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339 posts
Chords 15: D7
Tamás GállD7 is an interesting little chord for two reasons. First, we come across it quite often; second, close to the headstock there are two different ways to finger it, one of which is particularly unusual. In the video I show three fingerings in total. Two use a barre (2223 and 5655), while one does not…
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Chords 16: A7
Tamás GállAs you can see in the diagram below, this is not exactly a complicated chord. So you would be perfectly justified in asking why we do not learn it immediately after C major or perhaps A minor , since only one position needs to be fretted. If you look through the chord videos, you will see that the f…
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Chords 17: G7
Tamás GállJust when a beginner finally starts to believe that nothing could be worse than the finger-twisting horrors of G major, they see G7 and realize that yes, something can. Of course it is not really that terrible either. As I always say, it is a matter of practice. A good way to exercise the fingers is…
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Chords 18: E7
Tamás GállE7 is a genuinely beautiful chord. It sounds excellent on the ukulele, and although the fingering may look strange the first time, the second attempt will already feel much easier. Compared with our usual hand position, we need to rotate the hand slightly. Turn the back of the hand a little toward t…
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Chords 19: F7
Tamás GállF7 can be derived from two other chords in two different ways. The most logical starting point is probably F major, because we add only one note: place the ring finger on the third fret of the third string, giving us an Eb. If we want to find a relative in terms of the fingering shape, think of G mi…
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Chords 20: B Major
Tamás GállAfter many chord-learning videos, we have reached a real milestone: this is the first barre chord we learn. A barre chord means using one finger — usually the index finger — to fret all four strings at once (or two or three strings in the case of a partial barre), while the remaining strings are fre…
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Chords 21: B Minor
Tamás GállIf you happened to skip the blog post about B major, please read it. At the beginning of that post I summarize the basic things you need to know about barre chords, so I will not repeat them here. B minor differs from B major in that you do not need to place your middle finger on the third fret of t…
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Chords 22: B7
Tamás GállIf you happened to miss the blog post about B majorplease read it. At the beginning I summarize the basic things you need to know about barre chords, which I will not repeat here. The barre version of B7 differs from B major in that you do not need to place your ring finger on the fourth fret of the…
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Christmas + Downloads — Reloaded
Tamás GállChristmas is slowly approaching, which is good news for us ukulele players in several ways. For me, the most joyful moment is when I get to perform Mennyből az angyal, Kiskarácsony, nagykarácsony or Silent Night for the family for the fifty-seventh time (because naturally they occasionally need prac…
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Cifra Palota
Tamás GállFrom time to time, a kind acquaintance of mine, Orsi, posts pictures on Facebook of stones she has painted. The pictures on the stones are inspired by Hungarian folk songs or children's songs, and the game is to guess which song each picture represents. I really enjoy this game — not because I know…
Read moreCigar Box Ukulele
Tamás GállWhen I wrote the post called *(l)ele a few years ago, I never thought I would soon have the chance to hold a ukulele made from a cigar box in my own hands. A few weeks ago I received a nice message from Dávid, asking whether I would like to try a ukulele made from a cigar box - one that he had built…
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Community ukulele production II
Tamás GállUpdate:thank you for the videos — they turned out really well . Over the next few days I will edit and cut the recordings, and I will be back soon with the finished production. It is always a great pleasure to announce another community play-along project. I hope you will take part in creating the n…
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