Ukulele chords from first principles: Part 1
This post demonstrates the derivation of all the major, minor and seventh (major, minor and dominant) chords on the ukulele. This group of chords can be arranged in a simple sequence that aptly demonstrates the relationship between the notes of the chords and their fingerings. Part 2 will cover the remaining common chords that can be played on the ukulele.
Major chords
We begin with the following simple common major chords: C, E, F and A. Along each string of the ukulele, we mark the first note up the length of the string that is within the given chord. This gives us the familiar typical fingerings for these chords:
We can then extend these shapes to the remaining chords by moving them up the fretboard. D♭ major is C major transposed one semitone up, so from C major, an open string moves to the first fret, the first fret moves to the second fret, and so on. We repeat this for all of the remaining major chords:
Having done so, we note that D major and G major can be simplified using open strings, while E♭ major can similarly be simplified by adjusting the fingering:
This completes the set of major chords.
Major seventh chords
We now move to the major seventh chords, which, compared to the major chords, only involve moving one note a semitone down (e.g. C-E-G-C to C-E-G-B).
Consider the chords C, E, G, A and B♭. Note that the root note in each chord is doubled. To convert each to a major seventh chord, we simply move one of those root notes down a semitone:
We can now do as we did for the major chords, and move each chord shape up the fretboard to fill in the remainder of the chords:
There are no further adjustments to make, so we are finished with the major seventh chords.
(Dominant) seventh chords
We now move the seventh note down another semitone to reach the seventh (dominant seventh) chords (e.g. C-E-G-B to C-E-G-B♭).
Consider the chords Cmaj7, Emaj7, Gmaj7 and Amaj7. To convert each to a dominant seventh chord, we move the seventh note down a further semitone:
Again we fill in the remaining chords:
And the dominant seventh chords are complete.
Minor seventh chords
Now, bringing the third scale degree of each chord down a semitone gives us the minor seventh chords (e.g. C-E-G-B♭ to C-E♭-G-B♭). At this point, we also respell some enharmonic chords to avoid double-flats and double-sharps.
Consider now the chords D♭7 (C♯7), E7, G7 and A7. To convert each to a minor seventh chord, we move the third scale degree down a semitone:
Again we fill in the remaining chords, nothing that the pattern for Am7 will continue past Bm7 through to Cm7:
Minor chords
We are at the home stretch. Finally, by dropping the seventh note of the minor seventh chords and replacing with another note of the chord, we arrive at the minor chord (e.g. C-E♭-G-B♭ to C-E♭-G).
Consider the chords C♯m7, Dm7, Fm7, Gm7 and Am7. To convert each to a minor chord, we replace the seventh note with another note of the chord:
Again we fill in the remaining chords:
And finally, as with the major chords, we can Cm, Em and F♯m using open strings:
This completes the minor chords.
Complete diagram
Now that we have completed the entire set of chords in this series, try looking across the rows and down the columns to identify the patterns just described:
