Fretboard Domination

A guide to four basic moveable dominant chords

BY ALEC “CHEEF” POLETSKY

UkuleleMag.com
 FRETBOARD DOMINATION

C hord shapes that you can move up and

down the fingerboard can expand your
tonal palette. In this lesson, we’re going to
look at moveable dominant 7 chords. (Pre-
vious lessons have examined moveable
minor and major chord shapes.) This les-
son starts with a bit of music theory, but
stick with it and try to master these basic

F
chord shapes—you’ll be rewarded with an
expanded range of tones.
7 F 7A 7 AD
77 DB
77 B7
2314 1324
2314 1112
1324 1 2 11
1112 1 2 11

Usage
A dominant chord is rarely written as
“dominant” (for example, C dominant 7 or
F dom 7). Instead, you’ll see it notated as
a chord name followed by a number (such
as C7, D11, or E13). To keep things simple,
I’ll discuss only the basic dominant-chord
voicings, or “seven” chords.
Dominant chords are often used as
“turnaround” chords, usually appearing
right before the major tonic chord (for ex-
ample, in the key of C, you would have a G7
followed by a C major). A good example of F7 FA
77 AD
77
this is the dominant chord played over the 2314 2314
1324 1324
1112
last line of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” in the
lyric “fleece was white as snow.” In the key
of C, the tune uses a G7 for “fleece was
white as . . .” and resolving on a C major
over the word “snow.”

1. The D7 Shape 4. The A7 Shape

How Dominant Chords Are Built
For this shape, the root can be found on This shape is voiced with the root on the
Dominants are built using four notes from
the C string. The third is on the E string, G string, the third on the A, the fifth on the
the major scale. One way to look at this is
the fifth on the G, and the lowered seventh C, and the lowered seventh on E string.
to take the starting note of the major
on the A. Doing this chord shape on the Playing this chord on the third fret will
first fret will make a Db7, on the third fret yield a Bb7, on the fourth fret a B7 chord,
scale, often called the first (do), and com-

an Eb7 chord, and so on. and on the sixth fret a Db7.

bine it with the third (mi), the fifth (sol),
and the lowered seventh (ti) note. Mean-
ing, if the seventh note is a B, you will use
2. The B7 Shape And there you have it: Four moveable
the note that comes right before it, or one
fret lower, the Bb. Therefore, the formula
The root of this chord voicing is on the A dominant chord voicings that will make

for a dominant seven chord is 1, 3, 5, b7.

string, the third is on the C, the fifth on the playing the ukulele a lot easier. Applying
E, and the lowered or flat seventh is on the these last three lessons on moveable uku-
The C7 chord would be built as
C-E-G-Bb.
G. Playing this voicing on the third fret lele chords should open you up to a whole
makes a C7 chord, on the first fret makes new world of song selections, regardless of
a Bb7, on the fourth fret a Db7, and on the
That may seem a bit confusing, so in
what key they may be in.
the following examples, I’ve supplied you
fifth fret a D7.
with four completely moveable voicings
for a seven or dominant chord. All you
3. The F7 Shape
have to know are the names of the strings,
This shape is voiced with the root note on
the root note (the letter name of chord—
the E string, the third on the G, the fifth on
for example, the D in D7 or G in G7), and
the musical alphabet: A, A#/Bb, B, C, C#/Db,
the A string, and the flat or lowered sev-

D, D#/Eb, E, F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab.

enth on the C string. If you move this
chord up one fret, it will be a Gb7; if you
played it on the third fret it would be a G7.

UkuleleMag.com