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Question
#7
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.
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When played at the first fret this is
an F chord.
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If you where to play the same
chord shape at the 2nd fret this would be an F#(sharp)
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If you where to play the same
chord shape at the 7th fret this would be a B chord
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| 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.
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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.
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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.
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barre your first finger across all 6 strings
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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.
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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.
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B cool
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