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Difficult Chords
I’m four months into my Ukulele odyssey and still enjoying the ride. Although I can play through “I Don’t Know Birds That Well”, I’m far from ready to record it. That Bd chord is still a bit a struggle for me. I can play the chord just fine (upside down with my right fingers on the frets), it’s the transition to and/or from it that are slowing me down. You’d think Bd to Bdm would be easy, but I have to remember to get my index finger down on the C string. Meanwhile, I’m learning a song called “Timing is Everything” that has C to Bd to F progression that I’m getting pretty good at.
I’ve always been impressed with the way your (both of you) fingers dance around the frets, so here are my questions: What are some of the hardest chord progressions you had to learn? And are there any chords that you just decided you weren’t going to bother with? -
19 Replies
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Hi Lynn,
You deserve a round of applause for sticking with it for 4 months alone, that’s great! Keep at it just a little longer and we’re sure you’ll soon fly through those chord changes like a pro. We’re looking forward to the day when we get to hear your cover of “I Don’t Know Birds That Well” but take your time 🙂
The longer you keep playing the more you’ll find those little tricks of changing chord positions and some you won’t even have to think about anymore.
Starting off, we struggled with barre chords as much as the next person. F was the devil!
These days we know enough to be able to modify any chord to a position that works with our hands and type of playing. Very rarely do you have to play a chord in a position that’s really hard. There are always many ways to play the same chord. 🙂
Hard chord progressions? The first thing that came to mind was our original “I Wanna Kiss You”. It recorded in a way where I jump all over the fretboard so whenever we played that live I had to spend a full day trying to relearn that pattern. It was more of a mental challenge than in my hand but I think that counts, too!
Good luck for the rest of your journey!
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Lynn,
I started learning to play the ukulele a little less than two years ago, inspired by the “Birds” song. Here’s one resource that I’ve found very useful: https://ukebuddy.com/ukulele-chords . You can select any chord and it will show you all the different ways of fingering it. Or if you click on the “namer” tab you can select any fingering and it will tell you what chord that is.
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Whereas a lot of people have problems with the “F” chord (on guitar that is), I have problems with the B7! I usually just substitute a regular B for it. But if you like playing Beatles stuff you HAVE to know the 7th chords. Drives me nuts! I just learned a new way to play B7, for those that know tab it’s x212xx.
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The guitar and ukes are like every instrument for most of us. We simply have to practice hard and stay with it to learn barre chords and other challenging, but essential chord fingerings. Only by becoming comfortable with those chordings can you really grow and begin to experience the breadth that those instruments have to offer. I have been playing since I was 13 years old and I know that for me I had to work hard at chords that hurt my hands, fingers and brain, but it is constant repetition that begins to make them something your fingers naturally find. Changing chords faster and being more accurate is fundamental to playing songs on guitar. Yes, you can get by on simple chords in the first position, but your growth will be limited. Learn barre chords for major and minors, that difficult B7, diminished and augmented chords. If you want to play songs by MonaLisa Twins, knowing all of those chords will help you to haven an even greater appreciation of their music.
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LOL! For a lot of people that is the case! For me it’s the B7! It’s just a matter of keeping at it and it will get easier.
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Some chords are more difficut than others, but for me the F was the impossible one, took me months to make those two bottom strings sound like anything
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Yes, it’s not known as the F-ing F chord for nothing (Apologies M&L!). I just play it on the top four strings, and skip the bottom two. It’s not too noticeable if you are just transitioning through the chord, rather than hanging on it.
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Or they can just use the F barre chord.
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Ah yes, the B7 chord – the one that the very young Beatles took two buses across Liverpool to learn from someone they heard about who new the chord! It is a tricky one. Funny thing is, I’ve found that sometimes if I think very hard about moving to a tricky chord, I mess it up. After a while, when I reach the point where I do “know” the chord, I find that if I don’t think about it, but just do it, it works out OK. The Nike principle!
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If anyone is wondering what a 7 chord sounds like, the most obvious example I can think of is She’s A Woman by the Beatles.
It’s that sharp, spiky sound.
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One of the first things I noticed about the Twins guitar playing. They use all four fingers when playing bar chords. To go from G to C, A to D etc. I just bar three strings with my third finger. They had a good teacher who taught them the right way.
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Hi all;
Just wanted to add that there are multiple ways to play any individual chord. For example, an F can be played the way we have all struggled with at the beginning…..though much easier now with practice…..or you could capo 3rd fret and play an open D chord which translates to an F. For B7 there are again many ways to play it. One is to put your fingers on 1st string/second fret, 3rd string/second fret, 4th string/1st fret, 5th string/2nd fret. Another easier way is to bar 4th fret from the first through 4th string and put your pinky finger on the 1st string/5th fret. Also, keep in mind that for most songs if you have to do a B-chord of any kind (B7, Bm, etc.) the next chord is often some E chord (Em, E7, etc.)……so you would have to be ready to make that switch.
Mike
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OK, Let’s bar a C chord from the third fret, sounds simple enough. We place our index finger over the six strings on the third fret. We place our third finger over the 3rd, 4th and 5th strings of the fifth fret. Viola! a C chord, wonderful… Not Mona. Remember the A chord you learned on the second fret? Index on the 3rd string middle on the 4th and third finger on the 5th which is hard in it self having three fingers all scrunched together. Young Mona takes that entire mess up the neck? Really long fingers I know but that’s like us guys trying to do the splits. I’ve watched her bar the 5th and six strings with her thumb. They are incredible guitar players. Practice makes perfect.
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So here is my take and I am a drummer but have played guitar ( cords ) so would open tuning help with the F Cord? I see Lisa did open tuning on Both Sides Now and of course Keith Richards plays open tuning on Honkey Tonk Woman. Just throwing that one out there, I may be out in left field on this one , so If I am sorry
Bill
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Sorry Bill, I just found your reply. Open tuning won’t help with your F chord it’s completely different fingering. I like some open tuning. Tune your guitar to open G and you can almost play Honkytonk Woman by accident. Playing any chord takes practice, not long and you won’t have to think about it.
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Bill Thank you for your help. Makes a lot of sense and I just played the F cord and the fingering is not easy for someone like me who plays now and then but would think it would be a breeze for someone like Mona and Lisa.
Speaking of which I mentioned this before the cords for Black Bird appear to be difficult. Would I be correct on that? And Mona and Lisa did this song very well.
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Blackbird has simple repetitive chords with minor changes. It’s the finger picking with no set pattern that makes the song. A good example of playing not only with your fingers but also with your ears, you know what the song should sound like. Don’t make it complicated.
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Thanks Bill , I agree such a great song. And do you agree on how Lisa does the leads on some of the songs? One that comes to mind is While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Mona on You Can’t do that. They really do a great job covering songs.
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