(but they work for any ukulele and the first four strings of a guitar)
Amazon 5 Star Reviews! (see all reviews at Amazon, links below)
Here’s one:
Deceptively compact with a lot of theory that is easy to digest, understand, and actually use. Did I really need those 2 extra strings on my guitars.
Here’s an excerpt from another:
– The conversational tone is engaging and the whole book is super easy to read because of it.
– Everything is explained in simple terms without being reductive.
– The author provides a bunch of context up front, and goes deep without leaning into the more complicated abstractions of theory.
– It’s just really, really well written. There’s a chapter called “Pythagoras” that is essentially a history of how the western scale and fretted instruments (like our beautiful and weird bari ukes) came to be… and it is absolutely fascinating. In a uke jazz book! The chapter wraps up with a segue into an instructional chapter on [song name redacted-no spoilers!] in such a beautiful and intelligent and creative way.
Here’s a comment on one of the YouTube videos:
I bought your book, twice! It’s awesome and my favorite bari uke book, thank you! 🙂
Available as either a Kindle eBook, $4.99, or Spiral Bound Hard Cover, $15. I must say, I’m very pleased with how the printed book turned out. NOTE — the Spiral Bound Hard Cover is only available from my bookstore.
Buy from Amazon:
Jazz Chords for Baritone Ukulele
Kindle
Buy from Me
Free shipping in US
International shipping costly but possible
ePub
Spiral Bound Hard Cover
Dennis Merritt’s Bookstore
“This is the book I always wished I’d had.” — the author
“The simplicity of the baritone ukulele makes it easy to understand the ‘whys’ behind the ‘hows’ of chords.” — the author
“Understanding the ‘whys’ means you don’t need to memorize the ‘hows’ of chord charts.” — the author
“Seeing the voices hidden beneath the dots lets you understand the relationships between the various jazz chords.” — the author
Why a Baritone Ukulele for Jazz? — The Preface and Introduction from the book, explaining the approach of the book and why the baritone ukulele is an ideal instrument for learning about jazz chords no matter what stringed instrument you play.
Current Events! — Led Zeppelin wins lawsuit defending against copyright claims of Spirit heirs. See the chords of that famous riff here and compare the two. Stairway to Heaven vs. Taurus.
See All the Chapters — The flow of the book, from scales and major chords, through the essential seventh chords, pausing to ponder the brilliance of the tuning, Pythagoras’s discoveries, continuing through the beautiful cascading Circle of Fifth chords of Fly Me to the Moon, on to 9ths, 11ths, 13ths and, well, the full shapes for two more classic jazz songs.
Excerpts, videos, PDFs…
Chord Scales & Essential Sevenths
Chord scales are an essential part of jazz and the four seventh chord shapes used to play them give jazz its special sound. Here they are illustrated using the D shape and string.
Video — Four Essential Seventh Chords (4:37)
Video — Chord Scales (4:24)
This is the chapter from the book on the derivation of the essential seventh chords.
Chapter 5 — 7th Chords and a 6th
Fly Me to the Moon
Fly Me to the Moon is a classic jazz song with a full circle of fifths in the melody. It’s a perfect song for showing how to use the chord scales to create a beautiful accompaniment that cascades down along with the melody.
Chapter 9 — Fly Me to the Moon
Pythagoras
I had no idea of the impact Pythagoras had on our music when I started this project. Here’s a chapter from the book and a video presentation in four parts.
Chapter 8 — Pythagoras & Our Musical Scale
Video — Pythagoras Discovers the Blues (5:06)
Video — Pythagoras Invents the Scale (3:00)
Video — Pythagoras Flies to the Moon (2:58)
Video — Pythagoras Anticipates Bowling (2:23)
Miracle of Diminished Sevenths
Understanding the simple recurring pattern of diminished seventh chords lets you derive any other seventh chord without having to look at chord charts.
Chapter 10 — Miracle of Diminished Seventh Chords
Movable Chord Charts
The movable chords in the book are organized based on the string the root is on. Most chords can be played with the root on any one of the four strings of the baritone ukulele. Here is the full chart from the appendix of the book.
Appendix — Chart (PDF) of Movable Chords for Jazz Ukulele
Buy the book!
Learn the beautiful symmetries of chord shapes and use them to create smooth voice-leading accompaniments to classic jazz tunes.
Kindle $4.99, Spiral Bound $15 – Jazz Chords for Baritone Ukulele
Buy a baritone ukulele!
I have been very pleased with the support and service I’ve receive from Sweetwater. Example, I was new to electric guitars and they gave me great advice on the best amp to get. Even small items, like guitar or ukulele stands, they call and make sure you’re happy with the product. So, here’s their link for Baritone Ukuleles. (If it doesn’t work, just go to sweetwater.com and search for baritone ukuleles.)
Baritone Ukulele Players
Oh, Jasper! (2:57) — Lee Murray’s song about his dog with some really nice baritone uke jazz sounds.
Jessica Dow with David Herrera (3:40) — Local Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts talent.
Purgatory with Eve — Both original and covers with baritone ukulele, electric and acoustic!
Humble Baritonics — A YouTube blog of baritone ukulele players.
Four Inch Cats — Playing the uke by ear and other good stuff.
Transpose the chords to guitar!
New! — Once learned, the baritone ukulele chords shapes can be transposed from the treble strings across the guitar fretboard. Here’s the follow on book taking all the chords, progressions, and songs, like Summertime and Take Five, to the six strings of a guitar: Jazz Chords for Guitar.
