# Open chords

Ukulele GCEA voicings. Shared theory: [Western theory · Chords](/theory/western/#chords).

## First four

**C · Am · F · G** — the I–vi–IV–V family in C. Click diagrams on the HTML page to hear strums.

## Same fingers as guitar (capo 5)

Standard **GCEA** matches a guitar’s **highest four strings with a capo at fret 5** (open D–G–B–E become G–C–E–A). Ignore the two bass strings.

The left-hand **shape** is the same as that guitar open chord on the top four strings; the **chord name** on uke is a perfect fourth higher:

| Guitar shape (top 4) | Sounds as on uke |
|----------------------|------------------|
| D | G |
| G | C |
| C | F |
| Em | Am |
| A | D |
| Am | Dm |

With the capo on, the sounding pitches line up with the ukulele. Baritone uke is open DGBE (guitar top-four names, no capo) — see [Tunings](tunings.md).

## The change is the skill

Learning a shape takes an afternoon; changing between two in time takes weeks, and it is a separate
skill worth practising directly.

- Find the finger that does not move — F to Am keeps the middle finger on G fret 2.
- Move all the fingers at once. Placing them one at a time is the usual cause of slow changes.
- Change early — on the last upstroke of the bar, not on the downbeat.
- Drill the change, not the song: two chords, one strum each, on the metronome. Count how many clean
  changes you get in a minute and compare tomorrow.

Order: C–Am (both one-finger) → Am–F (shared finger) → C–F → F–G (nothing shared) → the full loop.

## Next

Em, A, Dm, D, then Bb / Bm as gateways to [movable shapes](movable.md).

## Sevenths

G7 → C, C7 → F, plus D7 E7 A7 B7.

## Checklist

Clean fretting on the first ten, then timed changes → [Strumming](strumming.md) · [Songs](songs.md).