Most beginners often want to find the easiest chords for the ukulele, and then hunt down every song they can find with those chords. I for one am guilty. 🙂
But don’t let us sway you over to the easy life too soon. You’re no puff cake! A true friend of pain you are! You want to know the hardest chord to play. And for that, we salute you.
The E major is considered to be the hardest common chord to play on the ukulele by most players. Every possible way to play it requires a bit of work and muscle memory. It is incredibly difficult for most beginners to intermediate players to transition in and out of efficiently.
What complicates this reality quite a bit has to do with how easy it is to play on a guitar. With so many songs being written for a guitar and how easy it is on one, E appears in a wide variety of songs. Many who want to transition from guitar to the uke are often surprised if not frustrated with the increased difficulty for such a simple chord. Considering how easy most chords are on the ukulele compared to the guitar, this one catches many off guard.
And before the hard chord police come to take me away, I have to confess that there are some pretty obscure chords out there that most ukulele players will never touch. Some of those can be especially hard to play if not impossible. But when it comes to basic chords, the ones most play, the E major is at the top of the list.
Here are the ways that it can be played, the barre version (in the middle) using the fourth fret is my preferred method. Grant, the more experienced player here at Uke Planet, assures me it’s the easiest way.
It should be noted that the barre version above (the middle option) is higher-pitched than the other options, but it works. Give it a shot and see if you can’t get used to it after several days ore weeks of practice. It took me a couple of weeks before I was able to get into it fairly naturally. Even longer to really pull it off in a song. But, so many songs are written with it, that it’s worth getting down sooner than later.
Can it be Easier Please?
You came in here looking for pain, but maybe not quite that much. I get it. I won’t tell anyone you took the easy road. I mean, our goal here is to get as many people playing and loving the uke as possible. So let’s talk about making life easier with the E.
There is one substitute for the E that isn’t a true E. This has to do with this variation not having all of the notes found in a true E chord. But it will Get you by. At least, it tricks my tuner. 🙂
As you can see, it simply removes the fourth finger position from the first option above. The E string is therefore left open. Again, it is modified, and not a true E, but it is the easiest option to get in and out of. It will take a while to adapt to, but tends to be easier to bounce in and out of from other chords than the other options.
I’d still recommend spending time with the other E options above, but this will get you by if you just have a song you’re itching to play with E.
Then again, you can always transpose it, or find a transposed version online so that you can avoid the E all together. To be honest, that is likely the easiest option.
But then again, you like pain remember. 🙂 Don’t run away from it. Embrace the challenge. Be the E!