D chord

I think Ms Bean suggested that positioning above.

Oops! Sorry I missed that! But yeah, I'm finding 2-3-4 as the way to go for me. For now.


I’m blown away by how many different ways there are to get the same result! Such a versatile instrument. I’m on about week 7 and every day learning something new, happy strumming :)

I'm a couple of weeks behind you LOL and yeah, for sure.
 
I paid more attention to how I play it sometimes and it's index finger on G string and middle finger on C and E strings. Just for fun I also tried middle finger on all three and it sounds fine, though I am not sure if I will practice doing that for songs.
 
Barring 4, 3 and 2 with your middle finger will definitely get a lot better. Once you've developed the bend in your middle finger you can also use it for the Dm and Dm7. You can even keep your ring finger on the second fret 1st string to change between Dm7 and Dm6 (and since it's movable many more).
 
Barring 4, 3 and 2 with your middle finger will definitely get a lot better. Once you've developed the bend in your middle finger you can also use it for the Dm and Dm7. You can even keep your ring finger on the second fret 1st string to change between Dm7 and Dm6 (and since it's movable many more).

I remember when I first learned guitar, my instructor mentioned not to do the double joint backwards bend as that can lead to injuries. I'm assuming you guys are talking about bending backwards on the joint.
 
Perhaps it depends how bendy your fingers are to begin with. A bit like exercising without warming up.

My fingers are very bendy after 30 years of touch typing and I’m surprised I can achieve all of these positions. Now changing chords with speed is quite another thing!! I’m still stuck on slow songs :D
 
No there is no D in there so is a F#dim.

It is an F# diminished because it is a minor third on another minor third (not necessarily because it has no D); actually it is F#dim 2nd inv.
 
Perhaps it depends how bendy your fingers are to begin with. A bit like exercising without warming up.

My fingers are very bendy after 30 years of touch typing and I’m surprised I can achieve all of these positions. Now changing chords with speed is quite another thing!! I’m still stuck on slow songs :D

Maybe, everybody is different.
 
It's called the "Hawaiian" D7 and its been a thing for quite a long while. So it lacks the root. Meh.


Ah, yes; that's the only question I got wrong on the beginner's ukulele quiz here. Should have known better.

Anybody know why it is called "Hawaiian D7" instead of its normal name?
 
Ah, yes; that's the only question I got wrong on the beginner's ukulele quiz here. Should have known better.

Anybody know why it is called "Hawaiian D7" instead of its normal name?

Maybe someone has better details yet its been used as a substitute for a more technically correct D7 for quite a while in Hawaii because its so easy to play so it's come into common usage. Those who still take issue with it being a "little" incorrect started calling it the "Hawaiian D7".

I actually like its sound. I've tried putting a "proper" D7 into songs that call for it yet find that I prefer the Hawaiian D7 instead.
 
I substitute "7" chords for major chords all the time. Maybe more than I should so it comes as no surprise that I would try to push convention by substituting D major with the "improper" D7. ;)
 
Maybe someone has better details yet its been used as a substitute for a more technically correct D7 for quite a while in Hawaii because its so easy to play so it's come into common usage. Those who still take issue with it being a "little" incorrect started calling it the "Hawaiian D7".

I actually like its sound. I've tried putting a "proper" D7 into songs that call for it yet find that I prefer the Hawaiian D7 instead.

Interestingly if you are on Hawaii or watch videos of Hawaiian uke players they rarely if at all use it. Once I mentioned the term Hawaiian D7 at Kanikapila it was not well received. Maybe some Hawaiian members can chime in on this.
 
Interestingly if you are on Hawaii or watch videos of Hawaiian uke players they rarely if at all use it. Once I mentioned the term Hawaiian D7 at Kanikapila it was not well received. Maybe some Hawaiian members can chime in on this.

Well @clear did state that it was the question that he got wrong on this websites beginner quiz so it certainly hasn't come out of nowhere.
Maybe some people have become sensitive to the suggestion that Hawaiians aren't technically proficient so they are in the process of deleting any reference to 2020 being the "Hawaiian D7".

I honestly like its sound and as its a lower sounding "inversion" of the chord it just works for me in many situations. Ukulele chords can be ambiguous at the best of times with no more than 4 notes in a chord (often only 3) which is one of the things that I like.
 
The general feeling in our group, is that the 'proper' D7 suits modern music and rock music best,whilst the 'Hawaiin D7' seems to work better in old time songs. Just an opinion, but it suits my gang to view it that way!
 
I won't go into the 'rightness' issue; I play rootless chords all the time. The thing that puzzles me is that the Hawaiian D7 is thought of as being easier for beginners. I always found it hard because you had to fret precisely. With the regular D7, you just slap your finger down and it is over and done with.
 
My fingers are too big. Is there a best way (or better) for making the D chord?

So, Cyhusk, what say you? Did we address your question or did we take it too far afield?

Some people I know will wrap their thumb around to press the "g" string sometimes if it helps to get all the strings needed in a chord.
 
Apologies for this digression away from the main topic of D major chords.

2020 may also be an F#dim (triad, i.e., F#mb5), but that doesn't stop it from being a D7 as well, even if a "rootless" one. We play many rootless (and thirdless and fifthless) chords on the ukulele—the main forms we use for 9th chords, for instance, are all rootless (there are alternatives, but they drop out some other component). It is a myth that a chord must include all components in its theoretical form in order for it to "truly be" a chord of a given name.

In fact diminished triads are used infrequently, far less frequently than 7th chords, and usually in contexts where they function harmonically as rootless 7th chords (which is how our brains tend to interpret them). It's rare that adding the missing 7th root would not fit (i.e. when the chord would definitely be an F#mb5 rather than a D7 harmonically). There's also the issue that if, in a lead sheet, you were to spell the chord as F#mb5 instead of D7, you would be artificially limiting how a player would render that chord (2020 is far from the only choice)—as well as obscuring how the chord fits into the harmonic structure. I consider both consequences bad things. mb5 chords also tend to be more awkward forms to play than either 7th, dim7 or m7b5 (half-diminished) chords, which usually serve better with more "fullness". I can think of only one song I play in which I definitely want a mb5, and even in that song, upon the third occurrence in a single line I substitute a m7b5 to develop the harmony and improve the voice leading.

It's not "may also be an F#dim" and is not "F#b5". It is a F# dim chord in the 2nd inversion. We can say that in the ukulele circle, it is referred to as "Hawaiian D", but that does not change the facts from western music theory.

I can omt sme lettrs and get my pnt acros. Or maybe not. But just because I spelled "letters" as "lettrs" doesn't make "lettrs" correct. : )

However you compose a song is ok, just like how I write a sentence. But one can't take away essential chord tones and still call that chord by name; there'll be another name. For example, if the 5th is flattened in F#7, then its no longer F#7 but F#m7. If the 7th is removed, then it is not F#7 but F#Maj. If the F#7's root is removed, then it is C#dim.
 
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