Do you have to convert ?

Hi everybody,

Iv been playing now for about 3 months and would now like to play some songs that i really love. I have found the cords for a few songs that are played on the guitar. Do i have to change (convert) the cords to play them on my uku or can i just use them as they are ?
Also if i do have to convert them where would i start in doing this ?
Thanks for your helps !!

You can play them as they are, and if you are playing with a guitar player, they can also play them as they are, but the guitar player will use different fingering. For example here is a C chord on a standard uke

0003

and on a baritone uke (tuned like the bottom 4 guitar strings) it would be fingered like this:

2010,

which is of course the bottom four strings of a standard guitar playing a C chord:

032010

Its all the same chord. If i finger what looks like C chord on a standard uke (0003) on my baritone, it is really a G to a guitar or baritone player, so any song I played using the standard uke fingering would sound OK by itself, but I might not like the key.

The reason the fingering is different for the guitar player is that the standard uke is tuned 5 frets higher on all its strings. Often times when I am feeling too lazy to print out guitar chords for a song, I will play the standard uke fingering on my baritone. It will be in a different key, but unless I am playing with someone else it usually works out.

The main reason for transposing a song you find the chords for on the net is if the key doesn't fit your voice, or just doesn't sound good to you. Then, you might decide to take it up or down a few semi-tones (or more).

Yeah, what he said. Pretty much a C chord is a C chord on whatever instrument you're playing.


Do however be aware that most online chord sheets usually have a few glaring errors in them, so if you really want to play something in particular right, it's worth your time to check it against the original. I have to do it all the time....

the above is correct - if your music says play a C, then if you play a C on the uke it would be correct. It will however be a higher register.

Or do you mean can you make guitar shapes on the uke neck. The answer to that is yes you can, but its the equivalent of playing at the fifth fret of a guitar (ie the 0001 shape which is C on a Uke, is the same as playing a G shape on the top 4 strings of a guitar capoed at the fifth.

Um, isn't the C chord on the uke 0003?

Learn the correct ukulele chord shapes from a reliable source from the very beginning. Play the chords to songs you like using the ukulele shapes. Some of them will be easier, others harder.

Womby28 said:

Um, isn't the C chord on the uke 0003?

Click to expand...

Yeah. Typo. Sorry about that the 0001 I orginally typed is a C7 on the uke. I corrected it. Thanks for spotting that.