Howdy,? Y'all!
For my first post on this forum I thought I'd post my own arrangement? of "Nagasaki" for GCEA ukulele tuning.
I think its a great exercise to try to arrange some of your guitar repertoire for other instruments like ukulele as you ultimately end up learning some usefull chord inversions that can be applied to the first four strings of the guitar. For example if you use GCEA uke tuning then you can apply these same chords on the guitar by moving them up a fourth as if the guitar has a capo on the fifth fret.
The first set of numbers refer to fret position on strings four, three, two, and one respectively. The second set of numbers in parentheses refer to suggested fingerings. For suggested fingerings I recommend that you use the ones provided by "The Wizard of Strings" himself in Mel Bay's "Ukulele Method For Chord and Melody Playing" by Roy Smeck. This book is still in print and can be found at most music stores for under $10.00. (Note: The Smeck book is for ADF#B tuning but this is the same interval relationship as GCEA. Welcome to the wonderful world of ukulele.)
F = 2010 (2010)
F#0 = 2323 (1324)
Gm7 = 0211 (0211)
C7 = 0001 (0001)
Dm7 = 2213 (2214)
Bb6 = 0211 (0211)
F0 = 1212 (1324)
C = 0003 (0003)
Bb = 3211 (3211)
Bbm = 3111 (3111)
F7 = 2313 (2314)
E7 = 4445 (2224)
A?A?BA? Format
1st A section:
[F F#0][Gm7 C7][F F#0][Gm7 C7]
[F Dm7][Bb6 F0][C C7][F C7]
2nd A section:
[F F#0][Gm7 C7][F F#0][Gm7 C7]
[F Dm7][Bb6 F0][C C7][F F]
B section:
[Bb][Bbm][F ][F7 ]
[Bb][Bbm][F E7][Gm7 C7]
Repeat 1st A section:
[F F#0][Gm7 C7][F F#0][Gm7 C7]
[F Dm7][Bb6 F0][C C7][F C7]
Once you become comfortable with the chord grips at the nut then try moving it up two frets. This will require some slight alterations in fingerings. But once you've got the hang of it you'll have some great alternative movable first four string chord inversions for "rhythm changes" on the guitar. The Smeck fingerings are really elegant and allow the chords to fall beautifully under the fingers for playing this tune up to tempo.
Uke can do it!
For my first post on this forum I thought I'd post my own arrangement? of "Nagasaki" for GCEA ukulele tuning.
I think its a great exercise to try to arrange some of your guitar repertoire for other instruments like ukulele as you ultimately end up learning some usefull chord inversions that can be applied to the first four strings of the guitar. For example if you use GCEA uke tuning then you can apply these same chords on the guitar by moving them up a fourth as if the guitar has a capo on the fifth fret.
The first set of numbers refer to fret position on strings four, three, two, and one respectively. The second set of numbers in parentheses refer to suggested fingerings. For suggested fingerings I recommend that you use the ones provided by "The Wizard of Strings" himself in Mel Bay's "Ukulele Method For Chord and Melody Playing" by Roy Smeck. This book is still in print and can be found at most music stores for under $10.00. (Note: The Smeck book is for ADF#B tuning but this is the same interval relationship as GCEA. Welcome to the wonderful world of ukulele.)
F = 2010 (2010)
F#0 = 2323 (1324)
Gm7 = 0211 (0211)
C7 = 0001 (0001)
Dm7 = 2213 (2214)
Bb6 = 0211 (0211)
F0 = 1212 (1324)
C = 0003 (0003)
Bb = 3211 (3211)
Bbm = 3111 (3111)
F7 = 2313 (2314)
E7 = 4445 (2224)
A?A?BA? Format
1st A section:
[F F#0][Gm7 C7][F F#0][Gm7 C7]
[F Dm7][Bb6 F0][C C7][F C7]
2nd A section:
[F F#0][Gm7 C7][F F#0][Gm7 C7]
[F Dm7][Bb6 F0][C C7][F F]
B section:
[Bb][Bbm][F ][F7 ]
[Bb][Bbm][F E7][Gm7 C7]
Repeat 1st A section:
[F F#0][Gm7 C7][F F#0][Gm7 C7]
[F Dm7][Bb6 F0][C C7][F C7]
Once you become comfortable with the chord grips at the nut then try moving it up two frets. This will require some slight alterations in fingerings. But once you've got the hang of it you'll have some great alternative movable first four string chord inversions for "rhythm changes" on the guitar. The Smeck fingerings are really elegant and allow the chords to fall beautifully under the fingers for playing this tune up to tempo.
Uke can do it!