My nUUb thang...

The Big Kahuna

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Ok, this isn't a challenge (although I suppose it could be in the future, if anyone thinks it anything other than the ramblings of a madman).

Anyway...whilst noodling around, I realised that, with one or two exceptions, the beginner guides to Uke' teach chords with exactly the same fingerings, in terms of "third finger>third fret>first string" for C.

Now, this is all as it should be when teaching beginners, but it's very limiting.

Whether it has anything to with my guitar playing days, or just the way I played guitar, I have never thought of chord fingerings in terms of "this finger goes here". I've always fingered a chord using the fingers nearest to the frets/strings at the time or have used different fingers depending on the chord progression.

So, maybe just as a warmup exercise, or maybe as a way of thinking differently when playing, pick a bunch of common chords (to begin with) and play each one over and over, but using different fingers every, say, 4 beats. For a simple C you could play it fast, changing between all 4 fingers, once per beat.

Try Em, but every 4 beats change from fingers 1 2 3 to 2 3 4

The same with F, every 2 beats change between fingers 1 2/2 3/3 4

I know it sounds pointless, but when you're playing a song and you find a chord transition difficult, if you get out of the habit of thinking "It's an F, I must use my first and second fingers" you might, without thinking, finger the chord with 2 & 3 and find it easier.

Anyway, early morning madman rambling over. I haven't had a coffee yet.
 
I have never used the recommended fingering with any instrument, except maybe the bagpipe. Playing chords on the ukulele, I use whatever is the easiest way to create the next chord, just as you describe. It really depends on the song. When plucking the ukulele, I use strict fingering.

/Andy
 
This would definitely be a good way to free your thinking about chords. I tried it with Em and found that it is a good pinkie drill, too. :)
 
If you can nail a chord with whatever fingers are nearest or more convenient, without thinking about it, it makes your playing much more fluid. Good warmup exercise too, even the C with all 4 fingers. Shame there isn't really enough volume in a Uke' for me to do my 2 hand taps properly. Maybe I need an electric Uke'
 
Wise words- I never teach anyone to play with exact Fingerings. Put simply, my finger positions change depending on which chord I'm coming from and going to
 
I like the idea of the exercise you suggest - I'll try it.... I get a bit stuck into fingerings and find it tricky to change them because the motor memory already has it nailed - which can be a nuisance if it isn't a convenient fingering!
 
I have been been using whatever seems a logical fingering to make the easiest progression given the sequence of chords in a tune. Most of the time it is not 'standard' fingering that seems to work for me.
 
I find it easiest just to turn my brain off sometimes when I'm practising. It's nothing as pretentious as "letting the music flow" (if anyone ever says that, I think I'll probably be sick in my mouth a little bit), but I think I relax more, and my fingers just say "go on dude, go finish whatever it was you were doing, we got this".
 
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