I wanted to find a collection of chord box pictures suitable for use in song documents, but I couldn’t find anything suitable out on the internet. So I decided to write my own program to draw the boxes.
There are versions suitable either for web pages or for print documents. The web versions have sizes of either 48×64 or 36×54. The print versions have sizes of either 150×200 or 112×150 in 300 DPI resolution.
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Download the collection
The Ukulele Chord Box Collection is available in a number of different editions. Most ukulele players should choose the GCEA Edition. Check carefully to see which one is right for you.
The Left-handed Editions are the same as the regular editions, but the chord diagrams are reversed.
The Baritone and ADF#B Editions contain the same diagrams as the GCEA Edition. Only the names are different.
Web Versions
Images with size 48×64 or 36×54, suitable for web pages.
Print Versions
Images with size 150×200 or 112×150 in 300 DPI resolution, suitable for word processor documents.
- Ukulele (GCEA) New
- Ukulele (ADF#B) New
- Baritone Ukulele (DGBE) New
- Tenor Banjo (CGDA) New
- Plectrum Banjo (DGBD) New
- Mandolin (GDAE) New
Left-handed Versions
Images with size 48×64 or 36×54, suitable for web pages.
Version 1.7, January 25, 2018.
How to use
Extract the directory in the zip file into a convenient place.
To use these in an OpenOffice document, just open the folder containing the images, and then drag and drop the appropriate image into the document. Once the image is embedded into the document, I find that the easiest way to position the image is to anchor it as character. Right-click on the image, then select “Anchor”, and then “as character”. You can then cut and paste the image to position it properly.
One Chord Diagram per Page
Based on a request from a ukulele teacher, I created another version of the chord diagrams. These diagrams are in the form of a set of PDF files, with one diagram per page, suitable for teaching a class:
License
Ukulele Chord Box Collection by Hans Boldt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License.
The collection is offered to everyone under a Creative Commons license. Under this license, you may:
- freely use these chord diagrams in your own work;
- modify and share these diagrams, provided that you attribute the work to Hans Boldt and you distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar licence to this one.
See the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada page for more detail.
Program chordgen
If you want to create your own chord boxes, you can use the program I wrote to create the Ukulele Chord Box Collection. This is a command line utility using Python and the Python Imaging Library.
chordgen version 0.1, October 4, 2010.
