10 Ways to Play an E Chord on the Ukulele
April 22, 2009
The E chord – the bete noire of all ukulele players. Trying to cram all your fingers into a tiny space on the fretboard. Impossible. So here are ten possible ways to play the E chord. Try them out and see if you like any of them (I don’t).
1) The Way the Books Tell You
Index finger – A string 2nd fret
Middle finger – G string 4th fret
Ring finger – C string 4th fret
Little finger – E string 4th fret
Disadvantages: A lot of fingers to fit into a small space.
2) The Double Up
Index finger – A string 2nd fret
Middle finger – G and C strings 4th fret
Ring finger – E string 4th fret
Disadvantages: Takes some practice to get the hang of.
3) The Treble Up
Index finger – A string 2nd fret
Ring finger – G, C and E strings 4th fret
Disadvantages: You need to have your ring finger leave the strings at a difficult angle so you can still hear the A string.
4) The G-String Block
Index finger – A string 2nd fret
Middle finger – Muting the G string (stopping it from sounding by resting against it rather than fretting it)
Ring finger – C string 4th fret
Little finger – E string 4th fret
Or with your thumb.
5) The Treble Up and Block
Ring finger – G, C and E strings 4th fret
A string muted with any finger (including the underside of the ring finger).
If you stop the A string ringing in the triple-up, you will still have and E chord as the G string is giving you the same note. You can use individual fingers along with a mute to make this chord.
6) The Fourth Fret Lay-Across
Index finger – Barre across all strings at the 4th fret.
Little finger – A string 7th fret.
Like a C chord moved up four frets. It’s one of my favourite ways to play it.
Disadvantages: The barre takes some practice. Can be a big jump to and from open chords.
7) The Blocked E7
Index finger: G string 1st fret
Middle finger: Muting C string
Ring finger: A string 2nd fret
E string open
Like an E7 chord with the middle finger muting the C string rather than fretting it. Or you could use the underside of your index finger to mute the string.
Disadvantages: Sounds a bit nasty as you have a big ‘thunk’ in the middle of the chord.
8) E5
Index finger – A string 2nd fret
Ring finger – G string 4th fret
Little finger – C string 4th fret
E string open
Disadvantages: No major third note so it’s not a major chord. In some songs this it doesn’t really matter.
9) Up the Neck
Index finger: E and A strings 7th fret
Middle finger: C string 8th fret
Ring finger: G string 9th fret
The Bb chord shape moved up the neck.
Disadvantages: A long way to travel if you’re playing open chords.
10) Thumb Lay-Across
Index finger – A string 2nd fret
Thumb – G, C and E strings 4th fret
Disadvantages: Makes changing to and from other chords difficult. Almost always sounds horrible.
I vote for n°2.
I’m having problems with the versions involving muting a string. The muted string still makes a slight sound.
As for n°3, my ring finger doesn’t reach the E string.
And I could use n°4 but I just don’t strum the G chord (like you mentioned on ukulele 101). I still can’t manage to mute it by “touching and not fretting it”.
you forget another one:
2041
Aloha!
#6 – it may be far from perfect, but it opens the way for descending chord runs and frees up fingers for melody lines.
There’s another nice E chord with the open E string close to the E7, just doubling the fundamental instead of playing the seventh :
Index finger : G string 1st fret
Middle finger : A string 2nd fret
Ring finger or Little finger : C string 4th fret
and open E string – which gives a powerful E
HailelSela was faster than me on this one, although I’d rather write it 1402 (from G to A)
Nice idea! ;-)
I usually play it as the treble up, still find it a bit tricky though – I have problems with the tendons in my hands and too many barre chords in a short space of time makes my hands hurt! I’m hoping that more and more practice this will ease with time.
There’s some nice other ideas there too, I’ll have to give some of them a shot.
oh, sorry if I mixed the order up. I always get confused wether it is 1402 or 2041…
If I really, really must I modify no. 1 & use my thumb on the G string. Things are a wee bit less cramped, & I use my thumb quite a bit on that string anyway.
You’re much too easy on no. 1, the official book method. Unless one has freakishly small hands or is very, very young it is virtually impossible to finger cleanly to get a good sound (on a soprano, anyway). Now, the people who write the books know this, of course, & yet continue to push this fingering on beginners to their utter frustration & dismay.
No. 6 is one of my favorite shapes & easily is my choice from the offerings. The barre notwithstanding, this should be shown to beginners either along with the official fingering, or better yet, in place of the official fingering. Mark Nelson uses this shape (& not the official shape) in the chord chart in his fingerstyle solos book.
A uke barre is not much of a hurdle for new players & is not in the same league as the guitar barre, which some players never learn.
its gotta be the treble up, if you have the fingers that are long enough its fiiiiiiiine.
i found E chords tricky to start with but it really is my favourite now, just works so neatly as a barre chord.
btw woodshed, snazzy jumper!
I’ve trebled up since day one.
I mostly use a variant of #3 or #6 (as explained), depending on which sounds better in the tune.
The variation I do on #3 is to barre the 2nd fret instead of just trying to grab the A string there. This does two things:
1) It moves your hand around the neck a bit, helping to ameliorate the “difficult angle” problem.
2) It makes pressing the other three strings with your ring finger easier since you are only holding down a two fret distance instead of four. In other words, the amount of pressure you need to apply with the ring finger is lessened somewhat because of the smaller distance between the string and fret.
I’m looking at my point #2 there and hoping it makes sense. Basically, if you look at the distance between the strings and the 4th fret when they’re open (i.e. just pressed against the nut) and compare it to the distance when you’re fingering the 2nd fret, you’ll see that it’s a reduced distance.
E7 does me fine.
“So here are ten possible ways to play the E chord. Try them out and see if you like any of them (I don’t).”
you’re speaking for more of us than you think….. ;)
I’ve always done #6 because I have big meat hook hands, but I’m gonna play around with number 4 a bit and see what happens…..
thanks,
Todd
Number 3 for me.
excellent post.
I tend to either use the ‘Fourth Fret Lay-Across’ or ‘Treble Up’
But being naturally lazy, i might start going for the ‘Thumb G-string block’ :D
I do the treble up with my little finger and use the ring finger to help add a bit of pressure. But thanks to Bertand for that open-e version — it sounds the best of any of them.
#1 is the only one I can even get to work halfway. My fingers will not bend the other ways!
I never realised E chord was so problematic until I read Ukulele 101. I’ve always used the method 3 treble up but much appreciated discovering the blocked E7 technique. Particularly after getting a tenor uke for Christmas.
The fourth fret lay across is one I’m definitely going to use as it’s easy to play.
I really appreciate the work you’ve done here Woodshed.
Armelle: I find #3 quite tricky as well – seems to be a popular choice though.
HailelSela and Bertrand: That’s a good one. Completely slipped my mind. I find it a bit tricky to switch to from some chords.
J-Hob: Yes, I am a genius for coming up with it ;)
Mick: Good point. I do use it a lot in arrangements (although I try to avoid E when I can).
ronhale: I do understand why it crops up in the books. It’s the only way to do it without introducing new techniques.
cbf: Rockin’ the argyle.
Zakulele: I thought that was the hardest one, but it seems very popular.
Hobbit: Thanks! I’d never thought of doing it that way.
byjimini: You can get away with it in some places (e.g. the key of A) but it doesn’t work everywhere.
todd: Those are the two I use most often.
zym: I think I might write How to Play Lazy Ukulele.
Josh: It does sound good (so long as you’re bang in tune and the intonation is good).
Anne: Buy new fingers?
Neil: Thanks. Glad you found it useful.
Great post.
I had been using methods number one and ten- depending on the song. The treble up feels comfortable, and I’m sure I’ll use that more in the future.
Photos look great- very helpful.
fantastic stuff mr ’shed. this is exactly the kind of thing that I love ukulele hunt for, and the ideas in the comments are also worth serious investigation :)
I have another. Play the Bm chord. Index finger barred completely at 2 and ring finger on the 4th fret G-string only. Then flatten the ring finger across the GCE strings. I think it is very much like a #3 but the hand is a little more relaxed.
I have little girly hands, so I can do E just fine *smug face*…
Well after a few dozen attempts.. And it sounds… okaaayy..
Lonna: Thanks. I should probably do more photos and videos.
mictoboy: Cheers!
Jeff: Thanks. I think that’s the same shape Hobbit uses. I’ve been trying it out but can’t get the hang of it.
Alice: Show off!
This is interesting. I have been trying to figure out chords so I don’t need to use my index finger. I had surgery on it last year and its now shorter than it should be and painful. I use my thumb a lot but its so tricky
I do one of three things:
Do the double up.
Try E7. If it sounds OK, I use it.
Transpose.
When we’re doing circle jams, if the guitarists in front of me have been doing a few too many songs in E, I take revenge by doing a song in F. (The clever ones just capo up, but still.)
What about the transpose-the-entire-song-up-a-half-step method? That is the one I use most often.
Pauline: Sorry to hear about that. I hope the post was some use to you.
Marcy and Dan: Transposing works well most of the time – particularly when the song is in E or A. But sometimes it creates more problems than it solves.
Josh: Eb is a good key for pissing off guitarists ;)
Haha, thumb across is actually the one that ends up sounding the best for me, but yeah, it’s not exactly convenient.
Blocked E7 feels nice, too bad for that ‘thunk.’
Olivia: Some people do swear by the thumb technique. There must be something wrong with my thumbs.
[...] strona medalu – okaza?o si?, ?e jedynie s?uszny, rockandrollowy chwyt E dur na ukulele jest niezagrywalny. :] Przynajmniej w chwili [...]
easiest way to do it ever, and extremely comfortable on soprano:
444x <—as in mute the **A** string, not the g string
i figured this one out when i was doing an acoustic cover of hey ya on uke. you have to slide up to the e chord wicked fast from d and so it makes their chord shape identical so you can just slip right up there and simply rest your pinky on the a-string. really i don’t know why the e is so dreaded xD
[...] ou l’auteur nous donne dix façons de faire cet accord (ou de s’en rapprocher) ! 10 ways to play an E chord on the ukulele. Certaines sont un peu farfelues mais ça vaut le coup d’œil, de plus ce site est pas mal du [...]
I use my thumb to fret the G C and E strings then use my index finger to fret the A string