Fingering D, D6 and D7 in the blues

newukersussex · Feb 12, 2014

Help please. I am trying to play a blues in A from Alistair Wood's Ukulele for Dummies book and all is well until I get to a bar that wants me to play the four beats as D, D6, D7, D6. Fretting is D=2220, D6=2222, D7=2223.

I have been fingering D as 1230 although I have seen it sometimes shown as 1120 but found that fingering gave me wrist pain. What should I do to get swiftly to D6? Should I finger D6 as 1234 and D7 as 1234 too or should I quickly switch to a barre to finger D6 as 1111 and then D7 in the usual 1112 fingering?

As an inexperienced player I find the 1234 fingering for D6 too crowded on the fretboard and the 1111 fingering seems a bit slow switch in mid bar. Is it just practice to improve speed or am I as a newbie just missing an obvious fingering trick?

I would appreciate some advice from someone experienced on this one

Thank you.

SailingUke · Feb 12, 2014

Try D as 2225 - the "C" shape moved up.
I bar index finger and use pinky on 5.
With this shape "D" all you need to do is pinky dance.

OldePhart · Feb 12, 2014

SailingUke's method works well but I have a way that works even better for me and I like the tone better (I've never been crazy about the sound of the 2225 for whatever reason). I usually play D as 2220 but I use my index and second finger at a bit of an angle to cover the three top strings at the second fret. This leaves the ring and pinky fingers in exactly the right position to drop on the first string, second and third fret, respectively, for the D6 and D7. It also is very easy to make the DMaj7 by dropping the pinky on the 4th fret (note that the same is true with the barred 2225 technique).

So, whichever works better for you - and that can very from song to song. Sometimes I'll use the barred 2225 D even though I like the sound of 2220 better just because the shape fits with the preceding or following chords.

John

OldePhart · Feb 12, 2014

newukersussex said:
I have been fingering D as 1230 although I have seen it sometimes shown as 1120 but found that fingering gave me wrist pain.

Woah...I just reread this. Assuming we're talking about standard GCEA tuning, neither of those is really a D chord at all.

1230 is a G# D G A - not really sure what that would be called but it's got a minor feel to it and quite a bit of discordance (0230 and 2230 are both inversions of Dsus).

1120 would be a G# C# F# A - if not for the G# you could call this a DMaj7 missing the root - but adding a diminished fifth (G#) to a chord that has the perfect fifth (A) kind of screws things up (2120 would be an F#m... aha! I guess this would be an F#mAdd9 - not a common chord and not a D, but legitimate - you could also call it a F#m9 but its' missing the dominant 7th and that's one tone you really don't want to omit from a chord because it has such huge impact on the character of the chord).

John

UkeCan1 · Feb 12, 2014

John, it took me a minute to get it, but (s)he's referring to which fingers to use on which strings - not which fret on which string. In the first paragraph it's fret numbers, but the second and third paragraphs are finger numbers.

So the question is which fingers to use to best finger 2220 D, 2222 D6, and 2223 D7 chords.

Wendy

SailQwest · Feb 12, 2014

I do the D, D6, D7 as 1230, 1234, 1234. It works well for me.

Of course, I barre nothing.

dav_9 · Feb 12, 2014

I bar with middle finger to cover 222x. I would use my ring finger for the xxx2 and xxx3 in the context of going from D6 and D7. I use the middle finger bar method because it is fastest for me while offering easy transitions to nearby chords (A - 2100, F#m - 2120, Dsus4 - 2230). In this case, transitioning between D, D6 and D7 is easiest for me with the middle finger stationed 222x. Your mileage may vary depending on finger flexibility, fleshiness, etc.

EDIT: In case it's not clear, my numberings are for frets, not finger digits.

ricdoug · Feb 12, 2014

Here's how I teach it. The D is on the 5th fret:

Ukejenny · Feb 13, 2014

SailingUke said:
Try D as 2225 - the "C" shape moved up.
I bar index finger and use pinky on 5.
With this shape "D" all you need to do is pinky dance.

Love this. But, I love pinky dancing barre chords, which I've discovered relatively recently.

Ukejenny · Feb 13, 2014

ricdoug said:
Here's how I teach it. The D is on the 5th fret:

I'm going to practice this sheet. This looks great.

OldePhart · Feb 13, 2014

UkeCan1 said:
John, it took me a minute to get it, but (s)he's referring to which fingers to use on which strings - not which fret on which string. In the first paragraph it's fret numbers, but the second and third paragraphs are finger numbers.

So the question is which fingers to use to best finger 2220 D, 2222 D6, and 2223 D7 chords.

Wendy

Ahhh. that 'splains it! :embarrassed:

John

mailman · Feb 13, 2014

ricdoug said:
Here's how I teach it. The D is on the 5th fret:

This is so cool! Thanks for this!!

mailman · Feb 13, 2014

mailman said:
This is so cool! Thanks for this!!

Any chance you have similar sheets in other keys?

newukersussex · Feb 13, 2014

Thanks

Ukejenny said:
I'm going to practice this sheet. This looks great.

Me too, this looks great.

Thank you everyone for so much help so quickly and sorry to anyone I confused by not being clear when I was talking frets and when I was talking fingers. Perhaps there is a less ambiguous way to refer to the left hand fingers than numbering them, if so I haven't seen it yet.

This is such a helpful forum, thanks again. I have a good lot to keep practicing

OldePhart · Feb 14, 2014

newukersussex said:
Perhaps there is a less ambiguous way to refer to the left hand fingers than numbering them, if so I haven't seen it yet.

I've seen some folks on woodwind forums use TIMRP (Thumb, Index, Middle, Ring, and Pinky). Doesn't seem to have caught on in any of the fretted-instrument forums I frequent, though. That's a shame because it would allow things like I2M3...yada yada where you could specify finger, fret, and (by position) string; the three essential bits of info for playing a fretted instrument.

John

UkeCan1 · Feb 14, 2014

OldePhart said:
I've seen some folks on woodwind forums use TIMRP (Thumb, Index, Middle, Ring, and Pinky). Doesn't seem to have caught on in any of the fretted-instrument forums I frequent, though. That's a shame because it would allow things like I2M3...yada yada where you could specify finger, fret, and (by position) string; the three essential bits of info for playing a fretted instrument.

John

Oh, that is a great idea. I think we should all just start using it until it catches on!

I don't think you have any reason to feel embarrassed about not getting the other notation - it took me a while too. We are so used to seeing the numbers used to mean fret numbers - it's natural to interpret them that way when we see them. I agree with you we need to start standardizing a different notation for fingers ... as a newbie, I often find it non-obvious which fingers to use for a new chord or progression, and a clear (non-confusing, not looking like fret numbers) way to denote that would be immensely helpful!

What d'y'all think? Should we adopt John's suggestion and start popularizing it?

Wendy

Fingering D, D6 and D7 in the blues

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