The Murphy Method Blog

Murphy Henry

Every once in a while we will have someone call to ask us a question about our Ukulele DVD For Kids. (And kids at heart!) This question is almost always something like this: “Why do you call the chords G, C, and D when they are really C, F, and G?”

An excellent question, which I actually try really hard to explain on the DVD!

But for the sake of posterity, reference, and clarity, let me make another stab at it.

The little ukulele (tenor) that we use is tuned higher than a guitar. It’s tuned, top to bottom, to the “My Dog Has Fleas” phrase, which is: G, C, E, A.

Now the cool thing is that you can still make your basic chord SHAPES—G, C, D (and everything else)— the same way. It’s like playing on the last four strings of the guitar. So, instead of confusing everybody (especially the kids) with different names for those common shapes, I decided to call them G, C, and D. (I wish now I’d referred to them as SHAPES but I didn’t. Live and learn.)

I did mention—and totally demonstrate—that if you capo your guitar at the fifth fret and play those same SHAPES—G, C, D—you can play along with the kid on the (uncapoed) uke. The key ends up being the key of C. So bass players, mandolin players, and fiddle players would be playing along in the regular key of C. (Banjo players—except for Casey—would of course take the easy way out and capo!) Guitar players could, of course, also play open (no capo) and use the chords C, F, and G. (But why would anybody make an F unless they really had to????)

Again, my thinking was that most kids will use the uke as a springboard for guitar, so I wanted them to internalize the names of those SHAPES as the shapes they would be using later on the guitar. I mean, how confusing would it be later on to be thinking a D shape is G? You know how hard it is to root out those first impressions of something totally new. Scarred for life! (And also the chords on the bigger baritone uke are named just as they are on the guitar, and sound the same.)

Ukulele was my first stringed instrument. I started playing in the fourth grade, on the tail end of the big Folk Boom. (Or Folk Scare as some people call it!) It was on the uke that I learned the basics of chords and chord changes and keys. I can no longer remember how I learned my first chords. It was either from a Mel Bay book or from my friend Jeff. But I’m pretty sure I never thought of the chords as anything but G, C, and D. And when I taught my sisters to play, and then Casey and Chris, I always called the chords G, C, and D. And they seem to have done alright. So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Casey tells me the ukulele is now “in” and that there are actually some ukulele bands around now. Whoo hoo! The Murphy Method is ready. I expect Ukulele DVDs to start flying off the shelves! And if you want to see how cute Casey and Chris were in their younger years, check out this DVD!

PS: If you need more explanation: Since the uke is tuned higher, the actual sounds coming out are higher (a different pitch) so G shape really sounds like C, C shape really sounds like F, and D shape really sounds like G. (Confused?) That’s why I did it the way I did it!

I’d never heard of I, IV, and V chords, so after I’d been playing a while and had noticed that certain chords “went together” I made up my own numbering system and called them 1, 2, and 3. (At least I got the “1” right!)