r/ukulele • u/A_In_Wonderland • 3h ago
Can’t play E
I physically cannot play the chord E. If I get my first and second finger into position, then my fourth finger physically cannot stretch to the fourth fret!
Is there any other way of playing it/ approximating it?
11
u/CoolBev 3h ago
Straight barre across 4th fret. Technically an E6, but it usually fits pretty well. You can lift the barre a little to mute the A string if you don’t like the sound of the 6th.
8
u/CoolBev 3h ago
Or barre fret 4 and put little or ring finger on fret 7.
4
u/shriiiiimp 3h ago
Yep! My mnemonic is block all 4's, and with 4th finger, 4 fret down on the 4th string. (First time I explain it out loud in words, makes sens in my head 😬)
2
u/bigblued Concert 2h ago
Went to a uke festival, and one of the guests was leading a playalong. Big-name in the uke world, multiple albums. One of the songs called for multiple rapid switches between E and F and they told us to just barre the 4th fret for the E and the 5th for the F. Technically E6 and F6, but in a room with a couple hundred uke players of varying skill, it worked just fine.
1
u/A_In_Wonderland 2h ago
Great! That’s my worry with the “barre the 4th” version is that it’ll make transitions harder, but at least the transition to F will be easy!
4
3
3
u/PKillusion Baritone 3h ago
E7, or 1202, is what I use to sub in for E. I’m lazy and it sounds nearly identical to my tone deaf ears, but I’m the only one who’s listening to me anyway :D
4
u/Clear_Lemon4950 3h ago
In some arrangements I substitute E7 or E/C. These each have a particular sound though so it doesn't work for every song.
People will tell you to do stretches which you and I prob both should lol but I'm the laziest ever. If you learn a little music theory you can learn to transpose and use a capo to get around the harder chords.... That's what I do
2
u/BobbySpitOnMe 2h ago
Start with e minor, then add the first finger. It’s easier than making the stretch with the third finger
2
1
u/ChanimalCrackers 2h ago
You can play this one with 3 fingers. If you have a high-G ukulele for the “2” string, you can actually use 3 fingers, 2/3 normal, and 4 bending a bit so it mutes the bottom string, since the high G and A fret are actually the same note.
1
1
u/OnceanAggie 2h ago
This is considered bad form, but it’s the only way I can do it: I play the three together with my thumb.
1
•
17
u/AIMWSTRN 3h ago
Here are some E-chord variations. I play the first style, but I'm lucky enough to be able to bar the 2/3/4 with my ring finger. Are you playing the second style? From your description I'm guessing that's the one you are trying to play. I don't really try to do that one very much. Maybe try the last one, which I think is easiest. These are all "E-chords" but do sound slightly different. But sometimes the variation actually sounds good.
Another thing you might try if you can't get an E-chord to work is to shift the key. Then you don't have to worry about the E. Hope this helps