The piano is playing in F … and the Uke (?)

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Some old friends are coming (and I do mean 'old') for a bit of a celebration. Haven't seen some for over half a century. In addition to me, there'll be a couple of other pianists and so there'll be the odd song. However, someone else is bringing his uke and I'm wondering how this will be.

Take 'Georgia' for instance: I have it in F. The first four bars in my version are:

F / A7 / Dm /Gm-Bbm6

So will he just strum along with these chords? Of course, it's no big deal and should be fun. But I'm curious how things will work out

Thanks in advance.

M
 

SeaGtGruff

I meant to play that note!
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I think you might be confusing them with "yuk-yuk" players, who are known for their humor, which is often subversive in tone.

I guess the question has to do with the number of strings and frets and how the strings are tuned? If he wants to play in a different key, is the fretboard long enough to support the use of a capo? It looks like there are 12 to 18 frets on a ukulele, so he shouldn't have any trouble transposing up a few frets if he insists.

Or maybe the question is more about the style of strumming? :confused:
 
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Well, there are a couple of points behind my query.
1) I was once playing something in Eb at a school party. Someone said to one of the students, who was quite a reasonable guitarist, "Come on why don't you join in?" He took one look at the music and said, "I can't possibly play those chords."
2) Nothing whatsoever to do with ukes but how is it with what I understand are "Bb instruments"? If a pianist is reading sheet music in another key, does a sax or trumpet player looking over his shoulder have to transpose at sight?
M
 
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1) I was once playing something in Eb at a school party. Someone said to one of the students, who was quite a reasonable guitarist, "Come on why don't you join in?" He took one look at the music and said, "I can't possibly play those chords."
Aha. Now we're getting somewhere. Any guitarist can play a tune in Eb. However because the bottom string on a guitar is an E, if they use open chords, it becomes quite challenging unless they're very skilled. A lot of guitarists tune their instruments a semitone down in this situation.

Ukuleles have a different tuning system from guitars, which I have zero expertise in, however if you're keen I'm fairly certain Dr Google can assist you here..

That said, I imagine your mate will just be playing the chords as written. So for example, if it's an "F", he will play an F. How he gets there is up to him! I wouldn't be wasting too much energy on it - I'm sure he'll be fine.
 
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Aha. Now we're getting somewhere. Any guitarist can play a tune in Eb. However because the bottom string on a guitar is an E, if they use open chords, it becomes quite challenging unless they're very skilled. A lot of guitarists tune their instruments a semitone down in this situation.

Ukuleles have a different tuning system from guitars, which I have zero expertise in, however if you're keen I'm fairly certain Dr Google can assist you here..

That said, I imagine your mate will just be playing the chords as written. So for example, if it's an "F", he will play an F. How he gets there is up to him! I wouldn't be wasting too much energy on it - I'm sure he'll be fine.
 
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Sorry, my reply got screwed up.
Thanks to both for your help ... but do you know what? In the end, he didn't bring his uke!
We'll have to wait till my next birthday.
M
 

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