Learning to play a musical instrument gives you the power to communicate and express yourself through music. When you pick up a new instrument like a ukulele, which is a stringed instrument, you’ll need to learn basic chords to be able to play songs. Think of chords as groups of musical notes that are the building blocks of the songs you want to learn to play.
It takes time to learn all the ukulele chords, but even by learning a few basic chords, you can be ready to start playing songs. Here’s a look at some of the basic major, minor, and seventh ukulele chords beginners should learn.
Major Ukulele Chords
The seven major chords include: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Major chords create tones that are happy and bright sounding, which is why they are the most commonly used chords. As a beginner the ones you’ll want to focus on include C, D, E, F, G, and A. The B chord usually isn’t learned immediately by new ukulele players because it’s difficult to play, and luckily, it isn’t used very much.
Minor Ukulele Chords
Minor chords have a very different sound in music. While major ukulele chords sound happy and bright, minor chords often seem a bit melancholy and can really add feeling to a piece of music. Most songs include a mixture of major and minor chords, creating a back-and-forth between happier and sad tones. The easier and most-often used minor chords for beginners include Am (minor), Dm, and Em. The F#m ukulele chord, C#m ukulele chord, and Bm ukulele chords are a bit tougher to learn and are better saved for later.
Seventh Ukulele Chords
Last, you have seventh chords, which are often used in soul and jazz styles of music. They offer a bit of a funky tone to songs, although they’re not as commonly used as the major and minor chords. Even just adding one seventh chord to a piece of music can completely change the tone and mood of the piece. While the A7, C7, G7, and E7 ukulele chords are fairly easy, the others are a bit harder to play. But it’s worth learning all of the seventh chords as you improve your skills.
Once you’re able to master these beginner ukulele chords, you’ll be ready to start playing songs. In fact, even if you only learn a few chords to start with, there are plenty of fun songs you can play once you’ve learned four or five chords well. Have fun, practice, and get on your way to enjoying the music.