Are you a baritone player?

I think most baritone players think their baritone C chord through green route (See figure below). Because they still use gcea ukuele. Our brain think ukulele's C first then transfer it baritone. I am guitar player but lately I don't play guitar much. My brain go to guitalele C chord through red route without guitar's C chord (green route) now.

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I was never a guitar player but as a recorder player, I am used to playing instruments where the same fingering gives different notes and the difference between F & C recorders is the similar the difference between C & G tunings on the ukulele. A fourth one way and a fifth the other. I work on shapes so I know that the C shape in GCEA gives G in DGBE and an F shape in C tuning is C in G tuning and so on. If I need to know a baritone chord I've not played, I can work it out which the "equivalent" C tuning chord would be and look it up or I might already know it. I'm now quite comfortable playing in both tunings and can play the relevant chord shapes pretty much automatically.

It just takes practice and is worth the effort as you are not tied to ukulele chord charts if you want to learn a new song.

I've found it helps to rotate between C and G tuned instruments and playing in Keys, just random strums to beat my hands into form. I still make errors but it's only been a year since I branched in to G tuning. I still have some trouble switching from C to F quickly on my Baritone, but that's due to my silly ring finger.

Playing the chords in a Key (I, IV, I, IV, V, etc) with what ever strum you choose helps put the sound into the muscle memory and it requires no lyrics!

I converted Uncle Rod's Boot Camp into baritone and it sure helped me.

I'm getting quite good at flipping the key-change switch in my head - I guess it's just something you get used to

I normally use the chords up, or is it down, the fretboard. C for me is a barred 5th fret or a Bb shape(C tuned uke) on the 7th fret. I try to stay out of using first position chord shapes just for a change when playing with C tuned ukes.

Another thought on Baritone chords. If you need a quick check on a baritone chord, you can always use a guitar chord chart and simply ignore the 5th & 6th strings. I've done that a few times. I often get chord charts from ultimate guitar and if you hover the mouse over the chord symbol, it gives you the chord diagram for guitar and you can quickly figure what the baritone chord will be.

Why yes I am a baritone player......thank you for asking

DownUpDave said:

Why yes I am a baritone player......thank you for asking

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Yes, me too!

I'm not a bari player anymore, but of the instruments I sold, the Pono baritone is the only uke I actually miss. I'm not sure I'd sell it again, if I could go back in time. But between D tuned sopranos, a currently Bb tuned tenor, and a guitar that I don't want to give up on after all, I think I have enough tunings to struggle with.