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August 20th, 2010 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

Ukulele Starter

Using A Baritone Ukulele Chord Chart

A baritone ukulele chord chart is not something required only by beginners. In fact, very experienced players oftentimes use these charts. While there are some common chords that any player needs to be able to recall from memory, there are also some very rare chords that most people will not be able to fret without assistance. Some of the chords will simply be odd enharmonic representations of common chords, and others will simply be new chords which the player hasn’t had to employ in a song yet. They are very inexpensive and useful tools.

There are some things to which one must pay attention before they get frustrated trying to use a chord chart. For starters, there are two tunings commonly-employed for baritone ukuleles. One tuning is the standard ukulele tuning transposed to an octave suitable for a baritone instrument. The other is a standard guitar tuning, consisting of D-G-B-E, from the lowest-pitched string to the highest. Depending on one’s tuning, a chord chart may be very useful or totally useless. If the chords don’t sound right, check to make sure that the correct chord chart is being employed for the tuning used.

Sometimes, sheet music looks inordinately complicated and can make an inexperienced player question whether they could really move their fingers fast enough to play all the notes in a piece. Most composers, however, compose around chords. Using a baritone ukulele chord chart, a player can reduce complex melodies to simple chords and, thus, conserve their energy, while still increasing their accuracy and their faithfulness to the piece as it was originally written. Many experienced players use chord charts in this way as they make the process of learning a new piece much simpler. Watch out for chord names above melodic lines, as they are put there by the composer to facilitate easy play in this fashion.

A baritone ukulele chord chart, if it is written for the guitar tuning, will look familiar to anyone who plays that instrument. For a ukulele player, it will look familiar if one is accustomed to standard ukulele tuning. Either way, most individuals will generally be able to decode these charts very quickly. The preferred finger for each position indicated is usually given—1 is the index finger; 2 is the middle finger, 3 is the ring finger and 4 the pinky. This makes proper fretting very easy.

Finding a baritone ukulele chord chart is not hard. They are available from most dealers and come in many different varieties. There are versions which are included with instruction books and versions which are stand-alone products, oftentimes designed to be easily carried in the ukulele case. Some song books also contain them. If one happens to be purchasing a ukulele for a gift, this is a great item to include along with the instrument. Between the instrument, a tuner and a chord chart, the recipient can more or less pick up the instrument and start playing right away.

About the Author

EasyUkulele.com is your one stop resource to learning how to play the ukulele. At EasyUkulele.com you are able to both listen and watch lessons on playing the ukulele as well as find expert advice from Kainoa Louis on manufacturers, tips on playing, chords, music and more.

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