Ukulele Alternate Chords....what’s this about?

lclaypool20

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Hello,

I’m a beginner Ukulele player. Based on the advice of many posts on this site I am practicing with Uncle Rods Bootcamp. I’m making progress working through the practice sheets. I’m improving, but some of the 4 finger chords are a challenge for me. I’ve just now learned that there are alternate chords for many of the chords on the practice sheets. Fm6, Dm7, Cdim as examples. Is there anything wrong with learning alternative finger positions for the chords? Will this somehow be problematic down the road?

Thanks,
Les
 
If you intend to play chord melody style, you will want the melody note on the 1st (sometimes 2nd) string, so it helps to know several forms, "inversions" of the same chord.
A C chord, 0003 or 5433, has the root (C) on the first string.
If you want an E melody note, you might use 9787 or 0787; or you could get a low E with 000X.
If you want a G melody note, you might choose 9,7,8,10 or 0,7,8,10; or you could get a low G with 003X or 543X.
If the melody note is not within the chord, you may want to alter it to CMa7 for a B note or C6 for a Bb or just grab the closest melody note you can find.

Sometimes you may want a partial chord. Some folks use what they call a Hawaiian D7 2020, which has no root.

An B7 can be made 4320 or 2322. These both have the same notes and if you're playing in re-entrant, they're in the same octaves, just in a different order. The 4320 makes it easier to move to or from Em 0432, but the 2322 is a moveable chord, so is worth learning.
 
Last edited:
Hello,

I’m a beginner Ukulele player. Based on the advice of many posts on this site I am practicing with Uncle Rods Bootcamp. I’m making progress working through the practice sheets. I’m improving, but some of the 4 finger chords are a challenge for me. I’ve just now learned that there are alternate chords for many of the chords on the practice sheets. Fm6, Dm7, Cdim as examples. Is there anything wrong with learning alternative finger positions for the chords? Will this somehow be problematic down the road?

Thanks,
Les

Are you talking about alternate fingerings or alternate chords?
Alternate finger positioning for C chord = using index finger for 0003
Alternate C chord = 5433
 
Oh boy!

HUGE topic, and sometimes a fun rabbit hole to explore, but not yet, k?

What you need to know for now is that there are usually MANY ways to play the same chord, and sometimes one sounds better, or is easier to get to in a sequence.

Eventually you’ll probably want to know at least a few of them, like 4447 for e instead of 4442, but for now just learn them as they come up in arrangements, and eventually you’ll start to see the patterns. When you want to dive deep into that, Fretboard Roadmaps is an excellent resource.
 
This is from Uncle Rod in another thread referring to his Bootcamp:

"here's a shameless self-promotion plug for my Ukulele Boot Camp (see link in signature below).
if you are a beginner may I suggest that you skip over the second line of chords in each
Practice Sheet... for now. They will be a little more difficult to form in the beginning so you
can skip them until you are ready"
 
Les,

I may or mayn't be stepping on people's toes in this thread (I don't know), but I think you should realize that ukulele is a process and not an instance. And in the process you do things in the beginning and do things later on. I think you should learn your beginner chords. These chords are solid. For many people, their interests never outstrip these chords. However, if you are interested in music, then the other options are available further up the neck. But the beginner chords are still key to transitioning to other inversions/voicings of chords. I have found that once I became kick-ass at freting chords in the lower frets, I became more dexterous generally and able to even contemplate trying some more advanced chords up the neck. So my advice is to do due diligence on the beginner chords and then branch out to different chords with different roots when it becomes necessary and natural.
 
Ripock,

That makes sense. I will continue to work on those 4 finger chords that trip me up. I'm finding that I can do it, but just not very fast at this point. I'm not discouraged. I enjoy the practice and can see improvement.

Later,
Les
 
That's good. Definitely practice the problems directly, but also work around the problem. I remember when the A-shaped barre chord that we use for B and Bb eluded me. I just avoided it and became better at other things...then when I went back to the Bb major, it just worked; I had amassed enough general experience that the problem solved itself. Same thing with the C-shaped barre chord that we use for the C# major.

And speaking of barre chords. Some of my most feared 4 finger chords were overcome with barre chords. For example the minor 7 chord that is rooted on the E string (the Fm7, for instance). I barre the top of the shape and only have to worry about fingering the bottom. The same thing applies to diminished 7 chords.

Lastly, I bested some 4 finger chords by making them 3 finger chords. I do this by dampening a string. However that may not be for you right now because the only thing harder than playing a note, is not playing it.
 
One should learn and be able to play all chords including barre chords. However, If your hands or fingers are too small that is another thing. Some people have injuries due to accident or old age. I have that problem. There is no other way except to play what you can and learn it well so you sound as good as the person who can play all of the chords that you cannot.
 
Alternative voicings, where you play the chord at different positions on the fretboard to get different sounds, are very useful, and have already been explained.

Alternative fingerings, where you play that voicing using different fingerings from whatever your teacher or course recommends, are also very useful. Their main use is in making it easier to transition smoothly from the current chord to the next. As an example, take C to G7 at the root (0003 to 0212). If you fret the C chord with your third finger you have to slide that finger down to make the G7 using fingers 1, 2, 3 - that doesn't make a clean transition. But if you fret the C chord with your 4th (pinkie) finger, it's much easier.

One other thing to think about is whether you can make a chord change without moving one finger (often called anchoring that finger). That can really help with slick changes. Take, say, the sequence C, Am, F, all at the root position. If you finger the C (0003) with your 4th (pinkie), then you can play the Am as 2003 (keeping that pinkie in place), and then the F as 2013 (again, the pinkie stays). As it happens, these are also better fingerings for the Am and F than 2000 and 2010 because you don't double the A note at the same pitch.

Which fingering to use depends where you are going next. Suppose your sequence is C, Am7. If you are playing it as 0003, 0000 then it doesn't matter which finger you use for the C. But if you are playing the Am7 as 0453, then it's easiest to use finger 1 to play the C. And so on ..
 
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