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To play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star you need to know three chords. In this ukulele lesson, we’ll be singing the song in the key of C. We’ll start learning the C major chord!
Here are the C major chords notated with ukulele tabs:
—-3—-
—-0—-
—-0—-
—-0—-
Now I will explain how to read the tabs. The four lines represent the four strings of his ukulele. The top line indicates the first string with the highest pitch. That will be the bottom string when you play your ukulele.
In this ukulele lesson, I am assuming that your ukulele is tuned to C. This means that its first string is an A.
The numbers on the lines tell you which frets to press to play the chords. The number 3 in the first few lines means, press the third fret on the first string. The 0 on the other strings means you strum these strings without pressing any frets.
You have to learn one more chord to play the first line of the lyrics. That’s the F major chord.
—-0—-
—-1—-
—-0—-
—-2—-
It’s time to sing the first line of the lyrics and play the chords:
(C)Shine, shine, (F)little (C)star
Each chord is written in parentheses before the syllable into which it is to be changed.
For the next letter you will need one more chord, the G7:
—-2—-
—-1—-
—-2—-
—-0—-
(G7) How I (C) wonder (G7) what (C) you are!
You now have enough chords to play the rest of the song:
(C) Up a (G7) above the (C) world so (G7) high
(C) Like a (G7) diamond (C) in the (G7) sky!
Now you just have to repeat the first two lines and the song is complete:
(C)Shine, shine, (F)little (C)star
(G7) How I (C) wonder (G7) what (C) you are!
The hardest part of playing chords is usually switching from one chord to another without a problem. You will greatly benefit from practicing the chords that you slowly switch between while strumming once on each chord. For example between C and F, G7 and C.
