D - Open Position and Movable Forms

Open Position

Movable Form

Mushy D

This fingering shows a fingering that follows one of the tenets of fingering notes and chords on the ukulele. The easiest place to finger a single note or multiple notes, with the least amount of effort is right behind the fret.

Checkout the Learn a Chord a Day lessons for Open Position D for all the information you can get from a chord.

One Root

Un-like the chords in the previous Open Position Chords series of lessons. This chord contains only one root and is on string three.

Transposing Movable Form Chords

These lessons use the root of a chord to transpose to different keys.

Root and Perceived Root

Determine what string the root is on or would be on if not present (perceived root) in the chord's voicing.

Chord Transposition Chart

This transposition chart can be used for any chord where the root, or letter name of the chord is on the C string .

The root is on string 3, the C string.

Use the Root or perceived root of the chord to transpose to different keys.

A larger sized transposition chart is available in the Ukulele Chords book. This is the book these expanded chord lessons are based on.

Chord Tones – D F# A

The chord tones of a D major chord are the 1st, 3rd, and 5th scale degrees of the D Major Scale ( D E F# G A B C D' ) .

• 1 – the Root or letter name of D is D
• 3 – the third of D is F#
• 5 – the fifth of D is A

Movable Chord Forms

Movable chord forms are chords containing no open strings. These chords can be transposed to different keys by moving each note of the chord the same number of frets up and down the neck.

Movable form chords allow you to play in any key and transpose chords, progressions, and songs to any key. From basic movable form chords, more advanced chords can be created.

The functional range of a movable chord depends on the ukulele's size (soprano, concert, or tenor), the number of frets to the body (10, 12, 14, etc.) and whether you have a cut-away for access to higher frets. Not all chords can be transposed a complete octave (12 frets).

Movable form chords can be used along with open-position chords. As you learn more movable form chords, you'll have a variety of alternate voicings for any given chord.

Movable form chords can be transposed up and down the fingerboard using the root of the chord and a transposition chart, or through knowledge of the names of the notes on the fingerboard.

Chord Fingering

Chord fingering is dependent on several factors. The chord you're currently on, the previous chord, the next chord, your hand, and fingers. All chord fingerings shown are recommended fingerings and not mandatory. Most chords have alternate fingerings dependent on the context. The same chord might even be fingered one way in one part of a song or progression and an alternate fingering in another part.

Derived Chords

sus or suspended Chords

A sus chord implies the suspension of the third of a major, minor or seventh chord. The most common and historical use of this suspension involves raising the third of a major or seventh chord to the fourth for a sus4, or 7sus4. In some contemporary music, the suspension can also be accomplished by lowering the third of a major or minor chord to a second for a sus2 chord.

The term is borrowed from the contrapuntal technique of suspension, where a note from a previous chord is carried over to the next chord, and then resolved down to the third or tonic, suspending a note from the previous chord. However, in modern usage, the term concerns only the notes played at a given time; in a suspended chord, the added tone does not necessarily resolve and is not necessarily "prepared" (i.e., held over) from the prior chord.

Technically a sus2 is not really chord as in traditional harmony a sus or suspension only referred to the third of the chords. So, really a sus2 is most likely a power 5 without a third and with an added 2. And, another chord that, at its foundation is not a chord but a DYAD.

add2/add9 Chords

Technically the add 2 and add 9 are different chords.

Both the 2 and the 9 are the same letters but in different octaves of the scale. On ukulele, for all practical purposes, you can treat both the add2 and add9 chords as the same. Depending on whether you are using a low "G" or high "G", C tuning the added ninth might be a second. Whether you call it an add9 or add2 depends on whether the added note is in the same octave as the root of the chord.

Related to a C Major Scale a D is both a 2nd and a 9th (shown to the right). All depends on where the root is.

Power Five Chords

A Power 5 chord contains the root and fifth of a major scale with an optional octave of the root added for a three note power 5 chord. A power 5 chord is technically not a chord in the traditional sense but a dyad or interval. It's more of an implied chord sometimes major and sometimes minor.

9th Chords

A 9th chord is a 5-part chord.

For a 5-part 9th chord, the root is implied and displaced for the ninth. Optionally the 3rd of a 7th chord can be lowered two frets (a whole step) for 1 9 5 b7. This really works if you have already played the chord with the third present and establishing the color of the chord.

To create a ninth chord raise the root of a 4-part chord two frets. This applies to a 7th, maj7, m7, 6, m6, m7b5, etc… Most all 4-part chords can be turned into ninth chords. For a 7th chord this would be a 9 3 5 b7.

This same process can be applied to a triad by raising the root two frets. For these chords they are typically called add2 or add9 chords.

Chords are pretty flexible and can be implied by containing the notes of the chord that make it different then another chord types with the same root. Take C and Cm, C is C E G and Cm is C Eb G. The third of the chord the E or Eb is a color tone and is responsible for making a major chord different sounding then a minor chord with the same root.

Chord Progressions

12 Bar Blues in Key of "G" Major

12 Bar Blues in Key of "D" Major

If your ukulele does not allow access to the higher frets for a particular chord, then substitute another movable form chord lower down the neck or an open position chord.

PRACTICE NOTE: To gain the most from these chord lessons and the practice progressions, memorize the location of each chord and the name of the chord.

I've pulled this trick question on a few of my private students after they have played a chord in a lesson. Typically this happens at the beginning of a lesson before we actually get into the lesson. I'll ask them to play a chord that I just saw them play. I'll say; "Play a D chord." Some will say they don't know chord so and so and yet it's a chord they just played. Don't let a chord get lost in a particular song or progression. Know its name and it belongs to you for using elsewhere.