Music Theory question: guitar to uke

frankiefirefox

frankiefirefox

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Aloha ya'll,

I have several country songs that I want to play on my uke. Its real easy stuff, but I'm playing from guitar chords. It seems like the high notes and the low notes are reversed. For example: the chord progression for "Gringo Honeymoon" is G Am C, with a couple F's, Em's and D's tossed in.

Obviously, I know NOTHING about music theory or transitioning from guitar to uke.

Any help would be much appreciated.
 
Chords are chords, and contain the same notes regardless of the instrument. So, it's not really going to matter much. It will sound a little different of course - it's a different instrument - but it will still be "right".

Jason
 
It sounds fine in terms of notes. It just seems off on terms of highs and lows within the song. My lack of knowledge makes it tough to ask what seem to be simple questions.
 
Well, guitar chords should work on the uke or any instrument - a chord is a chord. But the voicings will be different. If you play the simple open G major chord on the guitar the notes highest and lowest in pitch will both be g. If you play the simple open G major chord on a uke (0232), the highest pitch note will be a b, and the lowest a c.

What it comes down to is that the sound and flavour will be a bit different. But that's just the nature of the instrument! You can capture some of the sound of the guitar chords by using different voicings on the uke, for example by playing a G major chord as 7 7 7 10. But really, just embrace the difference!
 
im in the same boat trying to translate guitar songs into ukulele songs. Two routes i have taken are to transpose them to figure out the new chords like nohoval said from guitar G major to Ukulele G major. But it has a different flavor to it often. The positioning changes how the song sound.
The other route is to just play the song in a new key. So your G major guitar chord is now a C major. To me the songs sound closer doing this, but obviously in a whole new key.
 
Since the uke has no low notes, the pitches of the notes in the chord will be different. For a more guitar-like sound (and more range), try a low G string. I understand what you are asking and you are right. The notes are the same in the chord. The uke has fewer notes in the chord, due to fewer strings, and the pitches are often higher on the uke than guitar. As others have said, embrace it. :)

Oh, and welcome to UU and the ukulele!
 
When I finally get my Uke' I'm expecting all the Rammstein songs to sound slightly different, too.
 
A chord is a chord and has the same notes.... IF the instrument is in the same concert key as the one you're transposing from. Guitar and uke are both A=440, so they're both C concert, so yes, chords are the same. It's not always true though. I feel I'm being a bit of a besserwisser pointing that out, but since everyone's basically answered the question about chord inversions, then that's my contribution. :)

If the progression seems to be going in the wrong order, and alternate fingerings don't work, then looking for the same chords up the fretboard might help.
 
Answer:
Circle.jpg
 
i've found that when transposing from Guit to Uke, songs that were ment originally for guitar sound better if you keep the original Left Hand fingering. If songs were ment for voice, i try to stick to the original scale first, and then experiment transposing the song to other key that can have more flavour according to the way the ukulele is voiced.

for ex, a song can be singed in A#, but i know if i play it in A, i can use more open strings, easier left hand fingering, etc.

(hope it's understandable)
 
Just to be a Mr. Nitpicky McNitpickerson for a bit... The word "transpose" means to change the key of a song. If you take guitar chords and play the same chords, in the same key, on a uke, you are not transposing.

If you take a part that's not written for the uke and figure out a way to play it on the uke, I guess you'd more accurately be said to be "transcribing".

This is probably the second most-confused musical term on this forum (with "chords vs. tabs" being the clear winner, of course) :)

JJ
 
Ukulele JJ said:
If you take a part that's not written for the uke and figure out a way to play it on the uke, I guess you'd more accurately be said to be "transcribing".

This is probably the second most-confused musical term on this forum (with "chords vs. tabs" being the clear winner, of course) :)

JJ
Click to expand...

Note vs Pitch?
Beat vs Pulse?

Sorry OT. ;)
 
The music theory term for them is chord inversions. Same notes, different order. For the ukulele, being a 4-stringed insturment and commonly having reentrant tuning (high-G), inverted chords are hard to avoid. They can sometimes make a progression sound different and even unpleasant. My advice is that is a particular chord doesn't sound right, move up the fretboard and try the next version of it. In some songs where the composer has an ascending or descending base line included in chord progression, you might have to find a creative way to include it like playing it on bottom string rather than on top string.
 
Yes, thank you. :D

Ukulele JJ said:
Just to be a Mr. Nitpicky McNitpickerson for a bit... The word "transpose" means to change the key of a song. If you take guitar chords and play the same chords, in the same key, on a uke, you are not transposing.

If you take a part that's not written for the uke and figure out a way to play it on the uke, I guess you'd more accurately be said to be "transcribing".

This is probably the second most-confused musical term on this forum (with "chords vs. tabs" being the clear winner, of course) :)

JJ
Click to expand...
 
ShakaSign said:
The music theory term for them is chord inversions. Same notes, different order. For the ukulele, being a 4-stringed insturment and commonly having reentrant tuning (high-G), inverted chords are hard to avoid. They can sometimes make a progression sound different and even unpleasant. My advice is that is a particular chord doesn't sound right, move up the fretboard and try the next version of it. In some songs where the composer has an ascending or descending base line included in chord progression, you might have to find a creative way to include it like playing it on bottom string rather than on top string.
Click to expand...

Just to be a Mr. Nitpicky McNitpickerson for a bit... you can have a different voicing, but the same inversion. If the chord goes C E G, it's root position. If it goes C G E, it's root position. If it goes C C E G, it's root position. I find often when I revoice a chord up the neck, I often keep the root note, such as 0-0-8-10 and 0-0-8-7, which are variants of C, root position.
 
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