Basic Ukulele Chords and Songs for Beginners

The C chord, D chord, G chord, and Em chord are the most significant basic ukulele chords to play in most songs. These chords suit to play a ton of songs and become easy to master. When you get familiar with these chord diagrams once, it becomes easier to play simple ukulele songs, including the hit songs of Taylor Swift, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Adele, and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Take a look at what those chords look like after writing in the ukulele chord chart below:

You first need to learn how to hold your uke. Hold your uke and find the neck, headstock, and body of your instrument. Are you able to detect each of these pieces? There are four tuners on the headstock, of which two are on the left and two on the right. The 4-strings and a fretboard are on the neck. Besides, the soundhole, bridge, and saddle remain on the body of your instrument.

If you want to hold the uke correctly, utilize your right hand, where the neck gets united with the body. Using your right hand, fetch the ukulele to your chest. The back portion of your ukulele body ought to be placed against your chest. You will observe that the instrument neck is pointed at the two. While adjusting the position of the neck, you ought to be capable of supporting your instrument with your right hand. The neck ought to remain to the left of your body. On the other hand, the saddle and bridge are on the right.

Utilize your left hand to come into a pack-man shape. Fetch the pack-man form up to the neck of your ukulele near your headstock. Observe where the thumb and fingers have remained. Then, observe your wrist positions. Your wrist remains in the natural rotation, and your thumb ought to be aligned with your one finger. It is significant to mention that you’ll crave to sustain this hand gesture when you start going through the various chord fingerings.

Now, your instrument is in the correct position. Let’s see the name of the strings quickly. Look down, with the neck of your instrument on the left side of your body. You’ll view 4 strings. The “String 4″ stays the closest to the top. Besides, it is also named the G-string. The 4th string has been tuned to G.

The string below the G string is “String 3.” The 3rd String is familiar as the C-string. The String has been tuned to C.

The string below the C string is “String 2.” The 2nd String is noted as the E-string. This String has been tuned to E.

The String at the bottom is named “String 1”. Indeed, the A-string is the name of the bottom String. It has been tuned to A.

Note that the number of strings remains in reverse order when you look down at the Strings when they are in the correct position. The top String is String 4, and the bottom is String 1. It will become handy for you while beginning to read tabs.

Knowing the names of each string will help you to learn how to tune your ukulele now. We will start tuning the ukulele from String 4, it is the G-string. So, you may require a tuner. A tuner may have built-in in your ukulele. If not, a tuner attached to the headstock can be used. More, a tuner app on your smartphone might be another option. You hold the instrument in the correct position, utilize the thumb of your right hand, and play the 4th string at the down. Test your tuner. If your played note becomes more or less than the G, the tuner head attached to the G-string needs to be adjusted.

You can find the tuner head for the G-string by putting your finger on the G-string. Then, you have to pursue the G-string to the top of the headstock. You will find a wrapped tuner around the string. And it is the tuner you have to rotate to adjust the length of your String. If you are successful in tuning your 4th string to G, then you need to reiterate the process on the C-string.

Now, use your thumb to pluck your C-string. Test your tuner to observe if the played note remains higher, lower, or directly on C. Next, adapt the correct tuner to find your C-string in tune. Keep on the same process for the E-string and A-string.

In the case of new instruments or frequent playing, or having old strings, you might require to adjust your tuning often and often. Before starting play, you should check the tuning. After a time, tuning the instrument may be possible for you by ear. For this, some practice is necessary, but it is handy when the tuner is in scarcity.

There’re only three or four chords in some of the best compositions of all time, but don’t make you fooled by their simplicity. Honestly, we have preferred some easy ukulele songs. The reason is so that players can feel the joy of playing a uke within a short period. You can take these melodies as launching and motivational songs. Or, you might only wait sitting on a seat and get pleasure from just how far these four ukulele chords can carry you.

Carefully place your fingers on each chord and ensure that you hear all the notes conspicuously. To confirm it, attempt to play every string separately and adapt your fingers according to necessity if muted or muddy notes come to hear. Practice first every chord with a down strum utilizing your right-hand thumb before you endeavor to play any of these tunes.

These simple ukulele songs contain all in the time signature noted as 4/4, which means each measurement holds four beats and a quarter note of each of those beats. Therefore, to make yourself prepared for mastering these songs, you play every chord four times. Begin with the G cord and play several amounts of four successive down strums at a slow pace. After that, go to the C chord, return to the G chord, and then the D chord. You attempt to tap your feet to play the chords and try playing each chord for four numbers.

Maybe, it is easy enough to learn a single chord. But rightly, it needs some practice to memorize different chords and switch them seamlessly. Don’t feel frustrated if it seems to be a hassle to change between different chords at first. With time, make your muscle memory. Next, you no longer have to worry about where the fingers have to transfer.

If you can go from chord to chord once in relative comfort, you will become ready to attempt playing one of the ukulele songs enlisted below. Keep in mind a somewhat slow start first, and progressively increase the speed because you need to be more comfortable. Right now, you don’t hope of playing along with the recording, okay?

In the starting, beginning with a known song will be ideal for you. It will support you to change the chords right and let you sing or hum the tune while playing. You can then go to the more challenging things. Now, take a look at some easy ukulele songs for new players.

Brown Eyed Girl remains in 4/4 time. It implies that you can enumerate: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. There are 4-beats in each measurement. It comes at 150 bpm.

For the verse: The G-C-G-D is its pattern. Every chord has 4-beats. It reiterates 4 times, then C-D-G-Em-C-D-G beats 4 times each. After that, you need to play a D-chord and maintain the chord. For the refrain: you need to play the D-chord for 8-beats. Then, you have to play the G-C-G-D-G-C-G-D every chord for 4-beats. You can play this song in verse, verse, refrain, verse, refrain.

• Verses: G, C, G, D, G, C, G, D, G, C, G, D, G, C, G, D, C, D, G, Em, C, D, G

Blowin’ In The Wind stays in 4/4 time. It implies that you can enumerate: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. Each measurement has four beats. It holds at 87 bpm.

For the verse: G needs 2-beats. C needs 2-beats. G needs 4-beats. G needs 2-beats. C needs 2-beats. D needs 4-beats. Repeat. For the refrain: Each chord takes 2-beats without the last G chord. The last G-Chord takes 4-beats.

• Verses: G, C, G, G, C, D, G, C, G, G, C, D

“I Won’t Back Down” remains in 4/4 time. It implies that you can enumerate: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. There are four beats in every measure. It is a song of 115 bpm.

Its verse will seem to be pretty straightforward. The pattern is given below in the form of a list. The Em and D chords each need 2-beats. The G and C chords each require 4-beats.

The chorus will appear to be fun but a bit complicated at first. Run fast C-G-C as soon as the chorus starts. Then, run G-D and next G-C. Every change in this cord comes in half a beat, meaning the C-G-C remains a total of one and a half beats. For the correct timing, you may require to hear a few times.

• Verses: Em, D, G, Em, D, G, Em D, C, Em, D, G
• Choruses: C, D, C, D, C, D, Em, D, G, Em, D, G

“22” remains in 4/4 time. It implies that you will enumerate: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. Each measure has four beats. This song contains 103 bpm.

The verse of “22” features pretty simple. The pattern will be the G-D-C-D, and each chord wants 2-beats.

The chorus can seem to be a little tricky. The G-D-C-C-D-C-D-D every chord takes 2 beats. It reiterates twice and then goes back to the pattern of the verse.

• G, D, C, D

“Tougher Than the Rest” remains in 4/4 time. It implies that you’ll enumerate: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. You’ll find four beats in every measure. It is a song of 99 bpm.

The chord progression is enlisted below for the verses and bridge of this song. You’ll notice that this song will appear to be a bit different compared to the other songs on this list. There is a different rhythm pattern for each chord. That means a different number of beats is used for each chord. You need to hear the words of this song and hear when the chord becomes changed along with every word. “Tougher Than the Rest” will not seem like a rugged tune, but you have to listen to it.

• Verses: G, C, D, C, G, D
• Bridge: Em, C, G, C, D, G, Em, C, G, C, G, D, G