Playing Diminished Ukulele Chords

Series Summary

The ukulele is a Hawaiian instrument that was developed in the 19th century and modeled after a smaller version of the guitar brought over by the Portuguese. After the ukulele's journey across the Pacific to mainland America it's worldwide familiarity began to grow. Today many popular bands and artists of every genre use ukulele's for live music performances and in recording studios. It's distinct sound is unmistakable and innocent sounding. Unlike a guitar, a ukulele has only four strings and is about 1/3 the size of a normal acoustic guitar. Some are made of wood, others plastic but they still sound very similar.

This free video clip series will take you on a musical journey through over a dozen complex chords that can be played on the ukulele. Our expert will show you several detailed chords to play on the ukulele and explain each of them note for note as to why they create that specific feeling. By the end of these videos you'll be ready to write your own ukulele music so take a look and you'll see why the ukulele is the instrument of the future!

Video Transcript

"Now we'll discuss a diminished chord. Now, the definition of a diminished chord is a lowered third and a lowered fifth scale degree. So, if you're thinking about a major chord, if we go back to G major, which we just did. You would want to lower the B to a B flat, B was the third in the key of G, and you'd also want to lower the D to a D flat because D was the five in the key of G. So, in this chord you need a G, a B flat, and a D flat. Now, if we go back to the G major chord that you know, you can just alter this chord to fit these parameters. So, here, we know this is a D, we lower it by a half step, that's how we just made a flat five chord. Now this, right here, would be the B, that would be our third. If we lower that by a half step, that will be minor. So, minor and flat five together would give you a diminished chord and therefore, (demo) that would be a G diminished chord."