Still tripping over a chord after 40 years!

[Silly Moustache]

That's a me too - for the Bm.

It is the II in an A scale, III for the G scale, and a VI in a D scale.

I play mostly in G, A and D!
in A & D, I mostly capo at II so the Bm is a some Am shape, but in G it has to be played as a barred minor chord with the root on the fifth string .... or does it?

As I'm simply useless with barre chords rooted on the 5th string, (especially since my Dupuytens Contracture started making itself known, I just fret the first four strings.

Can't do the A shape barre now either.

I used to watch a squirrel in a tree that had both front paws missing. He climbed, held nuts and did all sorts of stuff that squirrels do.

That little critter taught me to adapt/adjust to do what you can.

=============

edit: OK, I confess I never saw that squirrel play a Bm tho'

===============

Originally Posted by raysachs

That is among my most played songs. And another that really SHOULD take care of this is Dylan's "Oh Sister", which I don't like as much as Wild Horses, but play a lot just for this purpose - it's got a Bm on every line of the song except in the bridge, which I sometimes don't even bother to play. Also, Neil's Powderfinger. Believe me, I've looked for songs with a lot of Bm chords in it. I have a setlist of Bm intensive songs on my iPad so I can just play those for a while in hopes of getting it down. I can't say they haven't helped me get less bad at this, but it's still an issue.

-Ray

One thing I thought I'd add is if you can play Wild Horses and the Bm most of the time you're pretty far ahead of the curve compared to a lot of people. Try focusing on all the chords in the tune you are playing well and don't sweat it if you blow the Bm occasionally. And oh yeah a good "cheat" is to just play a partial version like:

E X
A X
D 4
G 4
B 3
e 2

or

E X
A 2
D 4
G 4
B 3
e X

[Skarsaune]

Originally Posted by raysachs

Believe me, I've looked for songs with a lot of Bm chords in it. I have a setlist of Bm intensive songs on my iPad so I can just play those for a while in hopes of getting it down. I can't say they haven't helped me get less bad at this, but it's still an issue.

-Ray

That's what I do - make a point to practice the songs with Bm. And I agree, it gets less bad, but not where I want it!

[raysachs]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I was more interested in knowing if I was alone in this problem - good to not there are others with this, or similar problems.

To respond to a few:

I've thought about just playing the Am two frets up as a triad, but that's un-natural enough feeling that I figure I should just keep trying to do it "right" because either will probably take a while. I don't want to relearn the Am without my pointer finger because using the pointer finger makes it natural and quick and easy to get to the C, the Am7, up to the E, D7, etc. Seems like there are lot's of chords with that B string first fret in play.

I have electrics - I've played more electric than acoustic over the years, although the balance seems to be tipping toward acoustic lately. And I can easily play the Bm barre chord a couple of ways in a couple of places when I'm playing a song that's all or mostly all barre chords. But I have trouble jumping from cowboy chords directly to most barre chords in the middle of a song that's mostly cowboy chords. The exceptions, as mentioned above, are the B and F#m, so it would seem like I SHOULD be able to get to Bm quickly also, but NOOOOO.

As for thinking of the Bm as the F slid over, it's pretty true, but playing that B string one fret higher changes the shape just enough to give me fits evidently. I've tried various ways of getting into and out of it, but I'm stubborn and I feel like I really should be able to just do this. And occasionally I feel like I'm there, but the feeling always passes!

Thanks for all the suggestions. Maybe soon someone will come up with something I haven't tried. But I appreciate the commiseration anyway!

-Ray

[RockyRacc00n]

Originally Posted by raysachs

Man, please tell me I'm not alone in this. I've been playing guitar since 1977. In fairness, I barely played between about 1987 and 2017 - lost my callouses not long after my first daughter was born and only played enough to almost get them back for a month or two a couple of times over those 30 years of barely playing. And I've been playing a ton again for the past three years or so...

frustrating...

-Ray

Ray, I too started playing more consistently since around 2017, with similar long gaps since I first picked up the guitar around 1990.

When I first got back into it, the first thing I had to get right was the bar chords. It took all this time, but I've recently started to notice better proficiency with bar chords. I'm still not perfect at slapping on the bar chords but I think I'm proficient enough at it now.

However, similar to you, I have my own area frustration which after 3 years of playing, I find it perplexing and has me wondering if there is something not right about my technique... And that is the alternate bass picking.

For example when playing the G chord, you can alternate bass picking between G and D. When playing the A chord, you can alternate bass picking between A and E, and so on for other chords. Whenever I play songs that have alternate bass picking (and I play a lot of songs that have alternate bass picking, so I should be better at that by now) I always have few places where I miss the correct bass string, and that's been my ongoing frustration.

[M Sarad]

Get Chord Chemistry.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by ChrisE

Just keep practicing. Try playing an Am without using your first finger. In other words, use fingers 2,3,4 to play the Am with the first finger just kind of sticking up in the air. Once you're comfortable with that, just slide it up a couple of frets and barre with the first finger.

Once you get the Bm down, you'll automatically be able to play Cm, C#m, Dm, Em, etc all the way up the neck.

This.

After you get something stuck in your muscle memory it's hard to re-learn another form. When I first starting playing 55 years ago I realized that playing an Am with my index finger was going to be easier for me, but NOT using the index finger was going to speed my progress for going up the neck.

Somewhere along the line I developed to use both forms interchangably depending on if I needed to use my index finger to barr or needed my little finger to incorporate melody notes from the Am position.

[bufflehead]

Originally Posted by J-Doug

And oh yeah a good "cheat" is to just play a partial version like:

E X
A X
D 4
G 4
B 3
e 2

^^^^^^^^ This. Just playing those four strings is full enough for 90% of songs with a Bm. I don't even consider it a "cheat" anymore.

Funny, when I saw the title for this thread, I thought maybe you were tripping over electric cords on stage. I'm still having problems with that maneuver.

[Mr. Jelly]

How a person strums or picks the guitar can have a bearing on the chord shapes one may use. Since I have fretting hand issues I play a Bm chord as such.

E x
A x
D 4
G 4
B 3
e x

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by J-Doug

One thing I thought I'd add is if you can play Wild Horses and the Bm most of the time you're pretty far ahead of the curve compared to a lot of people. Try focusing on all the chords in the tune you are playing well and don't sweat it if you blow the Bm occasionally. And oh yeah a good "cheat" is to just play a partial version like:

E X
A X
D 4
G 4
B 3
e 2

or

E X
A 2
D 4
G 4
B 3
e X

Your first "cheat" is the open chord I've been getting tripped up on all these years. The second one is basically the barre chord without the high E string, but if I can get to that shape, I'm fine getting the high E also. Thanks, but this is the problem, and nailing it EVENTUALLY seems to be the solution to the problem...

-Ray

[guitar george]

Originally Posted by reeve21

Ray, since you are good with the F chord, maybe just think of the Bm as an F with everything slid over one string? Physically, it shouldn't be any harder....

This is the answer, same fingering as a barred F.

Practice with this song:

https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab...-chords-671460

Originally Posted by raysachs

Your first "cheat" is the open chord I've been getting tripped up on all these years. The second one is basically the barre chord without the high E string, but if I can get to that shape, I'm fine getting the high E also. Thanks, but this is the problem, and nailing it EVENTUALLY seems to be the solution to the problem...

-Ray

Ahh I get it now. I mistakenly thought the barre Bm was what you were struggling with since a lot of players have issues with barres. Well I'm out of ideas other than practice, practice, practice so good luck to you on this.

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

After you get something stuck in your muscle memory it's hard to re-learn another form. When I first starting playing 55 years ago I realized that playing an Am with my index finger was going to be easier for me, but NOT using the index finger was going to speed my progress for going up the neck.

I'd already mentioned this, but it was kind of buried:

Originally Posted by raysachs

I don't want to relearn the Am without my pointer finger because using the pointer finger makes it natural and quick and easy to get to the C, the Am7, up to the E, D7, etc. Seems like there are lot's of chords with that B string first fret in play.

Bottom line, I don't have a problem playing the Bm in a full barre or any of the other chords up the neck using that shape. My problem is in the context of a song full of cowboy chords jumping from one of the many open chords directly to that barre chord shape. I'm sure playing the Am automatically without the pointer finger would help alleviate this problem, but it makes so many other more common transitions so much easier that it's not something I want to give up. And, again, I can play that barre chord shape quite easily when I'm playing a song dominated by barre chords, but just have trouble jumping to it from most open chords...

-Ray

[justonwo]

What part of it do you have troubles with? Automatic and easy formation or getting the chord to ring clearly once formed?

[rokdog49]

My two nemesis' are B7 on the first fret and the D9 shape.
I play a lot in D and A so Bm is something I don't struggle with at all.