Ukulele Circle of Fifths

[JT_Ukes]

very useful chart in writing songs or improvising chord progressions. for example the song "Wild World" by Cat Stevens it's in the key of C. by looking at the Circle of 5th going clockwise it's from C-G-D-A. Wild World's first four chords is Am-D-G-C that's going counterclockwise from A-C.
Ther are a bunch of hit songs that used cirlce of 5th e.g. "Yesterday", "Five Foot Two", etc.

heh.. wow, the intenet is like a time machine. my comment/question was OVER 2 years ago

but thanks for the reply!

JT

[Gadzukes!]

This is possibly the most useful I've found on UU. Thanks so much!

[caukulele]

Thanks so much for posting this! Helps me out.

[finkdaddy]

Most musicians playing in bands today have no idea what the name of the advanced chords they're using actually are. If you own a guitar, you noodle around with the chords until you find something that sounds cool. If you play the piano, you use a fourth or fifth finger in your chording hand and suddenly you have more complicated and interesting voicings. This is a good thing, but it's different for us ukulele players. We only have four strings and two octaves. We have more limits on what our instrument can do, and while the ukulele will certainly do lots of fancy chords, you shouldn't be spending a lot of time trying to memorize those things. Just noodle and find the cool sounds and don't worry what they're called.

I've been telling my friends and band mates this for years now. I tell them that I'm not concerned with what chord should be next. I just want to write the chord that's next in the song, whatever shape or sound that might be. And I try and stress that if you play most anything with confidence and conviction, people will be impressed.
Thanks for posting your chart, it will be most useful!

[pepamahina]

Wow, this is great. I've never seen this post. I have a cool circle of fifths that I got from http://playukulelebyear.blogspot.com/, but I like how this one has the chord fingerings right there. So convenient! The sweet little mammoth (mastodon?) is just a bonus. I'm glad this post got a boost.

[Zhong Qiyao]

Thanks, Gary. This is a brilliant diagram.

But I would like to further clear up the D-flat/C-sharp confusion. As Db-major has 5 flat signs and C#-major has 7 sharp signs, it is more natural for the diagram to say Db-major, together with Db-F-Ab, instead of C#-E#-G#. Moreover, it corresponds to Bb-minor (5 flat signs) as currently on the diagram.

Similarly B-major (5 sharp signs) would correspond to G#-minor (5 sharp signs), more naturally than to Ab-minor (7 flat signs) as currently on the diagram.

As you have also recorded the use of C#-major (7 sharp signs) and Ab-minor (7 flat signs), I would like to here when people use that.

You may also want to inform the following sites:

http://www.uketheplanet.com/uke-chords.html
http://www.chordie.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=11999
http://ukulele.com.pl/akordy.php

Thanks.

[wurzel]

This is just ace, many thanks.

LOL the captcha word thing got stuck in the title

[teruterubouzu]

I know this is an old thread, but I'm glad it bubbled up again. I've forgotten more music theory than I ever learned. This chart and the songwriting tips are really helpful. Thank you!