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  #1  
Old 08-15-2005, 04:02 PM
sportzy812 sportzy812 is offline
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Default "B" chord

Hey, i'm a begining guitarist and i'm having a heck of a time mastering the B chord. Any Advice??
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Old 08-15-2005, 04:07 PM
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The only advice I can offer right now is that there are a lot of ways to play a Bmaj chord.

Obviously the barre chord on the second fret is tough for a beginner, but keep practicing and it'll get easier. At some point, you're going to have to learn it, there's no getting around that. Personally, I tend to play it with my index finger barred at the second fret and then, I barre the other 3 notes with my pinky ( x24442)
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Old 08-15-2005, 04:19 PM
Pigfarm Pigfarm is offline
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Heya Sporty! You really made me laugh. I started playing about 3 months ago, and said the same thing! Click here if you wish to read my rant on the entire chord of B.

The best advice I can give you, as one newbie to another, is this:

A "correct" B chord is a barre chord like this
2
4
4
4
2
X

The first challenge to tackle is barre chords themselves. If you're like I was, You can barely make a barre chord RING once! It's hard because the finger strenght isn't there yet, but that will come with time (about, oh, 3 months work for me!).

The second challenge is with the B chord itself. I can't shove all 3 of my sausage fingers on the fourth fret. So, instead, when I need to play a B chord, I end up playing a slight variation, a Bsus2 (correct me if I'm wrong), which looks like:
2
2
4
4
2
X

That works for me. Hope that helps! If not, do what I did and boycott the B note entirely!
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Last edited by Pigfarm; 08-15-2005 at 05:03 PM.
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Old 08-15-2005, 04:32 PM
eiko eiko is offline
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Playing B the barred way, the three fingers fretting strings 2-3-4 on the fourth fret don't have to be lined up vertically. The index should be straight up because it's the barre (replacing the nut - so to speak) but the three fingers can slant a little bit. Hard to describe without a picture. The 4th fret is still wide enough to do this. The middle (4th string) is closer to the barre finger, the ring (3rd string) is under and to the right a bit, and the pinky (2nd string) is closer to the 5th fret with all three fingers still within the confines of the fourth fret. I hope I explained that correctly.

The fingers/hand strength needs to be developed as an overall goal. Like Chris says, there's no way around it. Barre chords are necessary. The positioning of the thumb behind the neck is also crucial. On barred B, the thumb is almost opposite the index finger (visualize a capo on this one), with just enough pressure. The index only needs to cover from the 1st to the 5th string.

Sorry if I confused anyone.
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Old 08-15-2005, 04:46 PM
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anthonyc007 anthonyc007 is offline
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Everyone has trouble with this at first. Here is a little workaround until you get it full tilt (but you DO have to get eventually):

x
4
4
4
2
x

Barre the 2nd fret with your index, then barre the 4th with your ring, but come up one string short, if you catch my drift (by the way, Pigfarm is incorrect, the 6th string is not played.). Mute that 1st sting with the index and you got a good facsimile of a B chord.

You'll definetly need to master this shape when you start playing barre chords up the neck.

Good luck!
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Old 08-15-2005, 05:03 PM
Pigfarm Pigfarm is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by anthonyc007
(by the way, Pigfarm is incorrect, the 6th string is not played.)
Sorry! I edited previous post. It's good now. Oopsy, on the 6th string... Brain was thinking what strings to fret, not which ones to strum.
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Old 08-15-2005, 06:25 PM
sportzy812 sportzy812 is offline
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ahh ya'll are great! Thank you for the many tips, out of them all i'm sure one will work . It's good to know that playing the B chord is a common difficulty for beginners. I can't wait to get started!
~Em
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Old 08-15-2005, 07:29 PM
dudley doright dudley doright is offline
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Default The best advise someone have given me .............

......about barre chords was to use the whole index finger and the hand pressure should be like pulling the whole hands toward the floor.
It is hard to explain but visualize you are trying to pull the neck downward as you fret the chord. I find that doing it this way, I get all the notes to ring clear. I hope this helps.
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Old 08-15-2005, 07:35 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pigfarm
Sorry! I edited previous post. It's good now. Oopsy, on the 6th string... Brain was thinking what strings to fret, not which ones to strum.
Technically the F# is still in the chord, so it wouldn't be incorrect to play it. Just would make it a B/F# instead of a plain old B. So don't feel bad
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Old 08-15-2005, 10:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Guyute
Technically the F# is still in the chord, so it wouldn't be incorrect to play it. Just would make it a B/F# instead of a plain old B. So don't feel bad
As a matter of fact, the F# should be barred. If you play fingerstyle the B & F# give you a nice alternate bass.
Also. if, for example, you pick on B Maj (4th fret not barred with ring or pinky) and every time you thumb the F# lift the off the D# to pick C#, it'll give you a nice sounding B9.
Just one point about fingering barre chords. Learn all possibilities! I do barre the B maj. with my ring finger or pinky, but usually I do that if sliding into it or out off it. If you want to play a melodic line out of the B chord like D#>C#>D#>E>D#, you can't really barre it. Then you have to finger it basically like you would the A maj. in the open position.
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Old 08-16-2005, 09:10 AM
Pigfarm Pigfarm is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Guyute
Technically the F# is still in the chord, so it wouldn't be incorrect to play it. Just would make it a B/F# instead of a plain old B. So don't feel bad
No wonder it didn't sound to bad when I do occasionally catch the 6th string.
Much the same way, I don't play a G the correct way, I play 3 2 0 0 3 3, but utilizes another D instead of another B. Which is a [C]G, or something.

But the X 2 4 4 2 2 would be a Bsus2, correct?
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Old 08-16-2005, 09:39 AM
eiko eiko is offline
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Ahh, the world of extra notes:
I play the F# on the 6th string when I play a Bm (alternating bass - fingerstyle), the same F# playing a D, and the open low E when playing C (especially if the next chord is F). These are occasionaly done, not all the time. It adds color to the tune.
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  #13  
Old 08-16-2005, 10:10 AM
Akubra Akubra is offline
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Try it without the high F#, maybe lay your pinky across your 3rd finger for some added leverage:

x
2
4
4
4
x
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Old 08-16-2005, 10:14 AM
TaylorGirl TaylorGirl is offline
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Ahh barre chords.. I've been playing five years and I still don't have them mastered. Partially because of the shape of my index finger, it's kind of concave.. So it's hard to hold the strings down.

My best advice is partice, practice, practice, practice - it gets easier with time.


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Old 08-16-2005, 10:29 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pigfarm
No wonder it didn't sound to bad when I do occasionally catch the 6th string.
Much the same way, I don't play a G the correct way, I play 3 2 0 0 3 3, but utilizes another D instead of another B. Which is a [C]G, or something.

But the X 2 4 4 2 2 would be a Bsus2, correct?
That is correct. Of course, if you don't strum it all the way through and you just play X 2 4 4 X X, then it's a B5 (power chord).

As for your G chord, I play that one quite a lot as well. When I do, I also sometimes finger the C chord as X 3 2 0 3 3. Gives a nice full sound to both of them even if the chord isn't technically a Cmaj.
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