Ah, The Ukulele...

ukulelecowboy

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 27, 2010
Messages
820
Reaction score
2
Location
Columbus, Ohio
Been looking over a lead sheet for Arthur Hamilton's ballad "Cry Me a River" for an upcoming gig.

The key is Eb. I came across three chords that have something in common and really illustrate the remarkable playability of this 4 stringed instrument...

The three chords are: Cm6, F9, and Am7b5 and they all appear in different chord progressions throughout the song.

What do these three chords have in common?
 
Cm6, F9, and Am7b5

Cm6: C Eb G A
F9: F A C Eb G
Am7b5: A C Eb G

So they all have the same four notes, with different notes as the root. F9 obviously has an F root, which the others lack.

Cm6 and Am7b5 are essentially interchangeable for most purposes on uke, unless the particular root is essential. In the same way, C6 and Am7 are interchangeable.

Do I win a prize?
 
Last edited:
So does this make the chords technically the "same"?

They're all the same if you ignore the root. Mostly on the uke that's exactly what happens, certainly in strumming - it's not practical or necessary to have the root as the lowest note all the time. So yeah, you could use the same fingering for all of these and it would probably sound OK.
 
I was going to say they all went into a bar...
 
Top Bottom