Chord Warning for Beginners

VegasGeorge

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Hey, all you newbies out there! I'm glad you're with us, and hope you're enjoying the heck out your new Ukulele.

I wanted to give y'all a word of warning about chords. You'll be wanting to play a tune or two that you like, and you will probably find the chords for the song online. That's great, BUT don't be surprised if it doesn't sound right when you play it. No, it's not your playing that's at fault. There are just a whole lot of wrong chords published online. You can always find the right ones, sometimes by taking some from here, and some from there. But, I run across wrong, or dumb sounding chords all the time.

To be clear, to me "wrong" chords are ones that don't sound like the chords used in the popular recording of the song that I remember. And, to be fair, many songs have been recorded with minor variations in the chording. So, technically, some of what I object to isn't so much wrong as it is just unfamiliar. What's "wrong" to me, may be "right" to you. That's OK. I'm just letting you beginners know that what you find online isn't necessarily gospel. You need to find the chords that make you happy with the song.

Keep on strumming! :D
 
Also, a lot of online ukulele music is transposed from the original guitar music to make it easier to play on the ukulele. Transposing changes the key of the music so it no longer sounds like the original recordings and sounds off if you try to play along with the original recordings. My understanding is that sheet music and play-along videos that you find on the Ukulele Underground website is always in the original key, but most other ukulele music sites do not have the same policy.
 
And often the singer has a voice that works in an entirely different key than yours does, so you must transpose, in order to sing it (sometimes without hurting yourself).

Fret the ukulele, not the key or the chords. Ask for help. Look for other versions.

Have Fun.
 
I agree, this is a common mistake among beginners. Explore with your Uke and ask questions.
 
I might add that sometimes you can create your own "wrongness". If what you're playing doesn't sound right to YOU, or you simply can't play what they're asking you to play... experiment with alternate voicings and inversions of a chord, and alternate chords, like a 7 or whatever. Sometimes what you're playing that's "wrong" is so subtle that almost nobody will notice, and if they do notice, they won't care.

There are certain chords that I just can't do... or can't do quickly. But, there are alternate versions that are easy. As long as it sounds good to me, I'm happy.
 
Having made over 500 ukulele play alongs, I usually start with an existing chord chart. I'd like to think with my musical training (bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in music) that my play alongs are accurate to the original songs (unless i'm intentionally simplifying a song, which I rarely do). I would never say that I'm perfect in this work--there are mistakes from time to time, but overall, they're highly accurate.

I seldom find the chords to a song that fit correctly--and many times, the arrangements identified by users as "most popular' are even in the wrong key (which doesn't work well when you're trying to play with the recording). I will change the pitch of a song (up to a whole step) to make it work better for ukulele (while you can play in F#, why would you?).

And as you go through any resource, such as Jim Beloff's Daily 365 (Yellow Book), you'll find wrong chords here and there.

I just write them in, and if I play with a group, I'll often let people know about the potential changes.
 
Thanks for the heads up! I have changed a chord in a song just because to my ear it sounded better. Or more right. I have been wondering if that's a big no no, but as I'm playing alone I haven't stressed that much about it.
But with pretty much zero knowledge of music theory I try to avoid improvising if possible until I learn more.
 
I have seldom intentionally made chord sheets in the same key as the most popular recording of a song. Since I don't have perfect pitch, I wouldn't know if it were in the same key (unless I were to try to play along with the original, something I seldom, if ever, do), so I write it in a key that's comfortable for my voice.
I must agree with VegasGeorge, the OP, that you cannot depend on the accuracy of chord progressions posted online (This is similar to advice about vaccines, voter fraud, the best ukulele strings . . . posted online). Just because it's on the internet doesn't mean it's gospel.
A mantra that I go by is "If it sounds good, it is good."
 
Some people are creative and want to make adjustments to songs in order to make them more to their liking. But others are literalists and consider anything other than the original, whatever rendition of original they want to play, is incorrect. Sometimes I, and other people in our group, submit a song that we have doctored up a little to our individual liking. Those are often met with criticism from the literal crowd as being wrong. In some cases we have several renditions of the same song in our library with the name of the person who submitted it attached to the title just to set them apart from what is considered the pure and noble rendition. It takes all kinds to make the world. I'm probably one of the most notorious of offenders as I can hardly bring myself to play and sing a song without leaving my own mark on it.
 
Some of the tab/chord sites allow you to transpose. Ultimate Guitar.com is one that comes to mind. Some of the renditions that people post are really out there chord wise. I don't use them a whole lot. My ears are pretty good and most of the time I can figure things out on my own. If the song is tricky I'll go to my keyboard first.
 
Also the uke might be detuned slightly.
 
And as you go through any resource, such as Jim Beloff's Daily 365 (Yellow Book), you'll find wrong chords here and there.

.

I love the yellow book. It is a great resource. My music background is nine years of primary schooling from fifty years ago.
BUT....
it drives me batty when I find obvious errors and the group INSISTS on playing as written.

For example, a G chord is indicated, but the music notation indicates that an F note is being played in the melody line.
Or,
Everyone is stumbling to get the timing correct and I point out that we are playing in 4/4 time and the notation is indicating that there are 5 quarter notes in the troublesome measure - can’t squeeze 5 beats in a 4 beat measure.

Awww, have fun and go with the flow
 
Also.....
In 4/4 time.....
And if memory is correct, and the ‘entry’ measure (whatever it’s called) has a single quarter note or one beat,
The last measure must have 3 beats

Music is wonderful that way, it is pure math — the equation must balance

Or is my 50 year absence showing itself
 
For example, a G chord is indicated, but the music notation indicates that an F note is being played in the melody line.
That's likely accurate and fairly common. The melody isn't limited to the notes in the harmonized chords.

5 beats in 4/4 is less likely to be intentional, but it does happen (technically it probably changes to 5/4 for the measure). Harry Connick, Jr. famously slipped a 5th beat in live to trick his audience back on track:



Music Theory is descriptive not prescriptive.
 
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Ultimate Guitar is one of my primary sources for songs. I regularly find songs with incorrect or missing chords. I'm always left wondering how so many people could rate such a song with 4 or 5 stars. It's like they are giving credit for getting close or presenting something that somewhat resembles the song. There's a good number of bad arrangements out there. This was never more apparent than when I was part of a group that had a leader who would just pick 4 or 5 star rated songs without playing them first assuming they were OK and when it came time for the group to play them, it was a train wreck. Another thing that drives me nuts is that multiple sites must use a common resource because I will find the same mistakes on the same song over multiple resources. Another thing that is frustrating is when the chord names are written above the lyric and the proper chord changes don't line up accordingly. That's why I'll always make up my own song sheets with the chord names buried inside the lyrics where the chord changes are supposed to be. It made me feel so good when during one of our Zoom uke group meetings one of the members asked me where I found such nice looking song sheets.
 
What exactly is a "wrong" chord?

A wrong chord is a wrong chord. It's a clunker. It's a clam. When it's played you go, "That doesn't sound right". It doesn't fit. It doesn't work. It sounds unpleasant. It doesn't serve the song.
 
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A wrong chord is a wrong chord. It's a clunker. It's a clam. When it's played you go, "That doesn't sound right". It doesn't fit. It doesn't work. It sounds unpleasant. It doesn't serve the song.

Exactly! Sometimes I wonder if the tune was chorded by an actual human, or maybe just some software that didn't "hear" the chords right when running the tune through its algorithms. It's not necessarily subtle differences we're talking about here.
 
A wrong chord is a wrong chord. It's a clunker. It's a clam. When it's played you go, "That doesn't sound right". It doesn't fit. It doesn't work. It sounds unpleasant. It doesn't serve the song.

Except for some jazz compositions, where it is intentional.

Or most things written by Charles Ives.
 
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