I hate Bb chords, with a vengeance, they are the stuff of evil!

Graceelsie

Graceelsie

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The title says it all really... I have been trying to conquer this wretched chord for weeks, it makes my fingers feel like someone has put them through a mangle and still sounds like a strangled cat. What is the longest time one should expect to have to try to conquer a particular chord? Am I just not cut out for this ukulele playing lark?:mad:
 
This chord used to be the bane of my ukulele existence.. Now it just slows me down occasionally. I urge you not to meet the 'E' chord anytime soon! Keep practicing, I found that I had an easier time practicing the formation as 'B' instead of Bb, over one more fret made a big difference!
Don't give up you are NOT alone in the battle with Bb!! Keep on practicing!
 
Yes, just like fitncrafty sez....don't give up, it takes practice.
 
Try barring the first fret with your index finger.
If you get Bb down you will be on your way up the fret board.
With practice you will get there, most of us struggled with the Bb chord.
I have always found barring the first fret easier than trying to bend the index finger backwards.
 
I found a video on YouTube, the one where the guy says it's his first video so "be gentle", he shows how to put your thumb on the BACK of the neck, not wrapping your hand around the neck, makes it a lot easier.

I'm fearless around uke chords, it's guitar chords that kill me.
 
There is no time you should expect really, each of us is unique. I find that when I am struggling with a chord shape, I get frustrated when I can't do it, and I tend to tense up my grip on the neck and use too much pressure on the strings, making it hard to move easily into the chord shape. It often helps me to relax the muscles in my hand, then my fingers tend to go a little closer to where I want them to go.

Good Luck, you can do it!
 
Bb chords get some of their difficulty from being so close to the nut. It's much easier to press a string to the fret further down the neck.

You can minimize the physical effort by lowering the string height by deepening the nut slots. It also helps to play a soprano, which has the slackest string tension.

I see a lot of players using Bb chords w/o apparent difficulty, so it must be possible!

:p
 
Thanks everyone! I was beginning to think it was just me, and I was just naff at this, but if others have had a hard time with this one, I don't feel so stupid! Thanks for the tips and the encouragement! As for the dreaded E chord... I can make one sound reasonable... I just can't play it in conjunction with any other chords before or after it, lol! I can't actually make the Bb sound like anything vaguely musical at all!
 
Start out w/ I am a total newbie but found that when I need to bar a chord that it helps to place your finger as high on the fret as you can w/o going into the next fret. This allows you leverage and you don't need to press as hard. Good pickin' :)
 
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Yep the Bb is a bit of a tough one to do. Just takes practice. What I did was form the chord (Bb) and then pluck each string to see which string was not getting enough pressure on it then adjust accordingly.
 
All excellent suggestions and you will succeed. Few things really need to be stressed:

1. Make sure that your thumb is providing amble support and pressure behind the neck. This is really important. It will provide substantial support.

2. Barre-ing the entire first fret should be easier than a partial-barre of strings two and one. I would shoot for that.

3. Make sure that the very tips of your fingers are pressing down on the strings. Not the flats. This is why it is so important to keep the nails of the fretting hand trimmed down.

My rule of thumb (no pun intended) is that if if my fingernail keeps the tip of my finger from touching the top of my desk, then the nail is too long.

Good luck and have fun. I'm sure that you will have it in no time.

Mike
 
Someone will invariably yell at me for this, but...

Learn Soul Sister in the original key.

The E to B to C#m to A back to E thing, over and over?
It AMAZED me how fast I got the Bb shape down AND the E shape, AND the A to E and back switch (which is relatively important as they're 4th and 5th to each other, so if you play in A or E, you're probably gonna be going from one to the other at some point).

I struggled with these shapes, too, but doing this song got me through it.

And, yes, I am as sick of it as everyone else! *grin*
 
The Bb chord shape on the gCEA ukulele is an F chord on the guitar. When I started guitar many years ago with a teacher and an dreadful Mel Bay beginners book, the first chord was an F. I thought I would never be able to play the guitar. I avoid the F chord when working with beginner guitar students and the Bb with beginner ukulele students. Eventually you will get it. Coconut Willie has a great suggestion. Spend a minute or two a practice session with it. You can also try to play the Bb (321X) and mute the first string or stop your strum at the 1st string.
Regards,
Ray
 
I agree with barring the index finger. I have a bit of a guitar background, and barre chords are just something you get used to. All the ukers I know who came from guitar do it that way. Barring 4 strings when you're used to 6 is a piece of cake. :)

-Pete
 
SailingUke said:
Try barring the first fret with your index finger.
If you get Bb down you will be on your way up the fret board.
With practice you will get there, most of us struggled with the Bb chord.
I have always found barring the first fret easier than trying to bend the index finger backwards.
Click to expand...

+1 on this. Just barre all four strings at the first fret and its just another barre chord, no finger-mangling required. You'll need to know that barre shape sooner or later anyway, and if you learn it at the Bb you've got it all up the fretboard. I never have figured out why the various "professional" chord books don't illustrate the chord that way.

John
 
Okay, I can get the fingers on but is it supposed to sound so awful? I'm still doing Uncle Rod's boot camp so that cord keeps showing up. (and some others I find I don't have enough fingers for).
 
How long to "master" the Bb chord.....A YEAR for ME!!!

The Bb chord owes me many many hours, lol

Oh I tried the barre-ing, and tried and tried, but my fingers just werent going to do it....so I sat down one day and just tried all sorts of ways to get those four strings fretted at the right spots.....and the only way was for my index finger to barre the E and A strings, my middle finger to sit atop the index finger, and my ring finger on the C string and my pinky on the G string....it still took a year for it to work fairly smoothly, quick from an F chord or F7 chord, but still jumpy from other chords at present, but it is there now....as I said I've been working on it for a year.....so never never give up.....thumb placement on the neck of the uke is paramount to getting the chord right.

Cheers
 
velofille said:
I went to a jam with a group the other week and they did a different variation of the Bb, they just did first and second string on the 1st fret. It was a nice easy half bar to do for the beginners and seemed to sound similar enough to get away with.
Click to expand...

Hmmm that's more of a Bb5th as far as I know, I've also seen it referred to as a "kinda C11". You're right - often you'll get two chords that sound 'close enough', though OTOH this might be a case of a bad habit being shared around the group. I've played with people from the Wellington Uke Collective who insist that the one true way to do Bb is 3210 - they can't give a credible reason though. I suspect, from experience, that a leader in their group saw that chord shape in a song pdf and preached the habit to the group. There's nothing wrong with doing a Bb that way (it's especially useful for changing to Bbadd9), and it's not a 'bad habit' per se, I just don't think it's right to preach it as the one true path.

I'm not innocent of this myself, I've advised my own group members who are struggling with the E chord to use the barre form (4447) but I also show them the limitations of this and encourage them to stick at practicing the rotten ol' E method. The difference is that I make it all clear, instead of saying "the only way to do E is 4447!!!"

Back to the OP: I would also vote for barring. When I change to Bb I put my middle finger on the C string second fret and use it as an anchor point to form the rest of the shape. I can also do the mangled hand way, but I find it's better to barre especially if you're using other barred chords like D7.
 
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UncleElvis said:
Someone will invariably yell at me for this, but...

Learn Soul Sister in the original key.
Click to expand...

I was actually going to suggest something similar, but for me the song that just made it work was Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" in F. I hated Bb, I avoided Bb, but after a full day of practicing that song until my wrist hurt, I came to accept Bb. You're certainly not alone!
 
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