Basic Ukulele Chord Chart
Soprano ukulele, tuning G–C–E–A (high re-entrant G) · tap to hear
How to play
- Tap a chord to load its shape and hear it strummed. The diagram is the neck upright: thick top bar = nut, the four lines are strings G C E A.
- Dots show where to press with the note inside; o = play open, x = don't play. The top G string is re-entrant — it's tuned higher than the C string, which gives the ukulele its bright, jangly sound.
- Start with C, F, G7 and Am — four chords that already play dozens of songs. Strum rolls the strings; Arpeggio plays them one at a time.
- Vol sets volume. Keyboard: Tab to any chord or button, Enter/Space to activate.
The first step is selecting a chord from the grid up top. Simply click one of the buttons and it will load its shape into widget while playing it back for you immediately. Alternatively, if you’d rather use your computer keyboard, just hit the Tab key repeatedly to cycle between buttons until the one you want are highlighted and press either Space or Enter to select it.
The two modes of input allow you to play in whichever way suits you best… You’re welcome to stay on your home row or take full control with your mouse.
How to Use the Ukulele Chord Helper
In middle diagram, you can clearly see where to place your finger positions on the ukulele’s neck. There is actually only four strings, shown by the four vertical lines, labeled G, C, E, and A from left to right in the diagram. The first thing to notice is that the ‘nut’ (where the strings join the headstock), is represented by thick horizontal bar across top of the image.
The dots represent where you need to press down with your fingers. Each dot have a letter within it that tells you what note will sound after pressing down. As you can see from the diagram above, there are little markers on each of the strings. The O stands for an open note, which means don’t press down on any fret but simply play the string. If it has an X on it then do not try and pluck this string for this specific chord. It is presented in a traditional form of tablature.
This allow you to visually learn finger placement and build muscle memory long before touching an instrument.
Strum: Hitting this button will play each of the sounding strings as if brushed by a strumming hand. It’s a fast rhythmic roll that is great practice for playing in time and rhythm. The arpeggio button sounds the notes on each string one after another, starting at note G and going up through an A. This can really help to pick out the notes that make up the chord separately so you can identify which pitch they are.
You have full control over the audio levels using the volume slider at bottom-right of the interface. Whether it’s that you just like playing softly or perhaps you’re trying to practice quietly, the volume slider allow for adjustments as you go. It also makes it realy easy to compare different chords or playing styles by adjusting the volume as you go.
Click this button to expand the widget to fill your screen with the interface. It is great for tablets or laptops with smaller screens because it make an easy-to-read chord diagram that takes up your whole monitor. Just click the button once more to get back to normal-size mode.
If you want a brief refresher on the meaning of each symbol in the diagram and some simple pointers for navigating around the chords, simply hit the How to play button which will open up the help panel. You can then refer back to this as you travel from chord shape to chord shape when you want.
Begin with easy ones: Am, C. This is what I would call a 1-finger chord. It will help you get comfortabley with the interface. From there, experiment with harder chords that stretch your fingers out over several frets, or even bar them all together on multiple strings.
As you listen, notice how each chord sound when it’s arpeggiated as opposed to being strummed. You’ll begin to discover the effect this have on the voice of the chord itself. It’s intended as a kind of transition between looking at a chord on a chart and what it sounds like. You can place fingers straight away without any guesswork.
Make sure to take some time out to play around with all the different chords in the list. Don’t worry if you jump around from one shape to another. There is no mistakes when it comes to exploring these sounds. Just do what feels good to your ear.
Choose your chord and click the Strum button. If you don’t have an actual ukulele then this audio and visual aid are for you. The widget will provide a safe place to hone your skills whether you’re starting out as a beginner, or just need to remind yourself how it’s done. You should of had fun exploring these musical building blocks.