Hi Matt -
After trying for ages to try to figure out Chord Melody on my own, I suddenly became sensible and went to basics on your course !!
I enjoyed your explanation of “Twinkle, Twinkle …” and reached a good level of understanding but when I printed out your music sheet, I noticed a slight difference between the pdfs.
On the hand-written ones you guided us toward playing the open notes on the GCEA voicing.
But the printed music sheet directed me to play the fretted G note on the E string rather than the open G.
I understand both are the same, but why the change ?
Will all chord melody charts point me to a fretted note rather than an open note ?
For the G note in Twinkle Twinkle: playing the closed G (the 3rd fret of the E string) will work whether you playing on a high G or low G ukulele. However, on a low G ukulele, the open G is the note G that is an octave lower. So if the chord sheet says it is for high G ukulele then you may see either the fretted or open note. If it says it's written for a low G ukulele than the open G and closed G are not interchangeable and the writer will spell out which G it's suppose to be.
Sometimes a chord melody may call for a G followed by an F, so it might sound better to play the 3rd fret of the E string and slide to the first fret on the same string, rather than the open G string and then the F on the E string. Notewise the two sequences are equivalent but the sound may be different (artist's discretion).
Also, if the song is intended to achieve a campanella effect, then I think the open G is more likely to be chosen than the fretted G.
Oops! I purposely added the neater updated sheet but I hadn’t realised I had put the G note in a different place.
You can play either as they both give you a g note. I do prefer the ‘closed G’ though - 3rd fret of the E string. It works better with the C major scale placed there.