Start here: the first 8 chords
In the order most teachers introduce them. All are open shapes near the nut, and between them they cover the keys beginners’ songs are written in.
Chords by key
Chords are learned in families. A key’s page shows its seven chords together, the three to learn first, and the progressions songs in that key use — played for you.
Major keys
Minor keys
Every chord, by root
C chords
C♯ / D♭ chords
D chords
E♭ / D♯ chords
E chords
F chords
F♯ / G♭ chords
G chords
A♭ / G♯ chords
A chords
B♭ / A♯ chords
B chords
The nine kinds of chord
| Written | Name | Formula | What it sounds like |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | major | 1 – 3 – 5 | Bright and settled — the chord a song in a major key comes home to. |
| Cm | minor | 1 – ♭3 – 5 | The major chord with its middle note lowered a semitone: darker, and just as stable. |
| C7 | dominant seventh | 1 – 3 – 5 – ♭7 | A major chord with a flattened seventh on top. It wants to move — usually to the chord a fourth above it. |
| Cmaj7 | major seventh | 1 – 3 – 5 – 7 | A major chord with the note a semitone under its root added: soft, open, and at rest. |
| Cm7 | minor seventh | 1 – ♭3 – 5 – ♭7 | A minor chord with a flattened seventh: mellow rather than sad, and the usual ii chord of a major key. |
| Csus2 | suspended second | 1 – 2 – 5 | The third is replaced by the second, so it is neither major nor minor — open and unresolved. |
| Csus4 | suspended fourth | 1 – 4 – 5 | The third is pushed up to the fourth. It leans back down to the plain major chord, and is usually played just before it. |
| Cdim | diminished | 1 – ♭3 – ♭5 | Two minor thirds stacked: tense and unstable, a passing chord between two steadier ones. |
| Caug | augmented | 1 – 3 – ♯5 | A major chord with its fifth raised a semitone. Its three notes are evenly spaced, so any of them can be the root. |
The formula is counted along the major scale of the chord’s root: a major chord is that scale’s 1st, 3rd and 5th notes, and every other kind changes or adds one of them.
Frequently asked questions
How do I read a ukulele chord diagram?
The vertical lines are the strings — the G string (4th) on the left, the A string on the right — and the horizontal lines are the frets, with the thick line at the top being the nut. A dot is a finger, and the number in it says which: 1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 little. A circle above a string means play it open. A bar across several strings is one finger laid flat. A number such as "5fr" beside the box means the diagram starts at that fret instead of at the nut.
What do the numbers like 0003 mean?
It is a chord written as text: one character per string, from the 4th string to the 1st. Each number is the fret to press on that string, 0 is an open string. 0003 is C.
How many ukulele chords do I need to know?
Far fewer than a chart suggests. C, Am, F, G, G7 will play a large share of popular songs, and the three main chords of one key will play thousands. The rest are the same shapes moved up the neck, and you learn them when a song asks for one.
Where do these chord shapes come from?
They are computed, not copied from a chart. For each chord the page searches every place on the neck a hand can reach in standard tuning, keeps the shapes whose strings sound exactly the chord’s notes, and ranks them: low on the neck first, open strings where there are some, as few fingers as possible. The first choices are then compared with a published chord database. That is also why every shape here can be played aloud and checked against a microphone.