Curious about the George Formby E chord

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CarolAnnG

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I've got a collection of Formby songs with an E chord charted in this way: G#, C#, E, B.

G-First fret
C-First fret
E-Open
A-Second fret

I've got long fingers and don't have all that much trouble with the "regular" E, but I'm curious as to why George Formby's E isn't more popular? I don't remember seeing it thrown into the pot of "alternatives to the dreaded E."

I've only been playing for a few months, so please forgive me if I'm revisiting a tired old theme.

Thanks!

Carol Ann
 
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Could be that Formby's tuning was A, D, F#, B vs G, C, E, A?

I form 1102 for my C#m7 (Dm7 pulled back beyond the nut :) ) for my GCEA-tuned ukes.

just my 2 cents :)
 
It's found in Fanlight Fanny, tuned to GCEA, alternating between Dm and his version of E, so it's a fun little switcheroo.
 
Uncle Rod Higuchi said:
I form 1102 for my C#m7 (Dm7 pulled back beyond the nut :) ) for my GCEA-tuned ukes.
Click to expand...
It's an E6 chord so won't work in all contexts and as Rod points out, will "read" more like C#m7 since the C# is the low note.
 
I don't think there is a C# in the E Major chord
 
It's an E6 (Dbm7 or C#m7). However, in that E6, the arrangement of the notes makes it a passable substitute for Emajor. Try playing any major chord and then its usual '6', alternately - some sound similar, many sound distinctly different. To my ears, anyway - YEMV.:)

John Colter
 
Thanks, everyone! E6. It was bugging me. I tried subbing it in other songs and it sounded off; now I know why.

Very kind of you to respond!
 
No one mentioned this: that 1102 is Definitely E6, but if you play 1X02, then it is an E major chord. I do this by playing the A string with my ring finger and the G string with my index finger. The trick is to lean the index finger so that it touches the C string (and thereby chokes off its sound) while it is fretting the G string.
 
Thank you! I usually play 4442, as well.

The more closely I look at the chords in the Formby book, the more it seems the printer frequently used a sort of short hand when naming the chords. The 1102 is labelled E and not E6; it's "E-ish." The chord box showing 0212 is sometimes labelled G instead of G7, so it's" G-ish." Likely written with the assumption that the uke player is more on the ball than I! Fun book.

Carol Ann
 
ubulele said:
The problem with that particular muting technique is that the mute contact is so close to the nut that the muting is usually incomplete. When I was trying this, I found it more effective to use an E7 shape (1202) but just rest the middle finger on the 3rd string rather than press down. Changing the muting position to be a little farther from the nut works better.
Click to expand...

That is so a wrong technique to use ubulele. You just don't mute with a fretting finger tip, never ever.

What ripock told works, yours suck. But that is what most unfortunately do when they read 1X02.
 
Jarmo_S said:
That is so a wrong technique to use ubulele. You just don't mute with a fretting finger tip, never ever.

What ripock told works, yours suck. But that is what most unfortunately do when they read 1X02.
Click to expand...

I don't understand your reasoning Jarmo. If it sounds good then what's the problem? Ripock's method is also muting with a fretting finger by the way.

I find that 444X seems to work, also muting with the index fretting finger. Since the 4442 fingering uses two Bs of the same pitch (assuming an "in tune" re-entrant uke) we don't miss the first string B.
 
I'm also curious as to why the 2201 E6 is called the "George Formby E chord". I was also curious as to why the 2020 D7 with no 3 is often called a "Hawaiian D7". Are there other chords with names like these?
 
Jim Yates said:
I don't understand your reasoning Jarmo. If it sounds good then what's the problem? Ripock's method is also muting with a fretting finger by the way.

I find that 444X seems to work, also muting with the index fretting finger. Since the 4442 fingering uses two Bs of the same pitch (assuming an "in tune" re-entrant uke) we don't miss the first string B.
Click to expand...

Jim Yates, with fretting instruments a fingertip when making chords, is or should be always on or off! You can brake your hand if you wish trying stupidly muting with a fingertip. I am not talking about flageolets, What ubulele suggested is dangerous and won't even work reliably. So someone with longtime knowledge like myself had to step in.

1102 is just C#m7, the 6th degree chord in E. Your 2020 lacks the root, not 3rd in D7.
 
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ubulele said:
The problem with that particular muting technique is that the mute contact is so close to the nut that the muting is usually incomplete. When I was trying this, I found it more effective to use an E7 shape (1202) but just rest the middle finger on the 3rd string rather than press down. Changing the muting position to be a little farther from the nut works better.
Click to expand...
Ooh that works nicely! Brilliant tip. Thanks!
I generally play 4442 but the fudged E7 will work nicely in some songs. I also agree that it’s better muting with the ring finger.
 
Jarmo_S said:
Jim Yates, with fretting instruments a fingertip when making chords, is or should be always on or off! You can brake your hand if you wish trying stupidly muting with a fingertip. I am not talking about flageolets, What ubulele suggested is dangerous and won't even work reliably. So someone with longtime knowledge like myself had to step in.
Click to expand...

ZOMG! I’ve unwittingly imperiled myself by muting with my fretting fingers?!
 
I want to offer something, if I may. When I speak with my co-workers from El Salvador, in Spanish, I come across a bit brusque because I can speak Spanish but not well enough to speak with finesse. They understand that the tone is unintentional and they are open-minded about my stridency. I think we need to replicate that methodology here since not everyone is a native speaker of English. If we gave each other a bit more latitude in terms of conversational tone, then we would be able to side-step some of the peevishness that crops up. Just a suggestion.
 
ripock said:
If we gave each other a bit more latitude in terms of conversational tone, then we would be able to side-step some of the peevishness that crops up. Just a suggestion.
Click to expand...

I think the use of such terms as “stupidly” in the description of another person’s technique falls well outside the latitude a reasonable person should be willing to give without responding with a minor dressing down. And I don’t believe for a moment that that choice of terms was caused by poor language skills.... poor people skills, perhaps..
 
Swamp Yankee said:
I think the use of such terms as “stupidly” in the description of another person’s technique falls well outside the latitude a reasonable person should be willing to give without responding with a minor dressing down. And I don’t believe for a moment that that choice of terms was caused by poor language skills.... poor people skills, perhaps..
Click to expand...

I tend to disagree. Dyads such as good vs. evil, pretty vs. ugly, smart vs. stupid...those are very characteristic of non-native speakers. I myself am guilty of such over-simplifications when not using English. However, I don't have a horse in this race. I was trying to make a suggestion to smooth over some of the cross words uttered here. But I'll bow out now and go back to working on some D chords I've been practicing. Hope I didn't make any trouble.
 
Jarmo_S said:
Jim Yates, with fretting instruments a fingertip when making chords, is or should be always on or off! You can brake your hand if you wish trying stupidly muting with a fingertip. I am not talking about flageolets, What ubulele suggested is dangerous and won't even work reliably. So someone with longtime knowledge like myself had to step in.

1102 is just C#m7, the 6th degree chord in E. Your 2020 lacks the root, not 3rd in D7.
Click to expand...

You are correct about the Hawaiian D7 Jarmo. It is the root, not the third that's missing. My bad.

And 2201 - G# C# E B can be a C#m7 or an E6.

C#m7 - C# E G# B

E6 - E G# B C#

They are inversions of each other.
 
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