Adim ukulele chord

Tense and unstable. Both the third and the fifth are flattened, producing a chord that badly wants to move somewhere else.

A diminished · standard GCEA tuning · 2 shapes

How to Play Adim on Ukulele

The easiest shape is 5353: G string 5th fret · C string 3rd fret · E string 5th fret · A string 3rd fret.

Adim ukulele chord, Barre at fret 33

Barre at fret 3

5 3 5 3

Adim ukulele chord, Up the neck, fret 88

Up the neck, fret 8

8 0 8 0

Strings left to right are G, C, E and A, as the ukulele faces you. Numbers are frets; 0 means play the string open. Every shape is worked out from the notes the chord must contain and checked against them before it is published.

Notes in Adim

A
root
C
♭3rd
E♭
♭5th

A ukulele has four strings, so a 3-note chord doubles one of its notes on the spare string. Because the G string is tuned high (reentrant tuning), the lowest note you hear is usually on the C or E string, not the G.

Songs and Keys That Use Adim

Adim belongs to one major key: B♭ major (as the vii° chord).

  • vii° – I — a tense chord resolving straight home

Adim on Other Instruments

  • Guitar: see the Adim guitar chord — six strings, so the shapes are different, but the notes are the same.
  • Baritone ukulele (DGBE): 7545. A baritone is tuned like the top four strings of a guitar, so guitar shapes carry over and standard-ukulele shapes do not. Tune one with the baritone ukulele tuner.

Tune first

A right shape on an out-of-tune ukulele still sounds wrong. Check G, C, E and A in a few seconds.

Open the Ukulele Tuner →