Still tripping over a chord after 40 years!

[Gordon Currie]

Originally Posted by M Sarad

Get Chord Chemistry.

+100. There are so many ways to play chords once you venture beyond cowboy and barre forms.

[Pillendreher]

Originally Posted by RustyAxe

Yes, after 52 years of playing I still can't get the A shape. Well, I can in A, but to bring it up the neck to a B is difficult. For some reason I can't make that double barre (full barre 2nd fret, partial barre on the 4th).

Interesting. I barre the A, but I never thought about barring the B. Maybe that would help actually: I'm always having trouble positioning my fingers fast enough in that cramped up space.

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by Gordon Currie

... There are so many ways to play chords once you venture beyond cowboy and barre forms.

When I got into my high school stage band with its huge book of complicated charts, I ran in a panic to my neighbor Mr. Hansman, the local jazz cat. He said, "Relax, kid. Just hit the root if you can, and a couple more notes that aren't wrong."

[619TF]

Originally Posted by M Sarad

Get Chord Chemistry.

A search on Amazon shows at least 4 books with that same title. Can you please provide some more info (author, publisher, publication date)?

Thanks in advance!

Back on topic....for me Bm isn't the one, it's the Dm (open chord). I just can't seem to get that chord fretted correctly and fast. It seems to be a choice of one or the other.

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by justonwo

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

Automatic and easy formation. Which sometimes then results in not getting the chord to ring clearly, but only because of the lack of getting to the right place at the right time. But generally it sounds fine once I've got it, but I just often stumble getting there...

-Ray

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by Gordon Currie

+100. There are so many ways to play chords once you venture beyond cowboy and barre forms.

I've played around with various voicings and playing triads up the neck. But honestly, at my level of musicianship, they mostly just clutter my mind. I mean, I play the C7 shape up and down the neck and the A9 and the D6/9 sliding shapes because I play a lot of blues (but I play barres and blues voicings mostly on electric). And I've played around with triads but realized that so many of them are just abbreviated versions of barre chords I already play pretty easily and often play as triads once I form the bar and mute / don't play some of the notes. So I have most of the chord forms I need to play the kind of songs that are mostly open chords and rock and blues songs that are mostly barre chords, and some of the blues chords.

I'm really just frustrated by this one isolated problem - I'm not trying to reinvent my whole wheel except as I evolve into new stuff slowly along the way.

-Ray

[docwatsonfan]

tripping over a chord?

I was going to suggest going wireless.....

oh never mind!

[UncleJesse]

Use a capo and change the key

[redir]

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....

That's what I was thinking.

IT might help to plant the root note first with the index finger then just don't think about it, it's just the e-shape once string up.

[raysachs]

My electrics are wireless and I play my acoustic unplugged about 99.9% of the time. And it's not like I've never used a capo to avoid this pesky chord, but there are a lot of songs that just work better with the Bm in there and I just have to freakin' learn to play it!

-Ray

[justonwo]

Originally Posted by raysachs

Automatic and easy formation. Which sometimes then results in not getting the chord to ring clearly, but only because of the lack of getting to the right place at the right time. But generally it sounds fine once I've got it, but I just often stumble getting there...

-Ray

Hmmm . . . I think I first got the muscle memory from just moving the root 6 major chord down one string. It’s the same shape. The other thing you could do is practice doing an Am with your last three fingers instead of your first three. That’ll give you good muscle memory for the shape and location. Then a Bm would just add the barre.

I would think if you can do an root 6 major chord perfectly, the best practice would be just moving that formation down one string.

I’ve found that learning to do the open E and open Am chord formations with the last three fingers can be very useful for transitioning to barre chords and to opening up your pointer finger for other duties. My style of playing has also forced me to make extensive use of an open G with my last three fingers. When I first started playing, I used my first three for G. The ease of transitioning into C and other chords makes the last three kind of a no brainer.

You’ll get there. Just change up your approach a few ways.

[emtsteve]

This thread makes feel better. I'm 7 years in on guitar and I am now just starting to hit Bm, F and other barred chords regularly coming from open positions. But I sure flub plenty. Good to know I'm not alone.

Reading through this, I'm thinking about the finger positions for Melissa by The Allman Brothers. I think this song really helped me get the shape under my fingers.

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by justonwo

Hmmm . . . I think I first got the muscle memory from just moving the root 6 major chord down one string. It’s the same shape. The other thing you could do is practice doing an Am with your last three fingers instead of your first three. That’ll give you good muscle memory for the shape and location. Then a Bm would just add the barre.

I would think if you can do an root 6 major chord perfectly, the best practice would be just moving that formation down one string.

I’ve found that learning to do the open E and open Am chord formations with the last three fingers can be very useful for transitioning to barre chords and to opening up your pointer finger for other duties. My style of playing has also forced me to make extensive use of an open G with my last three fingers. When I first started playing, I used my first three for G. The ease of transitioning into C and other chords makes the last three kind of a no brainer.

You’ll get there. Just change up your approach a few ways.

Thanks. That was already discussed above. I'm fine playing those barre chord shapes up the neck, but mostly in the context of playing songs that are all or almost all barre chords. Which is what I do a lot of on electric guitar, much less so on acoustic. Where I'm not so good is moving from primarily playing open chords into the occasional barre chord, which is the situation I often find myself in on acoustic, with the type of songs I'm mostly playing on acoustic. Oddly, I can do the other shapes at that position pretty well - getting to the B and F#m from most open chords comes relatively easily to me, but for some reason not the Bm. So I'm already going for the abbreviated form with just the four highest strings.

And as for playing the Am with the same three fingers I'd use in the barre shape is something I've already rejected doing. Because while it might make getting in the Bm easier, I use that pointer finger on the 1st fret on all of the four highest strings for so many other chords and it just makes life much easier moving between so many OTHER chords. I mean, the Am, Am7, D7, Dm, C, C7, E, E7, B7 all revolve around that and moving among those chords is greatly facilitated by using the pointer on the first fret. That's an old trick I don't care to unlearn to solve one problem while likely creating several others...

I just have to keep working AT it, working around it when I have to, and hopefully it'll eventually come and I can think of it as a 45 year project? Maybe 50?

Thanks for trying to help - I think this thread was more for commiseration and knowing that other folks have similar blocks that they work with and around also, more than solving the problem. Which I can't imagine I won't EVENTUALLY get to...

-Ray

[rmp]

Bm Meh! who needs it!!!

but on a more serious note....

Are you just having trouble making the shape, or getting notes clear? It seems the later but may I'm miss reading the thread

[Gordon Currie]

Originally Posted by 619TF

A search on Amazon shows at least 4 books with that same title. Can you please provide some more info (author, publisher, publication date)?

Thanks in advance!

Ted Greene, 1971 originally.

newest printing:
https://www.amazon.com/Ted-Greene-Ch...0217127&sr=8-1

original used:
https://www.amazon.com/Chord-Chemist...217127&sr=8-12