or guide me to a site? thanks

I'd be interested in knowing as well. Bump.

Me, too! Sounds interesting, but I can't help with an answer....

I use this: Ukulele Chord Forms as my bible. If you stare at it for a few minutes, you can find at least three, if not four, voicings for each chord. As soon as you start playing the shapes, they'll settle into your brain and you won't have to refer to the chart, except for really oddball chords. I've never heard of the formula to which you refer. You're going to have so much fun upneck!

The following link talks about movable barre chords and it may or may not provide the answer you're looking for . . .
http://ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?2801-D-G-B-Movable-chord-shapes

Oh, that's awesome, uke5417! I always wondered if there was a handy visual booklet or something around I could travel with, and now I've got one! Thanks for the link!

The UU link should be pretty helpful, too.

Kimosabe said:

Somewhere I read about the pattern it follows and there's an order to remember.

For ex. if you start with a barred C form of the chord, your next voicing uses a barred A form, followed by a barred F form. Can someone remember the formula or guide me to a site?

Click to expand...

I don't know if this is what you're looking for but the D chord can be played as

barre 2 = 2 2 2 5 (that's C shape on 2)

barre 5 = 7 6 5 5 (A shape on 5)

barre 7 = 7 9 10 9 (G shape on 7) -- you did have this on your post, but I throw it in for free

barre 9 = 11 9 10 9 (F shape on 9)

That's for a major chord.

You could do the Dm chord as (sort of awkward)

barre 2 = 2 2 5 5 (not really Dm. This is missing the third (F) so technically its a D5)

barre 5 = 7 5 5 5

barre 7 = 7 9 10 8

barre 9 = 10 9 10 12 (actually easier to to Middle-index-ring-pinky than a barre 10)

When I play, I don't think of barre chords like this. My brain is not answering to me right now, but I think I just have memorized these.

Cheers
Chief

This sort of expands on what Chief brought up...

For the last couple of years, a friend of mine has been telling me about the caged system for guitar and there is a thread on it for the ukulele if you want to do a search. It hurts my head.

I never really put in the effort to work through the material the way it was intended, so I cheated based on chord shape, came up with a kind of a caged for dummies.

The dummy part is that for major chords you barre at the fret of the note the furthest up the neck of the chord you are playing for the next chord shape.

For the ukulele there are 2 exceptions and unfortunately you can’t spell out a clever word like caged.

The chord shape sequence is F-D-C-A-G-F but you can start anywhere. Here is the code for F for open chords up the fretboard…

F > +1 Fret D > C > A > G > -1 Fret F

For D…

D > C > A > G > -1 Fret F > +1 Fret D

Just remember to put the barre at the note the furthest up the neck, don't forget the +1 and -1. You may notice that there is no E and B listed, that is basic the basic chord shapes for these are D and A shapes.

For B…

2nd Fret A > G > -1 Fret F > +1 Fret D > C > A

One last thing, barring a G is sorta worthless, but it helps to understand where everything is. After a while it just becomes a matter of remembering where the chords are played.

I really hope this isn’t confusing.

John

uke5417 said:

I use this: Ukulele Chord Forms as my bible. If you stare at it for a few minutes, you can find at least three, if not four, voicings for each chord. As soon as you start playing the shapes, they'll settle into your brain and you won't have to refer to the chart, except for really oddball chords. I've never heard of the formula to which you refer. You're going to have so much fun upneck!

Click to expand...

"Move bottom fret of chord forms down to nut for open chords"..... Huh? I understand the rest of the directions, but this one escapes me. As for the replies that followed yours, I have no clue. As much as I'd like to follow this, I'm lost.... =(

Thanks to all but biggest thanks to Chief and Sano. It's the CAGED system I was thinking of. I'm going to focus on the replies after I take a shower. I just polished the car and painted the porch.

mailman,

It's kinda like this...

When you play an D chord you have three fingers on the second fret.

The 2nd fret is the fret the furthest up the neck that you played, so for the next voicing that is where you place the barre (2nd fret) and play a C "shaped" chord (A string 5th fret), not a real C.

The 5th fret is the furthest up the neck that you played, so the next voicing is barred at the 5th fret and you play an A "shaped" chord (C string 6th fret and G string 7th fret).

The 7th fret is the furthest up the neck so the next voicing is barred is at the 7th fret and you play a G "shaped" chord (C string and A string at the 9th fret and E string at the 10th fret).

Here is the first exception... the furthest fret you played was the 10th but for any G shaped chord you drop 1 fret (-1), so for the next voicing you barre at the 9th fret and play an F shaped chord (E string at the 10th fret and G string at the 11th fret).

Here is the second exception... The furthest fret you played was the 11th, but you need to add 1 fret (+1) and so for the next voicing you barre at the 12th and play a D shaped chord, which turns out to be the octave of the first chord you played.

The F-G rule is that no matter where you play an F "shaped" chord you add one fret for the next voicing; and no matter where you play a G "shaped" chord you take away 1 fret for barring the next voicing.

This is just to help to know where each of a particular chord can be played. After a while you will just know or develop your own shortcuts.

Also, once you have the major, you just play the minor or 7th or whatever of the shape you are playing.

I hope this helps!

John

John, thanks for the explanation. I think I understand now, but I'm going to have to play with it a while first....

One more thing that just occurred to me...

You don't have to memorize the chord shape sequence, it is just the notes going down in a C scale and just skip E and B because they are not open chords played at the nut. It is similar to the CAGED guitar system.

If you look at the alphabetical order ABCDEFG, when you play up the neck each successive chord voicing uses a chord "shape" in reverse alphabetical order AGFDC (skipping E and B - not open chords).

As an example if you start with an A, the next higher voice is on the 2nd fret and it a G shape (A > G), the next on the 4th fret uing the -1 and is an F shape (A > G > F), the next is a D shape on the 7th fret using the +1 (A > G > F > D), the next is a C shape on the 9th Fret (A > G > F > D > C).

In the earlier example for D chord voicings the sequence for the chord "shape" was D, C, A, G, F, D. (Just skip B and E). It is just reverse alphabetical order.

John

Good chart and thanks I'll use it. I am already staying away from the top of the neck quite a bit, looking for close voicings of my neck chord and it really makes a difference in terms of voice leading but I don't always remember all the forms. Your chart will help. thanks

70sSanO said:

One more thing that just occurred to me...

You don't have to memorize the chord shape sequence, it is just the notes going down in a C scale and just skip E and B because they are not open chords played at the nut. It is similar to the CAGED guitar system.

If you look at the alphabetical order ABCDEFG, when you play up the neck each successive chord voicing uses a chord "shape" in reverse alphabetical order AGFDC (skipping E and B - not open chords).

As an example if you start with an A, the next higher voice is on the 2nd fret and it a G shape (A > G), the next on the 4th fret uing the -1 and is an F shape (A > G > F), the next is a D shape on the 7th fret using the +1 (A > G > F > D), the next is a C shape on the 9th Fret (A > G > F > D > C).

In the earlier example for D chord voicings the sequence for the chord "shape" was D, C, A, G, F, D. (Just skip B and E). It is just reverse alphabetical order.

John

Click to expand...

NOW I get it! This has been the most helpful info yet. Thanks so much! I will work with this for a while, and come back to this thread as I develop more questions....

I carry around a piece of paper I printed that's twice the size of a credit card. On one side are the chord shapes from the link above. On the other is a key chart, which really helps in transposing. I fold the thing in half and put it in my wallet. It's worth more than as much money as has ever been in that piece of leather.

uke5417 said:

I carry around a piece of paper I printed that's twice the size of a credit card. On one side are the chord shapes from the link above. On the other is a key chart, which really helps in transposing. I fold the thing in half and put it in my wallet. It's worth more than as much money as has ever been in that piece of leather.

Click to expand...

Very handy! Thanks....