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Guide to Playing Guitar Songs

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Gibson's Learn and Master Guitar

Learn & Master GuitarFind out if this popular DVD guitar course is right for you.

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Question #7

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How do you play a B chord?  I see A, C, D, E, F,and G in the basic chord section, but where is the B?

This is a often asked question, since B is usually not listed with the commonly played chords.  All of the most basic chords contain at least one open string except F.   (A, C, D, E, F, G, Am, Em, Dm)  For any other chords you will have to use a moveable chord shape.   This means that you have a chord shape that when play on different frets gives you different chords.  For example the F chord that I said didn't have any open strings, is a moveable chord.

 

When played at the first fret this is an F chord.

If you where to play the same chord shape at the 2nd fret this would be an F#(sharp)

If you where to play the same chord shape at the 7th fret this would be a B chord

The trick to using moveable chords is to know where the root of the chord is (the letter name A, B, C, etc.)  Then by knowing the names of the notes on the neck you can move the chord shape to the right fret to get what ever chord you want.

 

The squares are the roots in this moveable chord.   You could in fact play this on the 1st thru the 12 fret and play every major chord using just one shape. 

In the end there are a lot of ways to play all chords.  Here are a couple of common way to play a B chord.  There is no basic open position B chord.  So all of these chords are moveable, with the square being the root of the chord.

barre your first finger across all 6 strings

I call this on the "Mel Bay B".  This the one that you see most often in basic chord chart books, like Mel Bay.  Not the best choice for most situation but here it is.

If you are having trouble with the 2 chords above, keep practicing them.  But here is an easy B chord to use if needed.  Just take an A chord and move up 2 frets (toward the sound hole)  You can use your 1st or 3rd finger to barre the 4th,3rd, and 2nd strings. Make sure that you are only hearing those three notes.

B cool

 

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