Chord fingering whilst reading a tab and plucking

Rowly

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Hello folks,
I'm really getting on with strumming tunes I know and playing simple chords on my uke.
I am trying to progress to plucking but don't understand how to do the following:
I began by learning "white sandy beach" and strumming the chords.
I then used Aldrine's whiteboard video on youtube and am learning the plucking version. It seems simple when I know to hold F or Bb and then pluck strings 1,3 and 4 or whatever. I can even write this down in tab form.
However, when I look at a tab for a different song there doesn't seem to be an indication of what chord to hold to efficiently pluck the tune. (This is sounding more complicated than I hoped! Let me try an alternative .)
Rather than move fingers everytime I play a note how can I work out which fingers I can keep still. Which shape to hold?
Thanks
Rowly
 
I know just what you mean!

Unless the tab writer puts extra info in there (chord diagrams / fingering "numbers") then I guess it's through trial & error.

I have looked at tabs that appear to be a "flurry of notes" but when you see it being played there's a "shape" being held, fingers added to or subtracted from it as it moves up/down the fretboard.

It's useful to "see" chords like this:
2
3
2
0
(For example)

Then, you can "scan ahead" on the tab & see if there's a common shape that can be slid up/down or modified.
There may be an "anchor finger" that helps transitions between shapes...

Still trial & error though!
 
I know just what you mean!

Haha, me too! I played one song ten times before I figured out - oh geez, most of it is a Dm chord. When I get it figured out I go thru and pencil in the chords.
 
My pet peeve is I feel like G should always be top string in a finger picking diagram, but a lot of the time it is the bottom string. For me it would make more sense if G was always the top one.
 
By convention, all tabs for string instruments have the string closest to your head on the bottom. That's just how it's done. You get used to it in no time.
 
Yes, does anyone know why the string order is reversed? Coming from guitar it really messes me up.

And thank you Freeda! Looking at thing that way definatly helps! I guess that's why we all go to utube to figure things out.

-Matt
 
I empathize with you I hate it. I don't want to think backwards reading it to play it. I am sure it has been that way for a long long time. Wish they would standardize it back the other way. I have played off and on for quite awhile and haven't figured out how to get used to it.
 
I've never gotten used to tab with the guitar and have preferred just to read the music, but for some reason ukulele tab seems more intuitive.

By convention, all tabs for string instruments have the string closest to your head on the bottom. That's just how it's done. You get used to it in no time.
 
Yes, does anyone know why the string order is reversed? Coming from guitar it really messes me up.
I have never seen guitar tabs the "other" way, they work the same as uke tabs. Re-entrant tuning aside, tabs follow the general order of standard notation, with lower notes toward the bottom of the staff, and higher notes on higher lines/spaces.
 
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