5 EASY WAYS TO PLAY B CHORD - But 1 Way is Best

This instructional Guitar Video of the B Major Chord for Beginners through Advanced players is a must see. There are 5 primary ways to Play the B Chord near open position, the standard way many instructors teach are the 5 String A Shape Barre Chord Method. These most common Methods have certain limitations that are not optimal. 'Space Age Jim' explains each method & may convince you that his Favored methods may be best for you. Once you learn this method it you may never go back to your old way to play B. A practice loop is provided for you to perfect your B chord skill set. Likewise, this video is entertaining you with Fingerstyle Guitar clips and hopes to convince you to learn Fingerstyle Guitar & break out of your -flat-pick only- way of playing barrier of sounding like everyone else.

Chapters:
(00:00:00) Intro Lick - Why B is Soooo Hard But Soooo Important
(00:01:48) Method 1 - Easiest 3 String way
(00:02:42) 1-4 String Method Easy Method
(00:03:50) 2-5 String Method
(00:05:44) 1-5 Hard Method
(00:06:48) 1-5 Barre Method - The Difficult B that Reigns Supreme
(00:08:24) How To Master the Best B Chord Method
(00:10:37) Practice Loop
(00:13:44) Let Tune Up
(00:15:49) 'Steal My Licks' Challenge

[boogiemorgan]

I have been playing for many years, I now play mostly rhythm with a group and to me Bar cords is the best way to go, mainly because you are playing a full cord all rhe time!

[havable]

For me the easiest B is the barre chord on the 7th fret. Its a jump if the rest of your chords are on the bottom of the neck. But, as you pointed out, the string tension is lessened the further up you are on the neck. And also its good practice to make big jumps like that. It will build some skills without contorting that ring finger. I always used method four on your charts until I noticed that B on the 7th fret.

[markbrown]

It’s OK if beginners are having a hard time with playing that particular chord. But I also think taking shortcuts is not too good. You want to learn to play the cold chord and develop good playing habits I’ve been playing guitar since 1974. It’s one of the best hobbies I’ve ever had in my whole life, you work hard at it and the repercussions are astronomically rewarding. I learn I started reading music in 1984 today. I am a solo instrumental finger style guitarist. Chad Atkins is one of my idol players. I was taught by soul surfer Johnny Fortune. He died in 2006 one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life, he was my best friend for 30 years. I am 70 years old and I love my guitar. Thanks for your videos. You do have good teaching skills.👍😁🎸🎼🎵🎶🎸😎

[jamesalley]

I taught myself this, what I called the “L” shape, my first time playing electric guitar! I thought it was so easy and I could slide it anywhere and use either the E or A string as my root. Like cheating, I could suddenly play “any chord” with this one stupid shape….and quickly realized 80% of rock music is played this way, or can be.

It’s not necessarily hard. Don’t worry about the high e ringing at first.

[Zach-lsif]

I’m forever grateful for my high school guitar teacher, he had me learn things like this as a beginner and said it’s worth learning thus technique early

[jtboise]

I finally got smart and just bought some lighter strings and now playing the standard B barre chord is pretty easy and I still love the sound of the strings. They are the Martin Marquis silked & steel, 11.5-47

[seniorp]

I just play the F shape on the 7th fret. Probably harder for beginners to move quickly down to that position but I’ve been doing it that way forever. Also if you have fairly big hands the Hendrix rock F shape is easier than bar chord but I never see anyone teaching it. I’m glad I had a teacher that offered it as an option.

[urbangorilla]

You left one out, which is the best one for me anyway - using the pinky finger on the B-G-D strings while barring with the index as usual. When I use the ring finger I can't help muting the E string, but the pinky is smaller and it lets the E ring out.

[silverstem]

I have no problem with any of the B shapes, but then again, I learned it in 1966 and I own good guitars. Good video for beginners!👍🎸

[markbrown]

Maybe I’m just plain lucky. I have extremely long skinny fingers. It’s not hard for me to make reaches. I can stretch my fingers from the first Fred all the way to the fifth and six sprints without a strain. My brother looks at me and says you’re totally amazing or maybe just play Lucky I love guitar. I played it most of my adult life. Thanks for your videos. They’re great. I’m an experience player, but I’m not too proud to learn new things. Have a great day.👍😁😎🎸

[thomaswood]

I used to play the 5th shape you show all the time. It made it easy to go from the major B, C, or D, chords etc to the 7th chords. I agree, I think it is one of the most important chord shapes to learn along with all the other barre chords. Unfortunately I lost my ring finger this year in a table saw accident. Also nearly severed my thumb but the surgeons were able to reattach that but it can’t bend like it did. This injury makes playing these chords next to impossible. Even playing a simple A chord using my 1st, 2nd and 4th finger is EXTREMELY difficult because the nub gets in the way. I did find a work around that makes it possible for me to play A, B, C, D etc up the neck using the basic A shape. What I have to do is use my index finger to fret 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th string at on the correct fret for each chord, 2nd for A, 4th for B, 5th for C etc. But, then I use my pinky and fret the first string on the 5th fret for the A, 7th for the B, 8th for the C etc. Kind of like playing an A8th, B8th, etc. So for the A chord the notes I am playing is A on the first string, C# on the second, A on the third and E on the 4th. Then just slide this shape up for all other subsequent chords. I play in a group with three other players and it actually does sound very nice. I am trying to get my 4th finger to fret the notes like my missing 3rd finger used to but with the limited flexibility of the thumb it has proven to be elusive so far. Just thought I would add this. Thank you, I am a new subscriber but really like listening to you lesson so far.

[scaberouswretch]

I tend to play those major barre chords with just my index and little finger.
Lucky for me the first joint of my little finger is just the right size to cover all three strings and still allow my index finger to cover the highest note.
Although, all major or minor chords can be outlined by just playing the root note and the major or minor tenth.
Then you can add whatever notes you want in between to make the chords straight major or minor, major or minor 7th chords, dominant, diminished, or even add in melodic lines that connect the chord progressions.

This is the approach that people like Joe Pass and Martin Taylor use in order to create solo guitar pieces where they’re playing the bass line, outlining the chord progressions and playing the melody all at once.

[thomasbcool]

I like to use your 1-4 method with an open B string. Love voicing using the open strings whenever possible.

[showtimecharlie]

"B" chord ain't got nothin on me !
Sincerely,
The "Eb" chord...

[michroz]

That' my way to play B (and other parallel ones)! I came to it one day as I could not use 3 fingers on 2, 3, 4. Sometimes I clip the 1st string, but it works!

[StarDarkAshes]

It totally depends on the shape of your hand as to which method you’ll eventually settle into because the way that the ring finger is pressed down and bent up like that personally with my small hands there’s no way I’m ever gonna be able to do that. I’ve been playing for 30 years and I’ve tried to do that so many times and, sometimes you just have to know your limits and for me having the high string ring out on the B just isn’t that important and if I need the high E to ring out in a particular song because it makes it sound better I can always choose a different formation that favors that scenario be an inversion or simply doing a three note B cord instead of doubling up on some of the notes. So these are all great tips, but sometimes you have to be realistic and if you’re not double jointed or you have a really small hand, you have to just accept that and figure out a different way and ultimately, most of the time no one’s gonna hear the little new ones of the high E string either ringing out or not ringing out especially if you’re playing with the whole band it’s just completely unnecessary.

[dhat]

Just play B7 (B, D#, A, B (open), F#) at first and second fret - much easier and normally fits into songs.

[richardchapman]

Really helpful, thank you. The chord sequences in E, too.

[mfstraight]

The easiest/best B is x24x4x using fingers 1, 3, and 4. Gets all three notes of the triad, a voicing that sounds great, and very easy on the fingers - no barres required. You can pluck the three strings with your fingers, or if you want to strum you just have to mute the 1st and 3rd strings with the fingers that are fretting the 2nd and 4th strings.

[joecribbin]

Great video thanks. Really straightforward explanation. I like the way you started simple and moved it up a level. Also demonstrating the thumb is so important and often overlooked. Thanks again