I’ve covered a lot of incredible chord progressions over the years. And I wanted to pick through them to find the tricks they used. And how those tricks added to the story the song was telling.
Let me know your favourite progressions in the comments.
First, it’s in saddest of all keys D minor. But my favourite part is the chromatic move down from Bb to A (chromatic means you move up or down one fret). That falling back feels so resigned and deflated. It’s perfect for the song.
This song, written by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt and covered by everyone, uses the same chromatic trick twice. Being in a major key it gives the move a lazy and dreamy quality.
6. Bon Iver – Skinny Love
The Chords
This one is in open-C tuning i.e. the A-string is tuned down to G.
This song makes great use of drones i.e. notes that stay the same through all the chords. And I made sure that carried through on the ukulele version by using an open tuning. So the C-string rings through the whole progression and the E-string for all but one chord.
Skinny Love also makes use of dissonance on the D7sus2. That chord has three notes close to each other: B, C and D. These clash to create an uncomfortable feeling that propels the progression forward. I wrote more about that in the best ukulele chords post.
This is a clever twist on changing notes over background chords. The notes on top of the chords (g-string, 1st fret to g-string, second fret) are repeated for each chord.
This is my absolute favourite chord turnaround. It’s adapted from Bob Brozman’s guitar version. The first three chords combine drones on the g- and E-strings with chromatic notes on the C- and A-strings. But this time the notes are ascend chromatically. That creates the opposite effect and makes the song a lively, excited.
Another chord progression using drones. This time the notes on the E- and A-strings sound through the first three chords.
But the highlight of the progression is the use of Bb9 and Eb9. These are unsettled chords like the D7sus2 in Skinny Love. But they’re not discordant. They’re melancholy and restless. The song is in Bb and using a Bb9 means the progression doesn’t feel like it’s relaxed and complete. The chords keep cycling and never resolves.
The pre-chorus section of Life on Mars uses the ascending chromatic notes over chords trick and keeps doing it until your head is about to explode.
First there’s an Ab chord with ascending notes on the C-string. Then it moves to Db and ascends on the E-string (Note: I adjusted the chord names to make them more readable). This section is the perfect over-the-top build up for the contrast between the mundane life the mousey haired girl is living in the verse and grandiosity of what’s happening on the silver screen.
A few weeks ago I wrote about Prince’s favourite chord trick and it lead to an inevitable cavalcade of requests for Purple Rain. And why not? It has to be one of the best chord progressions ever written.
Suggested Strumming
Here’s the slightly sparse strumming pattern I like to play:
If you’re a fan of Keston Cobblers Club check out the new project from, Cobbler uker, Matthew Lowe Stables. Their uke-heavy debut album is out in July but you can stream it here.
Carrying on with this week’s posts inspired by the UOGB’s all-punk album (Ever Such) Pretty Girls with some riffs and licks from UK punk and post-punk bands. Some on their album and some not.
I’m a sucker for a new gadget. The more useless and ridiculous the better (e.g. I’ve spent the last year trying to not buy an Apple Watch). So I couldn’t resist picking up the most ridiculous bit of ukulele kit: a spider capo.
What the Hell is a Spider Capo?
A standard capo frets all the strings on the fret you put it on. But a spider capo lets you choose which strings it frets and which are left open.
For example, in this photo I have the capo on the second fret with the levers on the g-, C- and E-strings down and the A-string left open. That means when you play all the strings you get a D chord.
They claim you get “hundreds of open string tunings”. But if you want to be picky – and I certainly do – I make it 15 possible combinations per fret (2^4 total combinations less one for none of the strings capoed). Being generous and saying it can fit on 12 frets that’s 180 combinations (181 if you count gCEA).
Why not just use an open tuning? The biggest reason is that all the chord shapes and scale patterns you know still work when you use a spider capo. E.g. if you tuned the ukulele to an open D chord an A chord is 0234 and C is 3213. But with a spider capo set up to a D chord an A chord is just the G shape (0232) and C is a Bb shape (3211).
The spider capo is also more adaptable than using open tunings. In the second piece in the video above I have the g- and A-strings fretted at the fifth fret. Making them higher than is practical through retuning.
The Good Stuff
Highly Adjustable: You can adjust the width of the entire spider capo and the distance between the levers a great deal. It’s fits on all my ukes from soprano to baritone without any problem.
Creates Unique Patterns: I had a lot of fun messing around and came up with things I wouldn’t have been able to play any other way. And it’s a fun trick to play below the capo as well as above it.
Quick Lever Switching: Flicking a lever on or off the string is lightening quick. Quick enough you could switch levers mid-song if the situation called for it.
Well Made: It feels like a sturdy and durable piece of kit.
The Not So Good Stuff
Fiddly to Attach: It’s certainly not like a standard capo that you can slap on in two seconds. Even once you have all the levers properly aligned for your uke it takes time to get it fixed properly. It’s a lot easier to attach the capo wonky than to attach it correctly. You have to be careful that the little ridges under the capo rest on the fretboard rather than on the frets or dangling in mid air. And they really seem to repel the fretboard at every opportunity. Trying to make it flush against the fret often means that the ridges at the back of the capo are over the fret behind it.
Holding Thin Strings: I found that quite often it would produce buzzes or mute high-g and A-strings. The levers are concave where they touch the strings and the middle isn’t low enough to fret properly. So you have to position the string on one side of the lever.
Here’s a video with the capo attached as well as I can get it but with the string in the middle of the lever:
Not All That Useful: I had fun playing around with with it but I’ve not thought, “A spider capo would be useful to play this.” I haven’t found much practical, day-to-day use for it.
Overall
I can’t recommend getting a spider capo mini to most ukers. There are few situations where they’d come in handy.
The only type of player I’d even reservedly recommend a spider capo for are people who like writing their own tunes and has plenty of time to spend attaching it. If you use one I’m sure it’d inspire a few tunes you wouldn’t have otherwise come up with.
Quick word of advice: If you’re in a situation where staying is trouble, bad as that may be, if leaving is double the amount of trouble then it’s clearly better to stay. No need for a song and dance about it.
I’ve been enjoying the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain’s new all-punk album (Ever Such) Pretty Girls recently. And it’s inspired me to do some UK punk and new wave this week. (Related fact: UOGB’s Kitty Lux used to be in a punk band called Severed Head and the Neck Fuckers.)
To play along with the UOGB you can use the same chords but with a capo on the first fret for the version on Pretty Girls. Or on the second fret for the live version on Anarchy in the Ukulele.
Suggested Strumming
In the intro, verse and break the chords are broken up into sections of three (e.g. D-G-D). On those, do this for the first chord:
– u d u
This for the middle chord:
d u d u
And just one down strum for the last chord.
The one exception is the A chord where you combine all the strums on the A to give you:
– u d u d u d u d
In the choruses double up the speed of your strumming to use this strum:
d – d u – u d –
Once for the first and second chord in each batch and twice for the third. Again, combine the strums together for the A chord.
Twiddley Bit
The bass riff works well on the ukulele and is played on the lead uke in the UOGB version.
Here’s a tab for low-G tuning that also includes the guitar noises in the intro:
