B flat chord

tori8984

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I have trouble fingering B flat. Right now I just mute the A string. Could someone HABU?
 
a B flat should be the first fret of the A and E string with your index finger, the second fret C string with your middle, and the third fret G string with your ring finger. kind of going at a diagonal.

unless your doing the B flat from the 5th fret witch is like doing a G note on the 5th fret with a 7th fret G string with it.

at most i would just say keep practicing. im still working on "im yours" fingering before i even work on the song.

good luck, hope i did some help lol.
 
Are you having problems holding down all the strings to get a clean sound? Try rotating your wrist holding the chord to the left a little more. Sometimes that helps.
 
i bar the whole first fret, then middle on c-string, ring finger on g.

i see a lot of people do 1/2 bar with just A and E string...but i find it a lot easier if u bar the whole first fret. and plus then u can slide it up and down much easier!
 
My problem is my index finger will not cover both strings. So I think that I will try working on barring the first fret deal. I have to work at getting my finger muscles to do things they have never done.
I have not tried using movable chords going up the neck yet. I see people on you tube playing songs and try to figure out the chords sometimes. When I see the hand go higher up the neck, I say "dang, movable chord" that is something I need to work on too.

Thanks for the advice.
 
Hmm.. that was a problem I had when I first started as well. It just took practice and slowly progressing. Try just concentrating on the A and E strings for now and worry about the others later. Try pressing the A, and E with your pointer finger. Then once you're comfortable enough on this, add another finger. Try the A,E, and C. Add that middle finger and making sure not to touch the others and it just hovers over the rest and only presses the C string (run on sentence lol)

So instead of taking everything on at one time, you can set a pace for yourself and take on things one step at a time.

Pace yourself. As my former band director always said "Perfect practice makes perfect"
 
I have been looking at videos and I see that I have to move my thumb around to the back of the neck to be able to hit that chord. It helps to be able to see people playing. The lessons on Iamhawaii.com are also very helpfull.

Thank you
 
Aarrggghhh! The B Flat chord is the spawn of Satan!

There. I feel much better having gotten that off my chest.

Carry on. Nothing to see here. Just a frustrated newbie facing a song with about a zillion B flats in it. :wallbash:
 
Basic rule for learning chords:
Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice.
And have a glass of wine*.​

Repeat as required.
~~~~~
* For mature members, only, of course. tea or fruit juice for the younger members!
 
Ah, so I should drink more. Excellent advice - I'll get right on that!

Oh, and it seems like there was one other thing you suggested that I do, but I've forgotten what it was. I'm sure it will come back to me after a little more wine... :D
 
9 times out of 10, I just play the Bb as a Bb(add2). That is, as a 3213. Easier to play, and sounds "hipper". I guess it is cheating though. ;)

Heck, if you're in the key of F, you can play your F with that "C" note on top too (2013), then just keep it there for your Bb and C chords (and maybe even your Dm if you play it as a Dm7).

JJ
 
Are you having problems holding down all the strings to get a clean sound? Try rotating your wrist holding the chord to the left a little more. Sometimes that helps.

Roy Sakuma brought that up in the beginner dvd that my lovely wife got for herself and it made a big difference for her in a way I could never explain.
 
I detest the chord.
I don't bother much with it now and if its in something I want to play I use another chord simply because I cant get a clean sound no matter how I practice - and its not only this chord either that I have problems with.
Perhaps I'm a slow learner or it simply will take me far longer to grasp it than most, but whatever the reason I got tired of being slowed down in learning something with this chord in it that I couldn't do.

I take the easy way out and that upsets a few players but not me.
 
In general I try to avoid chords whose names sound like bad advice. Bb, Bdim, Bm, and especially Cm.
 
In general I try to avoid chords whose names sound like bad advice. Bb, Bdim, Bm, and especially Cm.


haha...I'm gonna remember that!:bowdown:
 
Are you having problems holding down all the strings to get a clean sound? Try rotating your wrist holding the chord to the left a little more. Sometimes that helps.

That helped me out. I figured it out while working through the Doctor Uke key exercises. I highly reccomend working though those… just a little at a time, but work through them.

They will get you working on things you can easily avoid when you just pick songs that interest you. The exercises will help you learn a very full compliment of chords and very common progressions.

I still struggle with many of the keys but those exercises have really helped me grow. Bb and B used to be my nemesises. Now I can usually nail either of them (figuring out that rotation trick was the key; it is the only way I found to move quickly between Bb and F or Dm).

Here are the exercises to start with:
  1. Amazing Grace in all keys
  2. Five Foot Two in all keys (via circle of fifths)
  3. Approach to Learning Basic Chords (less fun than the other two, but useful for picking up on the patterns that exist in chord fingering and learning where the root of each chord is)

Take it slow and don't expect to be able to just peel through those exercises in the short term. They are the type of thing you keep coming back to, getting a little further each time. But in the end you will be able to master all the important progressions in all keys… very useful, even if you do stick with easy to play keys for the most part.

Another thing I have observed is that I start as I relax a little and speed up my chord changes my fingers tend to find more comfortable positions to hold down all the required strings without hitting others accidently… it is that practice thing (though I have yet to find any way to finger Fm7 and its associates that isn't uncomfortable and unnatainable at speed).
 
I had a minor breakthrough with this chord (3211) tonight. Instead of trying to hold down the E and A strings with the tip of my pointer finger, I barred the entire first fret, using the fleshy part of my pointer finger to hold down those strings, with the tip of my pointer extended past the edge of the neck. Suddenly it was MUCH easier to finger the G and C strings with my ring and middle finger.

Here's a photo that might clarify what I'm trying to say:

b-flat.jpg


I had tried barring before, but not extending my finger like that; instead I was covering the G string with the tip of my pointer finger. For some reason, moving my pointer finger up and past the edge of the neck made all the difference in the world!

This is pretty easy on a tenor, a little harder on a concert neck, and kinda tricky on a soprano, particularly if your fingers are thick. But it's still a major improvement for me - hope this helps you, too!
 
I suppose if we all had classic Guitar teachers we would be able through practice and right technique to be able to nail any chord in time, and that would obviously help in overall playing technique as well.
I mean how many of us actually play the Uke correctly - where you keep your thumb behind the neck for instance and not in sight?

There are other chords I have found now that are far more out the reach of a B or Bb - some where I need 7 or 8 fingers:)…anyone who can nail all these chords and move about silky smooth up and down the neck with ease I take my hat off to you.

There is no such word as cant so I’m not saying I cant do the same with time and practice, but the Uke is about fun for a lot of us, and I say if you cant do any chord, change the thing - you can always keep trying to nail it if you want while you watch TV.:D
 
I had a minor breakthrough with this chord (3211) tonight. Instead of trying to hold down the E and A strings with the tip of my pointer finger, I barred the entire first fret, using the fleshy part of my pointer finger to hold down those strings, with the tip of my pointer extended past the edge of the neck. Suddenly it was MUCH easier to finger the G and C strings with my ring and middle finger.

Here's a photo that might clarify what I'm trying to say:

b-flat.jpg


I had tried barring before, but not extending my finger like that; instead I was covering the G string with the tip of my pointer finger. For some reason, moving my pointer finger up and past the edge of the neck made all the difference in the world!

This is pretty easy on a tenor, a little harder on a concert neck, and kinda tricky on a soprano, particularly if your fingers are thick. But it's still a major improvement for me - hope this helps you, too!
glad you figured this out because I was thinking "I love the Bb chord, it's so easy to play" but looking at how I bar the first fret it looks like my index finger hangs out over the top too... Now try the barred D (2225), E (4447), C (5433), and G (4232)... really fun to use bar chords because you can slide up and down the neck!
 
This topic was just was I was looking for. I'm a violinist making the jump, and it's much harder to play a fretted instrument than I first expected. Thanks for the picture. My Bb sounds perfect now! :)
 
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