Chord changer device and a bad left hand

Since I don't have good movement in the fingers of my left hand I have been researching these devices that let you play the strings of a chord with one finger. There are several, but I have narrowed it down to two. Travis Perry's "Uke ChordBuddy" and the "Ukulele Chord Changer" from Troubadour Music Company The ChordBuddy has only two actual buttons and a sticker to put on the fretboard for the C chord. That seems awfully limiting to me. The "Chord Changer" has seven buttons for 7 chords and seems to be able to play more music.

I need some advice. Which one should I buy or is there a third, better choice.
Thanks for your help. I should mention that I haven't purchased the Uke yet either.
Paul

Playing just 7 chords is better than nothing, but seems it would be very limiting.

Have you considered strumming with your left hand and fretting with your right? Makes my brain hurt just thinking about it, but if I had to... I think I'd try it.

Unfortunately the fingers on my right aren't any good either except for strumming. They will do that! Do you know anything about these "chord assisters? I guess I could play one note at a time that would only take one finger but I could do that on a keyboard and I want to learn Ukulele and Guitar( They make chord assisters for both)
UPDATE: I just found a third device; rock-it barre this will work for both any Ukulele AND Any size Guitar! So if you've heard of this one include it also. From watching youtube you only need one finger also.

I broke my finger last year and couldn't play for a while. You have my sympathy.
Have you thought about an open tuning? You might find a setup that lets you play with less movement.
Phil Doleman wrote a book about it.

I've seen pictures of these devices, but never seen one in person or played with it.

Other options could be similar to above. Open tuning combined with simple barre chords, like one finger across all frets. (or really, ANY chord shape that you can manage would equal a whole family of chords) Similarly, you could try playing with a slide. And I can think of at least 9 or 10 one-finger chords.

The chord fretting jigs just seem gimmicky to me. I guess if they work well and don't break easily with use, they're worth looking at. But, I know anyone who wants to play music can usually find a way to do it. Have fun with it!

P3aul,

If I were in your shoes with both my hands jacked up, I would move away from stringed instruments. I would experiment with instruments that have buttons like a saxophone and see if my fingers could do that. If they couldn't, I go to a harmonica which is fingerless.

The rock-it barre will work. Obviously it has limitations because it uses open tunings. My concern with a chord changer would be the health of your already compromised hands. I would be fearful that you're pushing your hand to close to its limits and paving the way for long-term disability. But that's just me, perhaps, being timid

Thank you for all your suggestions! It's just the problems of getting old I guess. I can play the keyboard all right I guess, I just don't practice enough. These barre chords seem interesting. I need to look into them. With one finger across all the strings anyway I could pick up my fingers where none touched strings. I thought barre chords might be the way to go, but then I saw where people were using fingers on different strings, plus having one finger across ALL the strings and I couldn't do that. Just having a finger across all the strings would work for me though.

Does someone know of a good introduction to barre chords like that? It would reduce my search.

Thanks!

I have no advice about the chord changing devices. I’ve never used or seen one in person. I do know someone who took up slide guitar when he was having hand problems.

Here is an article about bottleneck slide on the ukulele : https://www.ukulelemag.com/lessons/how-to-play-bottleneck-blues-with-slide-on-ukulele

P3aul said:

Thank you for all your suggestions! It's just the problems of getting old I guess. I can play the keyboard all right I guess, I just don't practice enough. These barre chords seem interesting. I need to look into them. With one finger across all the strings anyway I could pick up my fingers where none touched strings. I thought barre chords might be the way to go, but then I saw where people were using fingers on different strings, plus having one finger across ALL the strings and I couldn't do that. Just having a finger across all the strings would work for me though.

Does someone know of a good introduction to barre chords like that? It would reduce my search.

Thanks!

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If I understand what you're saying, it sounds like what you're after are open tunings. For example if you retune your ukulele to a C# E A, your ukulele is in open A. If you strum without doing anything with your left hand, you're playing A major. If you put your finger straight across the first fret, you're playing Bb major and if you put your finger across the 7ty fret, you're playing E major. And if your finger isn't strong enough for that, you can use a metal/ceramic/glass slide. A few years ago, I bought on amazon a book devoted to songs played with different open tunings. I cannot get to the book right now, so I cannot give you the title.

ripock said:

P3aul,

If I were in your shoes with both my hands jacked up, I would move away from stringed instruments. I would experiment with instruments that have buttons like a saxophone and see if my fingers could do that. If they couldn't, I go to a harmonica which is fingerless.

... I would be fearful that you're pushing your hand to close to its limits and paving the way for long-term disability.

Click to expand...

:agree:

You might be pushing the limits too hard or, sadly, have unrealistic ambitions - life can be hard . Before going further perhaps you might find value talking to someone medical about your hand dexterity and how you might work towards getting improvements.

If you decide to push ahead regardless then I suggest that you investigate Concert Scale Ukes and look for something with widely spaced springs. Nylgut Strings are lower tension than fluorocarbon so they are easier to fret, and have your Uke set-up well too for correct string heights (gives accurate intonation and easier operation).

Edit. Be aware that the barre chords demand finger strength, flexibility and control, that might be too much of a challenge for the OP.

Thanks Riprock! I think now I'm getting somewhere!I'll check Amazon for a book with "Open Tunings" in the title.

For example if you retune your ukulele to a C# E A

Click to expand...

You only mention three strings, was that a mistake or do you ignore the other string?

Thanks, Mike!

P3aul said:

Thanks Riprock! I think now I'm getting somewhere!I'll check Amazon for a book with "Open Tunings" in the title.



You only mention three strings, was that a mistake or do you ignore the other string?

Click to expand...

I wrote a C# E A. That first a isn't an indefinite article. It is the high g re-tuned to a high a. For whatever reason, the convention is to write the high G string with a lower case letter

OK thanks! It is a bit confusing! I don't know what all the buzz words are yet! Now this might confuse you but is that high G in the 3rd octave G(3) or is it the G in the fourth Octave(where middle C resides) G(4)? BTW I did find the book on Amazon and will download it shortly. You are being a big help!

This is one of my favorite things:
https://ukebuddy.com/chord-namer

You can use it to look up chords, and scales and such... but, the "namer" might be useful for you. Figure out what strings you can fret and what shapes are easy for you to make... then punch them in and see what chords you're making! You could "do the math" and figure it out for yourself, but this is SO much quicker and easier.

For example, in standard tuning, the "barre one finger across all strings" chords are all 6 chords, or minor 7 chords. You could play nearly anything using 6 chords as replacements and have a little fun with it. Will it sound right? Eh, depends on what you're playing and how much you jazz it up!

Get creative with your fingers and figure out what shapes they "like"... go from there.

I don't particularly have hand/finger issues, but there are certain things my fingers just don't like to do. I find most "standard" barre chords nearly impossible because my fingers don't bend in a "normal" guitar player kind of way. (I don't have Keith Richards fingers!) You do what you can, and you make it work.

P3aul,
The Troubadour Ukulele Chord Changer actually has 8 chord buttons (not 7) ... and you can play a heck of a lot of songs with those 8 chords. You can also play additional chords by combining some of the buttons and being selective about which strings you strum. In order to figure out the correct combinations, you would need to study the various chord shapes (there are many free chord charts on the internet), but until then, those basic 8 chords will take you far. Good luck with your journey!

Thanks for the correction Jan. 8 chords are enough for me, as a start anyway. It's limited to the little soprano though, so right now I would prefer the Rock-It Barre device be cause it just uses one finger across all four strings. I understand you have to tune your Ukulele to an open tuning. and I understand if you do that you can just use your finger(Could it be the longest middle finger?). I can't find much info on the open chords(like a chart that shows what chords are on each fret) Do you know anything about that?

YES, you can use your middle finger. Whichever finger works!

In fact, if you can keep two fingers straight, you can make some really cool "jazz chords".

I learned this from a Glen Rose video. Gonna have to switch to my phone to get the photos uploaded in a minute.

For each of these, I started on the 5th fret. I don't know what chord it is, use the "chord namer" that I linked above to figure it out!

If you're a music theory geek, this is a classic II-V-I jazz chord progression.

So, if you just barre the 5th fret... I use the middle finger. That's a II chord for whatever key it's in.

Move that middle finger down one fret to the 4th fret and drop your ring finger down on the 5th fret covering all but the G string. For me, the lengths of my fingers makes that EASY. Middle finger is naturally longer, pretty much falls into place. That's the V chord.

The third chord could be marginally harder if your fingers don't work right, but still uses the same two fingers in almost the same shape. Move the middle finger down another two frets to the 2nd fret. Let the ring finger drop to the 3rd fret and uncover the C string. That's your I chord.

There you go. Three chord shapes that are nearly the same, use only two fingers, and... you can start that sequence ANYWHERE on the fretboard and get that beautiful 2-5-1 jazz progression. I like to bounce that 1 chord up and down a fret or two, then return to the 2 chord... fun to play with! Strum it however you feel. Cheap entertainment.

Thanks, Loren. That was helpful too! I'll take any info I can get, particularly about barre chords and tunings. I'm also interested in using a slide on the Ukulele.

I think the slide would work well for you because you apply less pressure to a slide than you would for fretting with your fingers. There is a little bit of a learning curve with learning how much pressure to apply and of course learning to place the slide above the fret as opposed to behind it.