Chord help!

Hi guys, i am very new to UU and almost as new to playing Uke.

I just wanted to know......
I have a little ashton Uke (only cheap being as im learning), how come chords for songs are different for different ukes? Mainly, where can i find the chords to suit my uke? i struggle quite a bit to find the right chords. For example i use C, Am, F and G for Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis, whereas someone else uses a different set of chords.

Can someone explain this to me? and also point in the right direction for tabs? x

There are different tunings for the Uke. Uke Chord Finder should help you . . . Click on the tuning on the right side of the headstock, most use C tuning (GCEA). for that song, I use Bb Gm Eb and F because it's in my vocal range. Those chords can be transposed to fit vocal ranges.

Amazing, thank you so much. Mine is a standard soprano GCEA. Thnaks again x

lkhill said:

For example i use C, Am, F and G for Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis, whereas someone else uses a different set of chords.

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If someone else has a different set of chords, then one of you is wrong.

Chords are chords are chords. It doesn't matter whether you play them on a guitar, or a uke, or an accordion, or a nyckelharpa, or whatever. If the song requires a C chord, then that's what you should play.

What does change, based on the tuning of your instrument, is how you play that C chord. On a standard-tuned guitar, for example, you'd play it as 032010. If your uke is tuned GCEA (most are), you'd usually play it as 0003. If it's tuned ADF#B, then you'd play it as 3211. Despite those differences, those are all called a C chord.

JJ

Could it be that these other people are playing a uke in standard 'C' tuning, but playing the song in a different key?

Ukantor.

Ukulele JJ said:

If someone else has a different set of chords, then one of you is wrong.

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Or, as Kanaka916 points out, someone has transposed the chords to a different key.

Ukulele JJ said:

If someone else has a different set of chords, then one of you is wrong.

Chords are chords are chords. It doesn't matter whether you play them on a guitar, or a uke, or an accordion, or a nyckelharpa, or whatever. If the song requires a C chord, then that's what you should play.

JJ

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This is almost true, but not quite. You have the chords to play the song in the key of C, but if you were to play it in D, making it a little higher, you'd use D, Bm, G and A instead. That's totally legit, and a very good idea if the song doesn't work for you in the key you know. On more complicated songs, specially old jazz standards, people will often simplify, leaving out some chords (often there might be 5 written per line!), or using a simple D chord instead of a D5/7. That can make them much easier to play, and can sound fine, but will never be quite like the original.

SamWise said:

This is almost true, but not quite. You have the chords to play the song in the key of C, but if you were to play it in D, making it a little higher, you'd use D, Bm, G and A instead. That's totally legit, and a very good idea if the song doesn't work for you in the key you know. On more complicated songs, specially old jazz standards, people will often simplify, leaving out some chords (often there might be 5 written per line!), or using a simple D chord instead of a D5/7. That can make them much easier to play, and can sound fine, but will never be quite like the original.

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All very good points. Thanks.

Although I was specifically referring to a case where someone wanted to play "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis, persumably in the same way that Leona Lewis did it. In that situation, there really is a "correct" set of chords.

But yes, if liberties are being taken, then you could have different chords. The important point as far as the original post goes is that those differences are merely due to a different way of interpreting the song, and not because of the instrument used. There aren't "different chords for different ukes."

:shaka:

JJ

Ukulele JJ said:

Although I was specifically referring to a case where someone wanted to play "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis, persumably in the same way that Leona Lewis did it. In that situation, there really is a "correct" set of chords.

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No, there's a correct chord pattern, in this case I - vi - IV - V. In the key of C this gives C - Am - F- G. In the key of D, as Sam points out, it gives D - Bm - G - A. Both are correct sets of chords for the song. (They are not different interpretations.)

cpatch said:

Both are correct sets of chords for the song.

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True only if you consider doing a song in a different key as doing the song in same way as the original artist.

I don't. You do. And that's cool.

JJ

Ukulele JJ said:

True only if you consider doing a song in a different key as doing the song in same way as the original artist.

I don't. You do. And that's cool.

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If you're a baritone and the original artist is a soprano being that slavish about a cover is kinda silly. You transpose to a key that you're comfortable singing in.

(To quote Beef from The Phantom of the Paradise, "This song is scored for a chick, man!")

If it's an instrumental that's all good.

Howlin Hobbit said:

If you're a baritone and the original artist is a soprano being that slavish about a cover is kinda silly. You transpose to a key that you're comfortable singing in.

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Absolutely!

But then you're not doing "their" version, are you? You're doing a transposed version. Which is perfectly fine, of course. Nothing slavish about it.

I'd say the same thing if someone played the original chords, but doubled the tempo. Perfectly within their rights, and still a "cover version" of the song. But it's not really the original way the original artist did it, is it? It how the song "can be" played, but it's not how the song "was" played.

I think this is an interesting philosophical discussion, so forgive me for dragging it out. But then, I'm a computer programmer and enjoy semantics.

If someone, say, wants to know the chords to the Eagle's "Take it Easy", and you told them the chorus starts on an Eb, then goes to Bb, then Ab, would you be correct?

One school of thought would say "yes", since those chord relationships are actually used in the song.

But I'd disagree and say that you're actually teaching that person your own transposed version of the song. The Eagles did the song in G. The chords they used were G, D, and C. That set the standard for the song, just as much as Beethoven set the standard for the beginning of his 5th Symphony when he put it in C minor.

Does that make me a ld:? Maybe. Oh well.

JJ

Ukulele JJ said:

But then you're not doing "their" version, are you? You're doing a transposed version.

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Well... I suppose so. But unless you're in a "tribute band" I can't see the attraction of doing a note-for-note version of anyone else's tune.

Not to mention, if you're covering the Eagles, Beatles, keep-naming-bands-for-days, on the ukulele, you're not doing "their" version either.

Howlin Hobbit said:

Not to mention, if you're covering the Eagles, Beatles, keep-naming-bands-for-days, on the ukulele, you're not doing "their" version either.

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Howlin Hobbit FTW!

Howlin Hobbit said:

Well... I suppose so. But unless you're in a "tribute band" I can't see the attraction of doing a note-for-note version of anyone else's tune.

Not to mention, if you're covering the Eagles, Beatles, keep-naming-bands-for-days, on the ukulele, you're not doing "their" version either.

Click to expand...

Right on HH!

lkhill said:

Hi guys, i am very new to UU and almost as new to playing Uke.

I just wanted to know......
I have a little ashton Uke (only cheap being as im learning), how come chords for songs are different for different ukes? Mainly, where can i find the chords to suit my uke? i struggle quite a bit to find the right chords. For example i use C, Am, F and G for Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis, whereas someone else uses a different set of chords.

Can someone explain this to me? and also point in the right direction for tabs? x

Click to expand...

Maybe they are playing alternate fingerings of the same chord.

on GCEA uke these three fingerings are all C

0003, 5433, 9787,

G7 can be played like this
0212, 0575, 4535, 777(10)