“Chopsticks”–Learn Efficient Chord Movement with Benny Chong’s Jazz Arrangement for Reentrant Baritone

BY NICOLAS GRIZZLE | FROM THE WINTER 2024 ISSUE OF UKULELE

Tom Hanks, Hoagy Carmichael, Liz Phair, Liberace, and thousands of others have recorded a version of “Chopsticks.” If you’ve ever plunked on a piano, you’ve probably played it too. But even if your main instrument is a reentrant baritone ukulele, odds are you haven’t played this version arranged by Benny Chong.

Euphemia Allen (pen name Arthur de Lulli) couldn’t have predicted the tune’s tremendous staying power when she composed “The Celebrated Chop Waltz” in 1877. And she certainly wouldn’t have predicted Chong’s jazzy ukulele version, both in a style and on an instrument that hadn’t been invented yet.

Chong, known for his efficiency of movement and smooth playing, uses his baritone ukulele in reentrant tuning because it allows him to make tight chords and keep things jazzy. In contrast, linear tuning, with a low D string, would result in more spread-out chord shapes.

There’s no getting around the fact that this is an advanced arrangement. The chords are sophisticated, and you will have to figure out fingerings that work for you to play through it. But that’s exactly what Chong says he likes about teaching this piece. His students learn efficiency of movement by trial and error. The reward here is gaining muscle memory, getting better at forming chords, and, of course, making beautiful music.

The melody is simple, allowing you to focus on the chords and transitions. Chong suggests taking it chord by chord, getting comfortable with each transition, and determining your preferred fingering before moving on to the next one. 

This is a piece you can keep coming back to as your ukulele skills progress, using it as a benchmark to see how far you’ve come.