Still tripping over a chord after 40 years!

[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.

And I STILL freaking trip over the Bm chord. I'm not a great musician or player, but I'm long since proficient at the cowboy chords and pretty much any barre chord shape all over the neck. I have a decent feel as a rhythm player. The Bm is kind of a hybrid between an open chord and a barre chord - you can play it as a barre but I've never been as good as switching between barre chords, which I play primarily on electric and open chords, which I play mostly on acoustic. The F chord is very similar and seems to be one that a lot of beginners have trouble with, but I've never had any problem with it since the earliest days. Any other slightly less common open chord I learned when I started needing it pretty early on and honestly, I play them all without thinking and change pretty smoothly almost always, except for the occasional clam.

But the Bm, STILL trips me up. I mean, I can play it, some days even smoothly most of the time. But it's never gotten automatic, I've never been able to just grab it without thinking. And I've spent a lot of time playing songs that really use it heavily, like once or twice on almost every line. To practice it and because I like the chord and those songs. And some days I feel like I've really got it, but then the next day, I don't. And even when I do, if I record a song with a Bm open chord in it, I always hear a bit of hesitation in the recording, even when I don't feel it in my playing.

I keep thinking, 'one of these days, I'm just gonna be grabbing it smoothly without even thinking about it' and after all this time, it's never happened!

Anyone else have a blind spot like this that's lasted waaaaaaay too long? I mean, I have real limitations as a player, and I mostly accept them and work to expand my horizons. But this one just seems weird and is deeply frustrating...

-Ray

[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). Drives me nuts! I'll use a full barre B if I need to ... or a capo

I should note that I have no trouble with all sorts of barre chords, all up and down the neck ... just that darned A shape. I've learned to live with it, but not to like it.

[JayBee1404]

Me too! I still struggle with Bm after playing for 58 years - I got my first guitar in 1961. I have to concentrate very hard whenever the Bm shape comes up.

You are not alone! Mmmwwaaaaahahahahaaaaaaahh!

[patrickgm60]

A couple of suggestions:

Keep the guitar "vertical" or even slightly tilted forward. I see players who lay the guitar back a bit, probably to see their hands, but it puts the fretting shoulder, wrist, and hand in a very awkward position. Bm seems to accentuate that contorting position.

Of course, the 7th fret "Em" shape is always available.

[dwasifar]

I also have had struggles with Bm, but I find a good laxative helps a lot.

Actually barre Bm is no problem for me. It's the barre B that trips me up. I tend to substitute open B7 in any song that lets me get away with it (which works most of the time in folk and country).

[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....

[Cole Allen]

Depending on the song, sometime I substitute (I may get this nomenclature wrong) a dsus2/b for bm. For example, if I'm playing "Don't think twice, it's alright" in the key of D, I'll Start D, A, dsus2/b, walkdown to G... It fits sometimes, has a slightly different voice, and is a little easier to manage.

E x
A 2
D 0
G 2
B 3
E 0

Prescription: Play Wild Horses by the Stones over and over again. If that doesn't fix it, I don't know what will.

[rstaight]

I use a couple of different apps to look chords up depending on the song I am playing.

But for Bm I usually use an Am and slide it down to the third fret and mute the three open strings.

If you want a fuller sound, same shape and bar the second fret.

[Sev112]

You don’t have to strum all 6 strings
So you don’t have to finger all 6 strings
Perhaps just finger and play the middle 4 strings
Then you don’t need to barre

[raysachs]

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). Drives me nuts! I'll use a full barre B if I need to ... or a capo

I should note that I have no trouble with all sorts of barre chords, all up and down the neck ... just that darned A shape. I've learned to live with it, but not to like it.

Funny, that's one of the things I was comfortable with right away, which used to confound some of my friends who'd been playing a while and still had trouble with it. I guess my ring finger has just the right length and bindability. And, you know, every rock and roll song ever written can pretty much be played with the major and minor versions of the E and A shape barre chords, so I got THOSE down pretty quick.

The open version of the A chord sometimes trips me up now that I'm trying to learn fingerpicking because there are times you really need to play it with three fingers rather than a three string barre. And THAT is a little tricky, not so much to do, but to get into that position smoothly.

Originally Posted by dwasifar

I also have had struggles with Bm, but I find a good laxative helps a lot.

Actually barre Bm is no problem for me. It's the barre B that trips me up. I tend to substitute open B7 in any song that lets me get away with it (which works most of the time in folk and country).

Again, funny how different we all are. I generally suck at just playing one barre chord in the midst of a bunch of cowboy chords, but the barred B is one I can jump in and out of really easily, but not if it's a B minor. Once I'm playing mostly barre chords, which is what I do a lot on electric, it's no problem moving all over in any of those shapes, but the transition from cowboy to barre chords isn't all that smooth, except, oddly, that one. And F#m is also one I seem to handle pretty well too, just upstairs from the B.

I'll try the laxative too...

[Mark L]

Obtain an electric guitar, such as a MIM Fender Telecaster, making sure it has a modern fretboard radius of 9.5” or greater. String it with electric “lights” (making sure it has at least a basic setup) and play a lot of your repertoire with the “Bm shape” hundreds of times over the course of a few months on this rig. You don’t have to plug in, just practice moving in and out of the chords.

You can sell a used Tele for what you bought it for when you’re done, give or take some $.

Also, there are lots of other ways to play a Bm than barre-ing an Am shape. What you pick depends on whether you need the 5th string bass more, or the mid and higher range strings. Fwiw, guitar playing really advances once one breaks free from having to play all six strings all the time. For example, a barre “Em shape” at fret 7 is well within the facility of most strummers. There are numerous other ways, including 2-3 at fret 2 if you need it to be there.

Good luck with it!

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by Cole Allen

... if I'm playing "Don't think twice, it's alright" in the key of D...

In a song like that, with a bass note on beats one and three, try rocking your fretting hand a little. Lean on the bass notes when you're playing those, rock back toward the treble strings when it's their turn. Might be more comfy and less work.

Also, sometimes people seem to think that it's necessary to clamp down on all the strings and sound all the possible notes in a chord. That's no fun. The older I get, the more my guitar becomes a percussion instrument. In another five years you won't hear any notes at all. I'll be able to throw away my tuner.

[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.

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by J-Doug

Prescription: Play Wild Horses by the Stones over and over again. If that doesn't fix it, I don't know what will.

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