Baritone Chords

The baritone ukulele uses chord shapes that are identical to GCEA uke. They are also very similar to guitar, just missing the two top strings.

My acclaimed Ukulele Chord Shapes reference book has been adjusted for DGBE tuning. In my opinion, it’s one of the most musical ways to learn chords – certainly for baritone tuning since you’re already moving a lot of stuff from GCEA.

EBOOK version

Baritone DGBE tuning

• Learn 2,268 chords
• Easy chord theory
• 61 page PDF

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There are two versions of ʻUkulele Chord Shapes! This link goes to the DGBE version, but if you poke around for more info and leave this page, make sure you don’t end up buying the GCEA edition.

Transposing Chords

If you are studying baritone on its own, you’ll have a much easier time learning these shapes than if you also play standard ukulele chords. I find that having the same shapes in both tunings is incredibly confusing.

However, if you’re able to transpose the key of the song in your mind and think of your I IV V shapes instead of the actual chord names, you’ll probably have an easier time.

GCEA chords are a perfect 4th higher than baritone chords. This means that a baritone C major is an F major on GCEA uke. Here’s a reference chart:

Baritone to Standard

C     -> F
C#/D# -> F#/Gb
D     -> G
D#/Eb -> G#/Ab
E     -> A
F     -> A#/Bb
F#/Gb -> B
G     -> C
G#/Ab -> C#/Db
A     -> D
A#/Bb -> D#/Eb
B     -> E

If all you have are GCEA uke chords for reference, you can also convert backwards and move up a 5th or down a 4th:

Standard GCEA to Baritone

C     -> G
C#/D# -> G#/Ab
D     -> A
D#/Eb -> A#/Bb
E     -> B
F     -> C
F#/Gb -> C#/Db
G     -> D
G#/Ab -> D#/Eb
A     -> E
A#/Bb -> F
B     -> F#/Gb