Slide Ukulele Chord Chart

A few weeks back I posted a blog called "Alternate Ukulele Tunings", covering some common and not so common tunings for the uke.  Following up here with a basic chord chart for "Slide Ukulele Tuning".

The tuning for this is G, C, E, Bb.  When strummed open, it creates a C7 chord.  As you can see from the chart to left, I've left a lot of blank chords for you to fill in as you go. 

This tuning is really meant for those that are playing with a slide (as indicated by the name), so for the most part, the way you choose to utilize chords is up to you.  Some slide players like to play with a slide on their index or middle finger and leave their other fingers open for fretting along with the slide.  Others prefer to stick the slide on their ring or pinky finger and alternate between slide chords/notes and fretting chords/notes.  The choice is yours!  As you develop your style for this, you can fill in

Ukulele re-entrant D tuning - basic chord chart

I posted a blog a few weeks ago called "Alternate Ukulele Tunings", where I talked about some common (and not so common) alternate tunings for the uke. 

I thought that it'd be helpful to follow up with some basic chord charts for some of those tunings.  So here ya go!

Here's some basic chord formations for re-entrant D tuning (A,D,F#, B).  Click on the image to view it, and then click again on the image to enlarge it for printing it off (if you don't enlarge it, it won't print off correctly).

I left some blank spaces on the chart for you to use to fill in a few chords if you're looking for a couple that I've missed. 

Hope this helps!  Happy Uke'n!

5 ukulele songs for a beginner to learn

In the last post, we talked about and diagrammed 5 chords on the ukulele that I consider to be the most important building blocks in your ukulele journey.  Those chords are C, Am, F, G, G7.  If you missed that post, check it out here.

Now that you have the groundwork laid down with those 5 basic chords, you can start to put 'em to use and strum along with a few songs.  Here's 5 songs that you can start to work on with just those 5 ukulele

Picking a Ukulele Tuner

Playing an out of tune instrument can be one of the most annoying things in the world.  It can even cause physical pain for some people.  Maybe more annoying than that, is tuning an instrument by ear.  While learning to tune your ukulele by ear is a very important trait, even more important is spending your free time with your uke actually practicing a song...not just sharpening your tuning skills.  There are a wide variety of electronic tuners on the market (some catering specifically to the ukulele) and for the most part they all do the same thing.  But before you go rolling the dice on one that you're not sure about, here's a couple of very trusted tuners to take a look at...

Snark SN-2 All Instrument Clip On Chromatic Tuner

This little Snark clip on tuner is a good choice if you're worried about misplacing your tuner.  I can't even count how many I have lost over the years.  Of course, as the name implies it is chromatic.  It has a built in flash metronome, a bright display, a transpose function, and it rotates 360 degrees.  The best part is the price tag.  You can grab one for around the $10 mark (plus

What's a Good Second Ukulele?

So you've been playing ukulele for awhile and are considering an upgrade, eh?  What uke should you upgrade to?  You're not a novice...but you're not an expert and you don't want to shell out $500.  What's a good second ukulele to continue your journey with that won't break the bank?  A lot ukes are being built these days to cater to people just like you, and while there are many options out there, I've picked out 5 of my favorite ukuleles in the $100-200 price range that would make a great second ukulele.  And hey, after you upgrade, you can always take that $40 beginner uke and stash it in your car to use as your travel/beater ukulele!

Ohana SK-20S Soprano Ukulele

A really tight little unit featuring a solid mahogany top (laminated sides and back) and a bone saddle and nut.