6
The C Chord
Now that we believe the Little Beastie to be in tune, it's time to play a chord.
A chord is a combination of two or more notes that are played at the same time.
Sometimes they blend together harmoniously, as consonant chords, and sometimes
they blend together less harmoniously, as dissonant chords. And of course there
is a whole range of chords from the most consonant to the most dissonant,
and what may sound consonant to you may sound dissonant to me.
The C chord is the Red Giant of the ukulele chord universe.
C It's by far the most common chord, and is among the easiest to play.
Think of the C chord as playing the lead role in a blockbuster musical
ooo supported by a cast of thousands. Additional major, minor and walk-on
characters will appear, and some kind of plot will develop along the way.
The C chord diagram shows that some finger is holding the 1st string at
the 3rd fret, and that the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings are left to ring open;
witness the little "O's" above the nut. (There is no musical distinction
between fretted and unfretted notes within a chord. Notes be notes.)
Ah, but now, which finger? Well, we could designate the same one always, for the sake
of consistency. But you might as well realize from the very start: The Ukulele Is Options.
You have (I hope) 4 fingers, and any one of them could handle the C chord fingering. So.....
The question arises: What other chords are you likely to visit? Which fingers might you
want to keep free to expedite the change to the next chord. We have exactly 4 options
(just use a downward motion of the thumb to set those strings a-ringing):
C C C C .....where:
ooo ooo ooo ooo
1 is the 1st finger (index finger, forefinger)
2 is the 2nd finger (middle finger, long finger)
3 is the 3rd finger (ring finger)
4 is the 4th finger (pinky finger)
1 2 3 4
In the C Chord Family, which we are about to explore, it's best to go with
either the 3rd or 4th finger. The 3rd finger is the stronger of the two, so it's
a good default fingering. Then again, the 4th finger allows easier access
to the chords that usually show up in the same songs as C,
such as F, G, G7, Am and Em. Try both.
