Learn the Roman Numeral System on Ukulele | Play Better with Others—and Improve Your Ear

Have you ever been to a uke jam and heard the leader call out, “Key of F—four, five, one” while wondering to yourself what this secret code might be? The approach of assigning numbers to chords is called the Roman numeral system. Our goal is to use numbers to describe chords and their progressions so that we can easily identify patterns regardless of what key we’re playing in. In this lesson by Diane Nalini, you'll learn the Roman numeral system, which will help you play better with others—and improve your ear.

In this lesson, we’ll learn how to build chords starting on each note of the major scale. Then we’ll explore some common chord progressions found in thousands of songs. You’ll see how using numbers allows you to see the patterns that occur in your favorite tunes, regardless of what key they were recorded in, so that you can eventually play them in any key.

You can find the full lesson in the Spring 2024 issue of Ukulele magazine, available at https://store.ukulelemag.com/products.... Find more ukulele goodness at ukulelemagazine.com.

1:40 Ex. 1
2:21 Ex. 2
3:12 Ex. 3
7:12 Ex. 4
9:31 Ex. 5
11:37 Ex. 6
12:54 Key of F
14:52 Ex. 7