Chord change problems

Hi all,
I've been strumming a guitar since Dylan was in black-&-white, so moving over to a ukulele shouldn't be an issue, but I'm finding I struggle to change cleanly from F chord to Bb chord on the narrower ukulele neck ... the same shapes (C to F) on a guitar aren't a problem, so has anyone any tips for this on the uke, please ?

TIA

Chris

The simplist advice is to slow down. Leading up to that, form each chord independently as opposed to trying to do them in transition. Go from open to F and then from open to Bb. Then, after the time necessary to naturally form each individual chord, slowly work on transitions back and forth.

Chances are that your transitions are being hampered a bit by remnant guitar shapes creeping in from the lizard brain section.

I know it sounds like "going back to basics", but there ain't no better way.

I know this suggestion will sound simple, but practice, practice, practice. Bb is a difficult chord for everyone when starting out, but after awhile, sometimes a long while, it will become easier and more natural. When I was starting out it actually hurt my wrist to play a Bb for any length of time, but I kept at it and eventually my muscles and tendons relented. Now switching back and forth from Bb to F and vice versa is fairly easy. Good thing because the chords are often paired together in sequence in many of the songs I play.

I agree with the advice of both bborzell and dkcrown to practice. I learned to form Bb in two stages via this article - http://www.ukuleleyes.com/issues/vol7/no3/pedagogy-corner.htm - first using two fingers and eventually dropping the ring finger on the G string.

Precise finger placement is especially important on a uke, and this chord. Figures. ) Which just requires, as others have said, more practice. Just because you've played guitar, the uke is still a new thing. My non-medically minded guess is that finer coordination needs to develop, so let that happen. I know it's a pain but keep going. Although if it physically hurts, rest! We're not meant to play one or two chords exclusively for any length of time. Once you got the Bb, you got it made. Not that there won't be other things that take time!, but you'll be able to remember... "I got the Bb, so I can get this too."

Hi Chris,
When you are playing the F chord use your index finger on the 2nd string and middle finger on the 4th string, when you change to the Bb just lay your index finger across the first & second strings to form a barre and place the middle finger on the 3rd string & the ring finger on the 4th string. The movement involves rolling the wrist around slightly to make the transition whilst keeping the thumb directly behind the 1st fret wire. As the other guys have said, it's all about slow & steady practice.

kypfer said:

Hi all,
I've been strumming a guitar since Dylan was in black-&-white, so moving over to a ukulele shouldn't be an issue, but I'm finding I struggle to change cleanly from F chord to Bb chord on the narrower ukulele neck ... the same shapes (C to F) on a guitar aren't a problem, so has anyone any tips for this on the uke, please ?

TIA

Chris

Click to expand...

When I went from guitar to ukulele I had trouble chording in the music store. I found out quickly that there are a lot of low quality ukes on the market with poor action. When I played a better uke with low action it was a breeze to bar chord and transition. The action was more important for me than the spacing or size of the frets.

First @kypfer - are you using a full barre on the Bb? Coming from guitar I would expect that you would be but some ukulele beginner books show it played with just the tip of the finger barring the first two strings and that is a very clumsy fingering, IMHO. Use a full barre with the index finger all the way up close to the palm, just as you would when playing a full F barre on the guitar.

It can also be useful to finger the F with the second finger on the second string and the ring finger on the 4th string. (I.e. as if you were barring the F, except there is no need for the index finger for the F.) Then, to move to the Bb just move your hand up the fretboard slightly, drop the index finger across the first fret for the barre, and move the second finger to the 3rd string. I usually only do this when I'm playing something that bounces between F and Bb a lot really quickly, though.

John

Thanks everyone

The practice, practice, practice concept is not new, but always worth mentioning, just in case

Stringy - you're absolutely right about the action, but I've already worked mine over so it's as low as it's going to get without buzzing.

OldePhart - I'm used to both "full barre" and "roll over" c-to-f chord changes on the guitar, but haven't been able to get either to work comfortably on the ukulele, there just doesn't seem to be enough neck to get a grip on. That use of the second and third finger suggestion for the F chord and slide up for the Bb does seem to have some mileage to it, though, so thanks for that ... more practice

:agree: what they said