Signatures

The Chord signature is a compact representation which shows you all you need to know to play the
chord all over the fretboard. Its a compressed form of the Chord Maps we have just been looking at.

It is composed of two parts:

1. The fingering shapes for a chord
2. The map showing how to traverse the neck from note to note.

We have already examined the Major, 7th and Diminished7 chords to see how the fingering shapes repeat over the neck. Here is the summary of a few more shapes. (Downloads for all of them)

Here we can see the shapes we have already identified for the Major, 7th, and Dim7 chords. Also a few more common chords.

In isolation these are the fingering shapes to learn. The Root notes are clearly identified. For all of the chords shown on the left, there is one for each string.

Learn these shapes, one chord at a time, and concentrate on identifying the root node when applying the fingering to the fretboard.

You will note that none of the chords use the same shape (with the exception of the Dim7). This is because they all use different intervals. The Intervals define the chord. This is a music theory issue and we might get to it if you keep following the rabbit down the hole.

The shapes for the full list of chords - that I bothered to work out - are on the Downloads page. If you use the Inkscape extension you can lay them out on the page to your own requirements and export to print at your desired resolution.

Note that the Diminished chord is unusual in that there are only 3 shapes needed for the entire octave of notes. Its the only one like this, the others use four.

Some of these shapes are difficult to get your fingers into the right shape. Some can be made easier by using the Barre concept of squashing all the strings on the topmost fret. But some are more difficult like the Diminished chord.

The chords are listed in roughly their most useful sequence to learn but you could start with the 7th then go onto Major and the rest to make your life easier.

The Neck

The last(?) piece of information we need to know is where are the notes on the neck. Each tuning (arrangement of strings, or open notes) will place the intervals for chords in different places. This can get quite complex for a guitar with its 6 strings. On the Ukulele someone(?) determined the best distribution of notes to play the widest variety of chords was to use the GCEA tuning.

 Here is the map of how to traverse the Neck (GCEA):

The neck is drawn on either side so you can see the relationships more clearly.

Lets look at the +1 map.
This diagram shows how to move from a note to its next occurrence on the fretboard.

Examine the A string and see the line goes down two frets and across to the other side of the fretboard.

If we look on the neck you'll see another A at that location.

What this means is - if you are playing a chord where the Root is anywhere on the the A string - then to get to the next closest identical note - go down two frets and across to the the G string (other side of the fretboard). The map shows how to jump for each string. Its always associated with the neck and is independent of the chords being played.

So you could be playing a Song with a repeating strum of (say) a G7th chord, and to make it more interesting you occasionally jumped down 2 and across and played the shape for the G string. Still a G7th but a different one.
Here is what that would look like:

 Here we can see the basic information. The shapes are the two relevant ones from the 7th chord signature. The Root diagram shows us how to jump to the nearest notes down(up) the neck.

Here I have put the two shapes vertically aligned by the distance to jump to get from the A string root node to the G string root node. This distance is independent of the Chord chosen. Its always the same for a particular instrument. In this case the GCEA Ukulele tuning.

Here we can see that the alignment above agrees entirely with the map for the G note in the Chord map. So the Signatures are just a short form showing you just the minimum you need to learn. The Chord maps show the entire range of possibilities so you can see when you're learning them. The diagram to the left shows all the places to play a G7th down to fret 14. (The new octave starting again at fret 12.)

So the +1 map shows the distance to move to find the nearest identical note below. The +2 shows you the distance to jump to get two notes down and the +3 shows the distance to jump three notes. Most of the time one note is adequate but you can find yourself way down the fretboard and wanting to get back up quickly.

You should practise using the Root node jumps, not only going down the fretboard but going back up again.


You can now play any chord on any note on the Neck. You need to learn the four shapes per chord, and the jump offsets for the Neck. Add a new chord everynow and then to increase your playing ability. Practise playing all the notes in a Song on just one or two strings.


Next lets look at the three main tunings for the Ukulele - GCEA, ADF#B, and DGBE. (Tunings)