Real Hula Sheet Music (Page 4 of 4) in pdf

Green Rose Hula

Johnny Alemeida

Notes on Basic Chords

We present ‘Ukulele Chords in the key of C. This may not always be the best key for singing, or the key of

the teaching music. The key of C is the simplest single key for guitar, ‘ukulele, and piano, so we use it.

The selection of chords may also not be identical to the music used. These are Basic Chords. There are

always more sophisticated ways to chord a song. These are our interpretation of the necessary chords.

Since a chord change normally takes place on a syllable, we write the first letter of the chord over the first

letter of the syllable. Modern auto-formatting sometimes makes that placement inexact, but that is the

intention. Chord changes that take place before the next line starts are shown to the right of the previous

line. Vamps are a common example of chord changes before the next line starts.

We usually note the actual key of the music used for the teaching. That is to help you transpose the song to

the key used by the artist, if you would like to play with the recording.

Below is a representation of what is called the "Circle of Chords." If you play a guitar or ‘ukulele, each

step is one fret. It is used as follows:

Say you find that you want to sing the number in the key of F. We have presented it in the key of C. Look

at the chart below. C is the first note. Then we have C#, D, D#, E, and F.

The note called F is 5 steps (or frets) above the note called C. The entire key of F is therefore 5 steps

above the entire key of C. That means that for each chord listed in the key of C, the corresponding chord

in the key of F is also 5 steps higher.

A D in the key of C becomes a G in the key of F, 5 steps higher. A D7 would become a G7, a Dm would

be a Gm. A G in the key of C becomes a C in the key of F, counting the same 5 steps into the next octave.

The chart actually loops back to the beginning, with the final B connecting the first C. That is why it is

called a circle, The Circle of Chords.

Changing keys is called Transposing, and counting is all there is to it. Take the key of C and count the

steps to the desired key. The key of F would be +5. The key of B would be + 11 or –1, going backwards

from the right. Read the listed chord and count the same number of steps to find the transposed chord.

Write that one next to our chord and do the whole song that way.

9 10 11  12 13

4 5

C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B  C C# etc.

The numbers above indicate "Steps above C," nothing more.

Real Hula Sheet Music Page 4