I need an alternative to Ab7

I am in the process of training my fingers to learn it, but I'm playing out on June 1st and it's not coming so I need an alternative for now. I tried a couple of uke chord sites like uke buddy and ukulele chord finder, but could not figure out how to type it in. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Hmmm, G#7, maybe?

Seriously, though...you can pretty much always play an Ab in place of an Ab7 though if you are playing solo the song will lose a little of its character at that point.

Do you know your barre chord shapes for G or G7? If so, just move that up one fret. It's fairly easy fingering and I bet you could learn it by June 1.

for the barre G7...
barre the 2nd fret with the index finger
with the second finger, fret the 2nd string at 3rd fret
with the ring finger, fret the 4th string at 4th fret
with the pinky, fret the 3rd string at the fifth fret

for the G#7 (Ab7) just move the whole shape up one fret.

BTW, this is one of those cases where you don't necessarily have to have the entire chord fingered before strumming. It can actually sound a little fancier if you get the G down, then hammer on the 3rd string with the pinky as you're strumming.

It's too bad you don't need a G#Maj7 - there you could just slide the three fingers of your G up one fret. Actually, if you're playing solo you might try that and see if it sounds okay with the rest of the song (though if it's a well-known tune it's probably going to sound "wrong" to people who know it well). If you're playing with others you definitely don't want to play a maj7 against their dominant 7...

Can you make an F7 shape? (2313?) If so, run it up three frets to 5646.

Here's a chart of all the alternate fingerings: http://chordlist.brian-amberg.de/en/ukulele/standard/Ab7/

You can use a Cdim triad instead if you prefer
Cdim - x323
Same chord, minus the root. If you're going to leave out any notes, leave out the root or fifth, so
Ab7no5 - 1023
Is fine too.

If there's no prominent Ab notes in the melody (as silly as that sounds) and you're playing alone you can probably sub a Cdim7
Cdim7 - 2323

Same chord but with A instead of Ab, which may be easier for you to play. As I said though, this isn't quite as intechangeable with Ab7 as the above chords.

Good luck

OPPS. I've edited this. I was reading the chord finder in the wrong pitch. The chord finder I use has the 1st position of this chord as 1,0,2,3 This is frets from bass to treble. When faced with a chord like this I usually leave the bass note out and play x, 0,2,3. Also I find that playing the bass string open usually works. Not quite the same chord as listed but give it a go and see if it works.


Anthony

Is your chord finder set for D tuning, perhaps, anthonyg?

KoaDependent said:

Is your chord finder set for D tuning, perhaps, anthonyg?

Click to expand...

Yes I've edited my post as you were replying.

Anthony

Another alternative is play the Ab7 the usual way, but wrap your thumb around the neck and fret the G string with it. Then use your index finger on the E string, middle finger on the C, and ring finger on the A.