How to play this chords?

Pennyblack

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Hello everybody,

I'm very new to Ukulele and a bit overwhelmed. Could you tell me how to play these chords? Especially for the second chord, idk how to stretch my finger that much? Or maybe I'm reading the tabs wrongly - what does the sign before the numbers mean? Maybe somebody has a list of special tab signs.. Many thanks in advance!

Always,
Penny
 

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Hi Penny,

the squiggly line means you play an arpeggio, which means you don't rapidly strum the chord but gently play one note after the other, in a rolling cascade. The first chord, I would play with the pinkie on fret 7 of the first (bottom string when u look at it holding it), the index finger on fret 3 of the second string, and the middle finger pushing down on fret 3 and 4 together -- this might take some practice, though, and I would suggest practicing different chords first if you are a beginner.
The second chord is really a big stretch, and I find it rather exotic. If you do not insist on this particular sound, you can play the same chord with this variation if I got my notes right: 0-2-2-0 (outer strings open, the two middle strings held at fret 2). I have small hands, and I would be hard pressed to do that chord, although I would manage. Again, as a beginner, I would start with other chords first and expand my chord repertoire slowly, adding fingers and spaces between fret locations slowly.
Our main publishing organ, the ukulele magazine, has a good article on ukulele notation which I recommend: https://www.ukulelemag.com/stories/notation.
Just keep practicing, and all will be good :)
 
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Hi Penny,
These are probably not ideal chords for beginners to be practicing. I was able to manage them on a tenor, so they are reachable, but it would be difficult for small or unpracticed hands.

Tabs are read as if you're looking down at your fretboard with the headstock to the left and the body to the right. The top line is the 1st string (A), the next is the 2nd (E), then 3rd (C), and the bottom line is the 4th string (g). This is assuming you're using a right-handed instrument strung in the typical gCEA. You play the fret that's numbered on the line, with 0 being open (no fret).

So that first chord had my pinkie on the 7th fret of the 1st string (E), index on the 3rd fret of the 2nd string (G), ring finger on the 4th fret of the 2nd string (E), and middle finger on the 4th fret of the 1st string (B). Don't start with the pinkie, do that last after you've got your other three fingers in position.

The second chord is more straightforward with pinkie on the 9th fret of the 1st string (F#), middle on the 5th fret of the 2nd string (A), index on the 2nd fret of the 3rd string (D), and the 4th string open (g). Again, do the pinkie last.

Context is everything, and I'm not sure what song(s) you wanted them for, but using those notes, I have some possible alternatives that are easier and might be suitable:

The first, 4-4-3-7 chord could be played: 0-4-0-2. Read the numbers as 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st string. This keeps the same notes, but you lose that high E. If you want to keep the high E, you could try: 0-4-7-7.

The second, 0-2-5-9 chord could be played 0-9-10-9, which keeps the high F#.

I think these alternatives work whether you're playing with a high or low G ukulele. There might be better alternatives, but it's difficult to say without hearing the surrounding music. And really, these chords are a bit ambitious for someone very new to ukulele.

Oh, and the squiggly line means the chord is arpeggiated, which is a fancy way of saying you play the notes consecutively instead of at the same time. Don't completely separate them--they still share a beat, but you kind of roll them. You can do this by either playing a slightly slower strum or by pulling/plucking each string in rapid succession with your right hand (usually thumb, index, middle, and ring finger). Strumming is easier, but if you want to learn how to play fingerstyle, you should learn the latter too. Your left hand just frets each string like a normal chord. Unless indicated, the direction of the arpeggiated chord is usually from low to high (4th string to 1st or down strum).
Hope that helps!

Edit: To make it less confusing, I reversed the number order on the chords to read like everyone else's.
 
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Hi Penny,

Don't get discouraged. I've been playing for more than twenty-five years and I wouldn't even attempt to play 0259! (top to bottom). I've got small hands. It is a physical impossibility. Faced with the need to play that chord, I would use either the suggestion above (0220) or 7759, which is still difficult for a beginner, but doable. A different selection of the same notes does not always give a good result, but often it is better than struggling with something that really isn't feasible.

I would not recommend a beginner to try playing 4437. Again doable but likely to be discouraging. Try substituting Em (0432) and see how that sounds - or even a simple CMaj7. The originals are interesting chords. What is the song/tune and in what key? I'm intrigued!

John Colter
 
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I have been playing for a while and I'm pretty good at stretch chords, but I can only just play 0259 on a soprano. I tried it on my tenor and it sounds a bit squeaky. Anyway, it's really difficult. Don't beat yourself up if you can't do it yet.
 
I've been playing for a while, and that second one is beyond me. On the other hand, I can't think of any reason that I would have to play it. I'm sure though that you are trying to do something different than I do, so good luck.
 
I'm going to be the contrarian and encourage Pennyblack. Everything is hard in the beginning until you master it. In a typical ukulele curriculum people struggle with E major and Bb major. Penny is struggling with E minor and D add4. Same difference, it's just that the finger are in different places. I will, however, admit that the voicings she has chosen are especially difficult. I tend to play E minor as X777 and if I had to play a D add4, I'd probably play it 0655 although I hate open strings and I'd probably try to suppress the A note and find somewhere to play the other three notes conveniently.
 
I am only a year into playing, but wanted to offer my newbie perspective. One thing I have loved is trying hard chords. I play around with them for a while, maybe so I can tell that they are physically possible for me, then i put them aside. As I have moved on to harder patterns and pieces I have come across some of them again and find i can play them with ease, what a feeling of satisfaction. So by all means have a go but don't feel bad for substituting or modifying if you need to, just make sure it is fun.
 
Hello again everybody,

Wow! Thank you very much for the great support! I already heard about the great Ukulele community, but I didn't see that coming! :music::love:

I will try to replace the difficult chords with the ones you proposed and follow your instructions/advices. And yeah, I realize I still have a lot to learn.

For the curious ones: The song in which I found these monstrous chords was the ukulele version of "Hallelujah" version of Jake Shimabukuro.

Always,
Penny
 
Jake makes it look easy! I think this link loses the time code - he hits 0259 at about 2:38. I can just barely make that stretch on a tenor with I think the same fingering he uses. I'm not quite as smooth with it ;)
Code:
  I   | 1 |   |   |   |   |   |   | 4 |
  I   | 1 |   |   | 2 |   |   |   |   |
  I   | 1 |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
0 I   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |



Jake manages even longer stretches elsewhere. IIRC there's at least one song where he reaches so far he can just bounce his pinky off the fret long enough to play the note. I suspect he was bitten by a radioactive animal-with-really-long-fingers.
 
The 4-4-3-7 chord takes some time to get put is pretty doable. Try it in two parts. Try to get the 4-4-3 or the 3-7 sounding good on their own and then mash them together.

The 0-2-5-9 is a stretch. You can break that one up the same way but it still might be rough. Good thing is that if you get the first 4-4-3-7 chord down you can probably get a voicing that will make decent substitute. 7-7-5-9 sounds good and then you can do 9-9-7-10 for the next chord.

I lifted it from a Hawaii Music supply video.

https://vimeo.com/309358299
 
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