Which is the better chord book?

chindog

Well-known member
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
10,642
Reaction score
0
Location
Blairsville, Georgia, USA
I've been looking around at ukulele chord books, and it looks like the most comprehensive are the Hal Leonard Ukulele Chord Finder, and the Roy Sakuma Treasury of Ukulele Chords.

Which would be the better choice? Or would you recommend getting them both? Since I am just a beginner on the Uke, I am looking for something that will show me a variety of different voicings for different chords.

Thanks!
 
I have the Hal Leonard book and it is pretty good. I have not seen the Sakuma book yet!
 
I've been looking around at ukulele chord books, and it looks like the most comprehensive are the Hal Leonard Ukulele Chord Finder, and the Roy Sakuma Treasury of Ukulele Chords.

Which would be the better choice? Or would you recommend getting them both? Since I am just a beginner on the Uke, I am looking for something that will show me a variety of different voicings for different chords.

Thanks!

The Roy Sakuma book shows all 4 voicings of each chord arranged by classification (all Major/Minor/Dominant 7th, etc). Excellent approach to learning chord voicings up the neck. Highly regarded resource. I learned my jazz chord voicings for guitar in the same way from an outstanding teacher.

The book just shows chord shapes and does not give left hand fingerings.

Regards,
Ray
 
I'll send you loadsa chord sheets for free if you want them. Send me a private message with and email address.
 
Both are actually quite good but my preference would be the Roy Sakuma book.
 
Roys. If nothing else for his descriptions of the different chords "Minor 7th Colorfully active with the soft tones of Autumn." Beat that Leanard.... ;)
 
Sakuma here. However, if you have an Android phone there are some great free apps for uke chords.
 
There are many free chord books around (you can download one from my site), but of the two, I like Sakuma's.

However, I prefer the Gig Bag Book of Picture Chords and the Ukulele Chord Bible (by Toby Richards) over both. Richards' book is hard to find but it's the most comprehensive of all the chord books I've found., with 2,160 chords shown. The Gig Bag book is nice and small.
 
Can you suggest some of the free Android uke chord apps? I would sure appreciate it!

Ukulele Fretboard and Uke Chords are good Android chord apps. For music theory, I'm really enjoying C-Sharply, which has sight reading, key signature, and interval training quizzes on it. And even though I usually have a tuner with me, the gStrings app is good in a pinch.
 
For iphone, I use the Ukulele Companion app by Infinaut Games. Free, easy to use, and you can move chord positions up and down the neck, which I find very helpful. Also shows scales. One gripe--chords on "black keys" are listed as sharps only, so you'll have to know that an A# is the same thing as Bb.
 
As a fellow beginner, maybe more of a beginner, I don't yet find the Hal Leonard chord book useful. I mean, it's interesting in an Oxford Unabridged way, but I haven't had a reason to go to it yet.
I'm getting more out of the tutorials online, single-sheet chord diagrams, and Uke for Dummies than a book of chords.
Most beginner lessons include the recommended chords as you go, so I haven't had to go look one up yet.

Someday I hope to understand Fretboard Roadmaps. :)
 
Top Bottom