Greensleeves

About this piece

Count six eighth notes in each bar, in two groups of three, and feel two slow beats. The tune twice reaches down to B below middle C, which only a low-G ukulele has: the 4th fret of the low G string. Pick the tune with your thumb, keeping your hand still over the first frets. For the chords, strum down-(miss)-up, down-(miss)-up, a lilting 6/8 strum; B7 is the one new shape.

What it practices

• 6/8 time
• a minor key
• low-G tuning
• Em, D, G, C and B7

Chords in this song

Em · G · D · C · B7

Each link opens the chord finder with more ways to play that chord.

Where the notes come from

Melody as in our piano version of Greensleeves, which was checked note by note against the Mutopia Project’s “Greensleeves” hymn setting (public domain). The chords follow that version’s bass line. Our checking script compares the two melodies beat by beat.

How to practice with it

1. Listen first. Press Play and follow along. The note being played lights up in the tab, in the notation and on the fretboard, and the chord being played lights up in the row of chord diagrams.
2. Learn the chords. Press each diagram to hear it, then practice changing between them slowly, before you add the strum pattern under the tab.
3. Slow it down. Use − and + to set the tempo. 60% is a good place to start; the notes keep their pitch.
4. One part at a time. Choose Tab only to hear the tune alone, or the other part alone, then put them together.
5. Loop the hard part. Under More…, turn on Loop, pick the bars, and play them a few times in a row. Count-in gives you a bar of clicks before it starts.

Click a bar in the music to start from there. Space plays and pauses. Left-handed? Turn on the left-handed view: the chord diagrams and the fretboard are mirrored to match your instrument. Tab reads the same either way: the top line is always the first (highest) string.