Before we delve to deeply into our ukulele chords let’s take a look at the tuning of your ukulele. The resulting names of the chords we play depends on how we tune the ukulele.

In this ukulele lesson I assume that you play a soprano ukulele and that you have tuned it in C.

What does C-tuning mean?

Let’s take a look at the piano keyboard to find out how to tune the ukulele.

C-tuning means that the third string on you ukulele is tuned to a C. If you use a piano when you tune your ukulele you will find these notes in the octave in the middle of the keyboard.

The notes in this most commonly used octave on the piano are called C4-B4. The number 4 indicate that the notes are on the fourth octave on an ordinary piano.

The first string on your ukulele will be tuned to an A4 as we call it. The next string will sound like the piano key E4. The third string will be the note C4. The fourth string will be the note G4.

Our first chord is C major. Let’s take a look at it:

C: 0/4 0/3 0/2 3/1

What type of notation is this?

This is a type of ukulele tab notation where we use numbers to indicate which fret to press down and on which string.

3/1 for example means: Press down fret 3 on string 1.

We will now proceed with the chord G major:

G: 0/4 2/3 3/2 2/1

As you can see this chord is the same chord as a D major on a guitar. A little bit confusing if you also play guitar but I guess you will get used to it.

The chord F major looks like this on your ukulele:

F: 2/4 0/3 1/2 0/1

Now we have three chords at our disposal and we can create our first ukulele chord progression:

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Christmas songs like Deck the Halls, Jingle Bells, Silent Night and Joy to the World are so entrenched in our consciousness that few people even have to think about the words or the melody. It just comes naturally for most of us, at least in western culture, to sing the lyrics and melodies without any thought at all.

That’s what makes it all the more fun for pianists who accompany carolers to take some really neat harmonic chances with the underlying chords. Generally speaking no matter what you do, and as long as you keep the beat going, no one’s going to get lost.

Christmas sheet music is very often notated with accompanying chord symbols to help pianists make good chord choices. Of course, the more talented the pianist the more interesting the choices. That’s why I like chord symbols on Christmas sheet music because, it gives me a general guide to follow and makes it easier to add more chords to the mix.

How is this done? Let’s take a song like Jingle Bells for example. If we’re in the key of F, the basic chord symbols at the chorus are as follows;

| F | | | | Bb | F | C7 | |

| F | | | | Bb | F | C7 | F |

Now, how would one approach re-harmonizing this very simple chord progression? Most jazz players would know the answer to that question but for everyone else the trick lies in something we call the 2-5-1 progression or II V I. This basically means that in front of every landing chord we can put a II V progression with the one (I) being the landing chord or destination chord.

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So use extended chords carefully, just to add a touch of colour here and there. One ninth chord placed at a telling position in a chord progression can add far more than half a dozen. One way to try this out is to take some of the turnarounds in section 3 and change one of the chords into a more complicated form.

Now it is time to explore one of the most exciting areas of songwriting craft. Got your backpack, provisions,suncream and maps? We are going travelling into the world of key changes.

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