Trouble with b flat .

Hy Im having trouble with the b flat on my ukulele, any sugestions, Thank you.

Are you talking about the B flat chord shape?

LUISIDI said:

Hy Im having trouble with the b flat on my ukulele, any sugestions, Thank you.

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I had a similar problem on guitar transitioning from a C to an F (the uke is like starting 5 frets up on the guitar) until someone showed me a trick. Now it works for the Bb on the uke.

( As shown in this link for the guitar, we usually designate our fingers as 1-4 starting w/the index finger & going to the pinkie - Finger numbering

Finger an F chord 2010 & then practice "rolling your hand" so that #1 (your index finger) barre's the E & A strings at the first fret, #2 drops down to the C string, 2nd fret & you "add" finger #3 to the G string, third fret which ends up as 3211.

Practice this "rolling" motion from an F to the Bb (which IS a common transition) & see if that helps. It MAY seem awkward at first, but I found it to be a natural action when I learned it for the guitar many years ago.

Hope this helps! Mahalo

LUISIDI said:

Hy Im having trouble with the b flat on my ukulele, any sugestions, Thank you.

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What kind of trouble?

Press the first fret A string with your forefinger - that's a C7

Now press both the first fret A and E strings with just your forefinger - that's a C9sus

Now add the second fret third string with your middle finger - that's a Gm7 or Bb6

Now add the third fret forth string with your middle finger - Bb!

Good luck!

Also, you need a proper hand shape with your thumb on the back of the neck, not hooked over the top (I mean you can just about do it with a hooked over thumb, but it's waaaay harder).
And, your first finger isn't flat when it lies across the e and a strings at the first fret. It's rolled onto it's outer side a bit, towards the nut. It's also not straight down behind the 2 frets, but on a bit of a diagonal, closer to the fret on the e and closer to the nut on the a. And all of your fingers can be leaning a bit towards the nut if it helps. Here's a picture on guitar showing it:

It'll take 2 or 3 months to get competent at this, as it's using a whole new set of intrinsic muscles in your hand (they're the little one's between your fingers and in the lumps at the base of your thumb and pinky), and they need time to get into shape. If you find the muscles at the bottom of your thumb are aching, have a rest and maybe massage them, but keep going as you were because you're on the right track.
Good luck, crack this and you're over one of the most difficult hurdles!

Ergonomic tip: It can help to bring your left elbow closer to your body---to play a barré chord, best to have the fingers pointing in the same direction as the frets.

Lots of good advice.

The best part about putting the effort into Bb is that it opens to door to other useful moveable chords.

It was easiest for me to barr all the strings on the first fret with my index finger then place the other fingers. I could never get my index to just push down the first two strings cleanly. Hope that helps.

Does anybody just bar the first fret, top to bottom with the index finger, then hit the other two with the middle and ring finger? I guess that was easiest for me and I've been doing it that way. Maybe it isn't such a good idea? I've been doing the B the same way, except a fret over of course.

DownUpDave said:

It was easiest for me to barr all the strings on the first fret with my index finger then place the other fingers. I could never get my index to just push down the first two strings cleanly. Hope that helps.

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You beat me to it Dave.

thank you that helps.