How To Play Jazz On Your Ukulele - A Primer - Ukulele Magazine

How to Play Jazz on Your Ukulele:
A Primer
May 6, 2022
BY EDDIE SCHER | FROM THE SUMMER 2021 ISSUE

OF UKULELE
In the early 1990s I began a decades-long quest to pierce the veil

that seems to keep jazz in the sole purview of savant performers
with higher music degrees. But I’ve found that it isn’t magic; it’s a
journey, and there are a few important first steps and tricks that will
take you a long way towards reaching the goal of playing jazz.
The first trick is overcoming “jazz imposter syndrome,” the way that
blues and rock players often feel when they try to play jazz
standards. Virtuoso bassist Marcus Shelby once told me, “I hate that
word—jazz.” He said just to keep it simple, and then took an insane
arco bass solo over a one-chord vamp to prove the point. That was a
big help to me.
While the chord progressions of jazz are innovative, they are not that
different from any other music. But somehow, following the chords
through a song doesn’t usually get you the sound of jazz. That’s
because maybe even more iconic than the chord progressions is the
way jazz moves between the chords.
The ukulele has been a jazz instrument since the 1910s, before there
was a consensus on what to even call the music, or how to spell it. I
find that working on the four strings of a ukulele has a great
advantage, because all you really ever need to play to get a full
sound is at most four notes, often three, a lot of the time just two,
and sometimes even just one.
In this lesson, I’ll introduce you to the chordal structures that define
the sound of 1920s and ’30s ragtime, swing, and jazz. Now, I don’t
pretend that any of this will help you understand what’s really going
on with this endlessly complex and beautiful music, but I’m not sure
you need to ever understand it all—I certainly don’t. And that’s not
my point here anyway. The point is to play great tunes and have fun!
So here are some ideas that I hope will help shine some light on how
to play the music of the Great American Songbook.
The Basics of Jazz on Ukulele
First things first, it’s important to know chordal functions, expressed

in Roman numerals, which stay the same no matter what key you’re
in. For example, as shown in Figure 1, the I or tonic chord in the key
of C major is C, while the I in G major is G; Em is the iii chord in the
key of C but the vi in G. Note too that major chords are in uppercase
Roman numerals and minor are in lowercase.
The I chord is the tonal center of the song. In blues, you can bet your
dobro that it’ll be the first chord in the song. Think about the I as the
musical home for the tune. Any other chord you add builds tension
with the I chord, which lingers in the listener’s mind, creating interest.
Other chords move you closer or further from home, adding or
subtracting tension that you will resolve, satisfyingly, when you bring
it back home to the I chord.
The IV and V chords are also relatively stable chords, with strong
relationships to the I. Try it out. Pick a key and play your I, then move
to any other chord and hear how it creates tension. Then, resolve the
tension by moving back to the I. This might be a different way of
thinking about music, but it’s what you’ve been doing since you first
strummed the uke or any instrument.
The V, which is usually going to be a dominant seventh chord (V7) in

jazz, has a special musical relationship with the I. The V7 sends a
powerful signal to your ear that it’s time to go back home, leading
you back to the I chord. That’s why progressions often end on the
V7, setting up the I chord for another run through the tune.
The I, IV, and V chords are at the foundation of the blues. So, if the
chordal vocabulary of blues is made up of progressions using the I,
IV, and V7 chords—and jazz is built on the blues—then you are
already part of the way there. We’re just going to add a few more
chords to that vocabulary.
Adding to the Basics

It’s easy to remember the ii chord, because it’s just one whole step
up from the I chord. So in, say, the key of A major, it’s Bm. Though
the ii is minor in terms of conventional harmony, play it major and you
open wide the doorway to ragtime. Try it: In the key of C major, play a
I–II–V progression (C–D–G), as shown in Example 1.
Similarly, though the vi chord is minor in a major key, it can instead

be played as major for jazzy effect. Adding the VI chord sets up a I–
VI–II–V progression that takes you a lot further from home but winds
you back to the I chord using the powerful V7–I relationship in an
elegant musical way. Example 2a shows a I–VI7–II–V7 progression in
C, and Example 2b transposes it to the jazz-friendly key of Bb major.
In this Bb progression, you can think of the VI chord (G7) as the V

chord of the II (C). The effect is caused by the strong V7–I musical
relationship, with the VI7 (G7) and V7 chords (F7) pushing you
towards the I. You probably know the I–VI–II–V as the iconic 1950s
progression, though Rodgers and Hart wrote “Blue Moon” in 1934.
Whatever it’s called, it certainly works for countless tunes.
Diminished Chords
Diminished triads (1 b3 b5) and diminished seventh chords (1 b3 b5

b7) are another prominent harmonic feature of jazz. The chords that
we’ve talked about so far are relatively stable, with strong
relationships to the key or tonal center of the song. A diminished
chord has a special function. While a V or V7 chord is always trying
to send you home to the I chord, a diminished chord is like an unclear
street sign; it’s not sending you anywhere in particular or
it’s sending you everywhere. This can be unsettling, but it’s also
liberating. That instability makes diminished chords sound spooky.
But they are also very useful as connecting chords and for adding
different colors.
Another interesting aspect of a diminished triad or diminished

seventh chord is that it’s perfectly symmetrical, made of a stack of
minor thirds. So if you take any diminished chord up the fretboard
three frets, you’ll arrive at the exact same chord, but with the notes
reordered. Example 3, for instance, shows an F#dim7 chord (F# A C
Eb) played at the second fret, then shifted upward. As you can see in
the notation, each chord has those same four notes. This also means
that there are only three different diminished chords, and each one
has four possible names (not counting enharmonic equivalents).
Just to be clear, sometimes diminished chords are part of a song’s

progression and sometimes they work as substitutions for other
chords. Plus, you can often drop a diminished chord in as a spicy
way to add movement to a progression.
Connecting Things
Now let’s check out a few ways to connect chords to get your rhythm
flowing. Start with a basic 12-bar blues progression in C (Example
4), and then insert some diminished chords (Example 5) before
throwing in a couple more (Example 6).
Don’t be afraid to experiment with using diminished chords.
Remember, there are only three of them, so you’re never far from one
that will work. Also, voicings matter; to me, in the last bar of Ex. 5,
the Abdim7 between the G7 and C chords is more satisfying when
played at the fourth fret instead of the first. And if you hit a wrong
chord, don’t panic; just slide the whole shape up or back a fret or
two. Which brings us to another great trick.
The chromatic scale contains all 12 pitches. On the ukulele, moving

chromatically means shifting one fret at a time on a string in any
direction. One way to create motion between chords is to walk up to
a chord from below or walk down to it from above. Take the blues
progression and approach some of the chords via half step, as
demonstrated in Example 7. Then, try the concept with three
different variations on our I–VI–II–V progression (Examples 8–10).
Invert It
Inversion is a fancy way of saying play the same chord in a different
place on the fretboard using a different chord shape. Knowing how
to play a chord in different places on the neck allows you to create
motion in your playing. Every new voicing for any chord opens up all
sorts of new sounds and possibilities, and it’s the journey—moving
between chords—that creates rhythmic motion. Example 11, for
instance, depicts a bunch of C chords, while Examples 12 and 13
show different inversions of F7 and G7.
Inversion is a fancy way of saying play the same chord in a different

place on the fretboard using a different chord shape. Knowing how
to play a chord in different places on the neck allows you to create
motion in your playing. Every new voicing for any chord opens up all
sorts of new sounds and possibilities, and it’s the journey—moving
between chords—that creates rhythmic motion. Example 11, for
instance, depicts a bunch of C chords, while Examples 12 and 13
show different inversions of F7 and G7.
I’ve always found that the voicings that I know feel obvious and
comfortable, and adding a new one is torture until I finally get the
hang of it (think back to the first time someone showed you any
chord). So the final trick, one that will take a lifetime to master, is to
embrace the pain and keep adding voicings to your repertoire.
I don’t expect this lesson to work for everyone. It’s hard to turn ideas
into things that your fingers will do. But I’ve always found that I can
improve my playing, step-by-step, by adding one thing at a time and
practicing until it is no longer completely awkward. What’s here is
pretty much everything I know about jazz. And I willingly admit that it
is idiosyncratic. But these ideas help me, especially when I forget the
whole mess and just play. So take what works for you and enjoy
yourself! Remember that the great Duke Ellington didn’t like the word
“jazz” either; he said there are just two kinds of music. And if you like
it, then it’s the right kind.
Ukulele Basics: Chords and Harmony is

a collection of six easy-to-follow but in-
depth lessons on the basics of chords and
harmony. Instructors
and Ukulele magazine contributors Jim
D’Ville and Fred Sokolow, as well as the
great composer/player Daniel Ho, will
guide you through easy chord variations,
harnessing the power of certain chords,
demystifying the famous Circle of 5ths,
and understanding moveable chord
shapes.

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How to Play Jazz on Your Ukulele:

BY EDDIE SCHER | FROM THE SUMMER 2021 ISSUE

In the early 1990s I began a decades-long quest to pierce the veil

The Basics of Jazz on Ukulele

First things first, it’s important to know chordal functions, expressed

The V, which is usually going to be a dominant seventh chord (V7) in

Adding to the Basics

Similarly, though the vi chord is minor in a major key, it can instead

In this Bb progression, you can think of the VI chord (G7) as the V

Diminished triads (1 b3 b5) and diminished seventh chords (1 b3 b5

Another interesting aspect of a diminished triad or diminished

Just to be clear, sometimes diminished chords are part of a song’s

The chromatic scale contains all 12 pitches. On the ukulele, moving

Inversion is a fancy way of saying play the same chord in a different

Ukulele Basics: Chords and Harmony is

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