This is an interactive ukulele chord chart that you can play around on in your browser. Move around with your mouse or key commands if you want to work more quickley. It’s built for standard reentrant gCEA tuning and it’s what makes the instrument sound so bright. This will help you check out voicings and learn how to place your fingers on strings. You also get audio feedback and a visual diagram of what you’re practicing.
To begin, select a chord from the grid underneath the main playing area. Every square is a chord shape; from simple major and minor chords to add nines and seventh chords. Tap on a chord and big diagram at the top will change to illustrate how to place your fingers. The horizontal bars are the frets and vertical lines is the strings. The numbers within the dots indicate which of your finger you need to use (one = index; four = pinky). If there’s no dot, then don’t press that string but rather play it open. If there’s an X over a string then mute that string altogether.
How to Use the Ukulele Chord Chart
If reaching for the mouse isn’t your thing, you can control the entire widget using just your keyboard. To scroll back and forth through the progression list, use the left/right arrow keys. It lets you cycle through progressions comfortabley without having to lift your hands. To have it play the selected chord, simply hit the spacebar which will result in an attack on all active strings at once. To hear each note separately, hit the A key which creates an arpeggio effect plucking the string one after another. The question mark key toggles the help panel while hitting F puts you in full screen mode.
You also have control over the sound of the instrument through the audio controls. On the right-hand side of the main card, there’s a volume slider. This will come in handy if the sound is too loud for your speakers or if you are wearing headphones and want to turn it down. Pressing the Strum button will play the whole thing simultaneously but with a slight delay between each string as though you were strumming the chords with a pick. Pressing the Arpeggio button will spread the notes out over time allowing you to hear the individual tones that form each harmony. They both reacts immediately to any change of chord, giving you the chance to compare the sound of different chord shapes in real-time.
Just beneath the name of the chord are the tabs. They provide a smaller format but still display where your fingers go on each string, ordered gCEA based off that tuning. So it’s a handy place to double check your finger placements quick, rather than having to read through the full diagram. When you see a round bar extending over several strings in the diagram, it means the chord involves a barre chord; this will be reflected in the tab view by the repetition of the same fret number throughout. The two images supports one another visually and develop muscle memory as they connect the abstract chart to actual places on the strings.
You may want to experiment with various voicings that feel naturaly for your hand. There is more than one way to play some chords, and this instrument has a selection of popular alternatives such as Gmaj7 and Cmaj7. Pay attention to the addition of the 9th or 7th and hear the difference in the sound of the harmony. Also, some chord shapes will flow better into another then others… This is an indication of how you might structure your strumming patterns.
Since no special hardware are needed for the widget, it is a useful starting point before learning a real-life instrument. Experiment with every control in your time on the grid. Play as many different chords as you can get familiar with and don’t worry about getting it right. Go from strumming to arpeggios whenever you choose; there’s no ‘wrong’ option here. Your aim should of be to get used to not just how the chord looks but sounds too.
When you’re feeling confident with these shapes, applying them to an actual ukulele won’t seem quite such a challenge. Have fun, listen out for what works and play away!