The F sharp minor 7th variant, the sharpest of them all. *Whisper* I’ve even heard stories that when someone touched it, they got a paper cut! Hmmpf, maybe that was actually just the paper...

Anyway, today I’ll be going over how to play an F sharp minor 7 chord on guitar so that you can ace that chord progression you are trying to learn!

Vamos!

F# Minor 7 – The E Shape

Because there isn’t any F sharp minor 7 open shape that any sane person uses, we’ll have to configure our own… And the best way to do that is through using bar chords.

If you’ve never touched them before, then don’t worry. They’re not that scary and they’re super useful.

So you’ll want to start by playing an E minor 7 chord – bear with me – like this:

Notice how the open E string note is our bass note in this chord, right? So if we shifted this chord shape up two frets so that F# becomes our bass note instead, we’d get an F# minor 7 chord.

Like this:

However, to play all of those strings that were open once upon a time, we’ll have to use a “barring” technique.

To do this, you’ll want to place the underside edge of your index finger across the 2nd fret, and press down so that each string rings out clearly.

But HELLLLLLLLLLL no. That just ain’t gonna happen. And even I, as the best guitarist of all time, find that chord practically impossible to play.

So most of us will shorten the shape down a bit, and play the chord like this:

Or you can play it like this if it’s more comfortable:

So they’re a couple of common ones. But it’s also fairly common to see people skip the bass note, and just bar down the top 4 strings with their index finger.

Like this:

So choose whichever one you like the sound and feel of the most. And remember, this is a safe place. I will neither judge you nor ridicule you for your choice…

Unless you somehow misread the labels in your cupboard and put sugar in your tea, just to taste it and realize that it was actually salt. Tee-hee, that’d be funny…

You’ve Just Learnt Every Minor 7th Chord!

Yup, you heard me correctly. So here’s why…

When we made the F sharp minor 7 guitar chord shape, we found the E minor 7 variant first, then shifted it up so that F# became our bass note. From there we rearranged the chord a tad to make it more playable, right?

So using that logic, if we moved this shape up to fret 7 and used the B note there as our E string bass note instead, we’d get a B minor 7 chord!

In fact, this will work for any minor 7 chord we want to create.

Wanna make a C#m7 chord? – Just shift this shape up to the 9th fret.

Wanna make a Gm7 chord? – Just slap it on the 3rd fret.

Wanna make a Dbm7b5#9#13b11+23÷4.5 chord? – Then go take a maths class, music won’t help you here.

But in order to know which new variant of each chord you are making, you kinda need to know the notes on the E string.

For more on learning the notes on the guitar strings quickly, click here to view my post on that.

That way, when you want to make a specific chord, you know exactly which fret to play the shape on.

I also really recommend learning the notes on the A string whilst you’re at it. This’ll help you massively with the second minor 7 shape.

F# Minor 7 – The A Shape

Alright, so knowing one bar chord shape is great and all… But knowing two is wayyyy better.

Because the chances are, F sharp minor 7 won’t be the only barred guitar chord you play in a progression.

Often, you’ll play entire songs with bar chords and hop around to each different one as they come.

And that’s fine, until you start having to make hella gigantic leaps from the 9th fret to the 2nd fret when changing from C#m7 to F#m7… Boy! I’m wincing just thinking about it…

But that’s where the A shapes come in. So start by playing an Am7, like this:

Then slide this shape up 9 frets until your 3rd finger is chilling right next to the 12th fret double dots, and rest down your index finger across the 9th fret.

And since our bass notes for this shape are on the A string, we can skip out the low E string when barring. So we only need to press down the highest 5 strings in this shape!

Bada-bing, bada-boom. There’s your second way to play an F#m7 bar chord. And it works because we use the F# on the 9th fret of the A string as our bass note.

How do I know that? Well, a good magician never reveals his secrets… But I’m a terrible magician, so I’ll tell you anyway.

I only know there’s an F# there because I learnt the notes on the A string too. So now, like with the E string, we can shift this shape to any fret we want and create different chords.

That’s why you need to learn the notes on those lowest two strings, kids!

And the best thing about this is shape is that we don’t even have to change it because it’s pretty friendly already. Hoorah!

Tips for Practising Bar Chords

Bar chord are cool, but they do take a bit of practice.

So here’s a tip or two to help you out with all that:

• Bouncy ball time!

What better way is there to get good at bar chords than squidging a bouncy ball? That’s right, there isn’t any!

So dig out that bouncy ball that’s been under the sofa glaring at you for the past 7 years, and squeeze it. Like this:

Why do I want you to do this seemingly random and weird thing?

Well, it’s because this will help to train up your pincer muscle. And that’s the muscle that your index finger uses for strength when barring.

So do reps like these for a couple of weeks, and those bar chords should feel like a piece of cake in no time!

Imagine if bar chords actually felt like cake…

• Use The Switch Method

If you wanna quickly learn a new chord shape, then use The Switch Method, baby!

OK, that just came across as cringy and a bit excessive… But it’s only because I just loooove the switch method!

So here’s how you do it:

1. Find 2 chords that you are trying to learn. E.g. C#m7 (E shape) and F#m7 (A shape)
2. Switch between them continuously for a few minutes. C#m7 to F#m7 to C#m7 to F#m7…
3. Have a break and do it again until these changes feel comfortable.
4. Add an extra chord to the mix. E.g. Bm7 (E shape)
5. Switch from C#m7 to F#m7 to Bm7 to C#m7 to F#m7 to Bm7 for a few minutes
6. Once this feels comfortable, add another chord. E.g. Em (A shape)

And after you’ve given that a go and all those changes feel easy, then congrats! You have successfully earned your Beast Mode Guitar licence to play Minor 7 bar chords.

I bet you thought this day would never come.

Wrapping It Up

Phew, that was a tough one… I had to stay sharp the entire way through haha!

Crowd Member 1: Boooooooooo!

Oooh, well someone’s being a bit cutting hoho!

Crowd Member 2: Hissssssss!

Alright, alright. I’ll just have to go back to sharpening my pencils!

Crowd Member 3: Get off the stage you twit!

The fact I’m a guitarist and not a stand-up comedian still amazes me to this day.

Anyway, errr yeah, F sharp minor 7… Just do what it says in this post, and you’ll get good at it pretty quickly.

I’ve been Sam Olverson,

Tally ho!

P.S. If you want to learn the other bar chord shapes so that you can play any progression in any key, then click here to view my post on that.

The post 5 Easy Ways to Play an F# Minor 7 Chord on Guitar appeared first on Beast Mode Guitar.

Ah well, I guess I’ll talk about it anyway.

So today I’ll be going over 5 easy ways that you can play an F minor chord on guitar to get you ripping up those chord progressions.

Let’s roll.

F Minor Shape 1 – The E Shape

E shape? What the heck does E have to do with any of this…

Aha! Well, start by playing an E minor chord like this:

Notice how the bass note is the open low E string, which is obviously an E note. From there, we build a chord shape using the other strings, right?

So that means, if we use the F note on the 1st fret of the E string as our bass note, and we slide all the notes in this Em shape up 1 fret with it, we’d get an F minor chord:

And there’s your first shape! We call it the E shape because it’s just an E minor chord shifted upwards. But to play this shape, and all F minor shapes actually, we’ll have to bar with our 1st finger.

So to do that, you’ll want to flatten down the underside edge of your index finger down across the 1st fret so that it presses down the low E string, and GBE strings too.

Tried it yet? Good, you’ll have realized that it’s practically impossible to play by now. I mean, whoever came up with that shape deserves to stub their toe on something.

So most of us guitarists will simplify this shape down to make it easier to play. We’ll either drop the bass note:

Or drop two notes, and just start the shape from the F note an octave higher:

Both do the same job, so pick whichever shape you prefer. Yup, you’ll still have to bar down those top 3 notes with your index finger, but it should now feel much easier.

And if this new bar chord thing is taking a lot of getting used to, then you can always simplify the shape down even further:

It’s got the notes of an F minor chord in, so it’s still an F minor chord. That means you can use it in a song the exact same way you’d use a full F minor shape.

This is great as long as barring notes feels new to you. But I’d recommend learning one of the two shapes above when possible.

You’ve Just Learnt to Play Every Minor Chord

Congratulations! You’ve just learnt one way that you can play every single minor chord there is. But what do I mean by this…?

Well, we started with an open E string bass note, and built an E minor chord of that.

Then we shifted the shape up to the 1st fret so that the F note was our bass note instead, and built an F minor chord off that.

Sooooo, if we decide to use the Bb note on the 6th fret of the E string as our bass note for this shape instead… we’d get a Bb minor chord!

All we’d have to do is shift this exact shape that we used to play F minor up to the 6th fret, and we’d get a different minor chord.

Another is example is that there’s a C note on the 8th fret of the E string. If we shift this bar chord shape up to the 8th fret, and play it… Voilà! You’ve got a C minor chord.

We probably won’t play the root note on the E string note because it’s annoying, but we’re still at the fret that it would be if we did want to play it.

So bar chords are pretty cool, right? By learning the F minor shape, you’ve actually just learnt the generic E minor bar chord shape.

And we can even use this logic to build chords off an A string root note too.

F Minor Shape 2 – The A Shape

Knowing one way to play and F minor chord on guitar is great, but knowing two is even better!

When you start diving head first into bar chord progressions – which you’re now perfectly capable of – you’ll realize you have to move about when changing chords.

If two chords are close, like G minor and F minor, then this is easy. You just shift the E shape up or down a couple of frets.

But let’s say you were mid-progression, and had to switch from C minor to F minor. You’d play C minor at the 8th fret using one of the shapes that we’ve gone through…

But then F minor is frickin’ miles away on the 1st fret! And that chord change is making me wince just thinking about it.

But aha! There’s an F note on the 8th fret of the A string. If we built a chord using this as our bass note instead, we wouldn’t even have to change fret when switching between Cm and Fm.

So start by playing an A minor chord like this:

Then slide your fingers up 8 frets to the F note:

Then bar down your index finger on the 8th fret:

Booyakasha! That’s how you play an F minor bar chord in the A shape on guitar. And this shape is actually pretty nice to play, so there aren’t any real variations.

And like with the E shape, this isn’t really just an F minor chord shape.

This is the generic minor bar chord shape for the A string.

For example, there’s a C# note on the 4th fret of the A string. Copy and paste this shape onto the 4th fret and BAM! You get C# minor. Such is the magic of bar chords…

Tips for Practising These Bar Chord Shapes

Yup, I get it. Bar chords are not the easiest things in the world to get used to.

So here’s a couple of tips to make life easier:

• Squeeze a bouncy ball!

Okay, that sounds like it has as much to do with guitar as a unicorn does with a one legged squirrel. But trust me on this one.

Find a bouncy ball lying about from a shoddy Christmas cracker or something, and do reps of squeezing it. Like this:

This works and strengthens the pincer muscle, which is the muscle that your index finger bars notes with. So you can be practising bar chords without even playing your guitar!

And the best part is, you can do reps anywhere and everywhere. On the train, in the bus, on the loo…

• Learn the notes on the E string and A string.

If you really want to get the most bang for your buck with these F minor chord shapes, you’ll want to learn where to move them too to make a different minor chord.

And if you know the notes on the low E and A string, you’ll be able to make any minor chord you like, whenever you like. AND you’ll be set up for when you want to learn the other bar chord shapes, and start playing bar chord progressions.

• Use The Switch Method to practice the shapes:

This is my favourite way to learn new chord shapes, fast.

1. Find 2 chords that you are trying to learn. E.g. Cm (E shape) and Fm (A shape)
2. Switch between them continuously for a few minutes. Cm to Fm to Cm to Fm…
3. Have a break and do it again until these changes feel comfortable.
4. Add an extra chord to the mix. E.g. Dm (E shape)
5. Switch from Cm to Fm to Dm to Cm to Fm to Dm for a few minutes
6. Once this feels comfortable add another chord. E.g. Am (A shape)

And then once these 4 chords feel easy to switch between… Boom! You’re ready for the outside world.

The Chords of F Minor

Alright guys, to finish I’ll be showing you the chords in the key of F minor, along with some chord progressions to put everything to use. I mean, that’s why you wanted to learn it in the first place, right?

So here’s the chord scale of F minor:

The bold notes on the bottom show the different notes of an F minor scale. And underneath is the Roman numeral that shows whether each note’s chord should be major, minor or diminished in the key of F minor.

I’ll always draw one of these when writing a chord progression for whichever key I’m writing in. To make this one, I wrote the notes of an F minor chord vertically, and then filled in the F minor scale notes in order after each one. From there, I could look at the chord notes and figure out whether each chord would be major or minor.

And oh yeah, that top row shows which type of 7th you can add to each chord too if you’re feeling spicy.

So using this F minor chord scale grid, here’s a couple of progressions that you can try:

• i – iv – VI – VII (Fm – Bbm – Db – Eb)

If you aren’t familiar with the major bar chord shapes, which will allow you to play chords in any key ever, then click here to view my post on that. Then come back and have another go!

• i – VI – VII – iv (Fm – Db – Eb – Bbm)

• i – v – III – VII (Fm – Cm – Ab – Eb)

And if you can play all that, then give yourself one mahoosive pat on the back.

Wrapping It Up

Muy bien! You now know not only how to play F minor on guitar, but any minor chord, in two different ways! And you didn’t even come here to learn that! So why the heck did I teach you it! And why am I using so many exclamation marks!

Sorry, bar chords just excite me. Anyway, hopefully you’re now enjoying the freedom to play any frickin’ minor chord, whenever the frick you want.

Bar chords seem scary on the outside, but once you get to know them, they’re kinda cool.

I’ve been Sam Olverson.

Have fun chording!

P.S. If you want to learn how to play the other bar chord shapes on guitar so that you can play chord progressions in any key, click here to view my post on that, and take your rhythm playing to a new level.

The post 5 Easy Ways to Play an F Minor Chord on Guitar appeared first on Beast Mode Guitar.

Oh, wait what? You want me to tune down my B string?

No you idio-…

Hmmm, that doesn’t sound quite right. Meh, onto the stage we go…

Yuck! Everything sounds terrible. You get booed off the stage as people throw their leftover cocktail sticks at you, and one stubs your toe in the process.

That’s not a nice feeling, and it’s all because you didn’t know how to play a B flat (Bb) chord on guitar, tut tut tut… So today I’m going to teach you how to play a Bb chord so that you can own it in chord progressions.

Let’s go.

B Flat Major – Open Shape

This is technically cheating because there isn’t really an open shape for Bb. *Please don’t report me to the chord police…

But if playing bar chords isn’t in your repertoire yet and you need a quick fix, then this one won’t harm. Just keep it under wraps, alright?

Anyway, here it is in case you need it:

The reason why this is cheating is that we are omitting the 5th of the chord because it’s a pain to play. So we end up just playing Bb and it’s major 3rd twice instead.

It’s best to get used to the bar chords that I’ll go into first, but still – this will work in a code red situation.

Bb Major Bar Chord – A Shape

Phew, it feels good to be back within the law again…

Even if you don’t know how to play bar chords, then it ain’t that hard and this’ll be a good place to start.

So to make this shape, you’ll want to start by playing an A major chord like this:

At this point, we are using the open A string as our bass note, and from this we build an A major chord.

So to build a Bb major chord, all we have to do is slide this exact shape up a fret and use the Bb on the 1st fret of the A string as our bass note instead.

Notice how this is the EXACT same shape as the A major shape.

Except now, the lowest and highest strings need to be pressed down since they aren’t on the 0th fret anymore.

And to do this, we flatten the underside edge of our index finger across the 1st fret so that it presses down the lowest and highest strings, like this:

Or you can bar with your ring finger too and play it like this:

And BOOM! Just like that, you can play a B Flat (Bb) major chord on guitar.

You Can Use this Shape to Play Other Chords Too

The best part about this is that this isn’t just a Bb major chord shape, oh no no…

This is THE major chord shape for the A string. So if we slide this shape up and use a different bass note, we get a different major chord. *Mind blown…*

E.g. There’s an Eb note on the 6th fret of the A string. So if we slid this exact barred shape up to the 6th fret instead, we’d get an Eb major chord! *Mind even-more blown…*

Ladies and Gentlemen, if you understand that then you officially understand bar chords.

But picture this scenario… You’re strumming a bar chord progression in front of 50,000 people: F major on the 8th fret – pff, easy… Eb major on the 6th fret – I could do this in my sleep… Oh no, is that a Bb major next? But that’s all the way down on the 1st fret! How am I supposed t-…

BAM! You muck up the chord change and the entirety of Wembley Stadium starts throwing their backwashed beers, crumpled ticket stubs and unwanted Christmas presents at you, resulting in utmost chaos, turmoil and consumption of 2nd hand alcohol…

After this day, you’ll never want to receive a Christmas present ever again…

So to avoid that happening, guitar players make an E bar chord shape as well. These are based off E string root notes instead, which gives us a 2nd place to play each chord.

In fact, if we used the Bb on the 6th fret of the E string as our bass note instead, then we wouldn’t even have to change frets when switching from an Eb to Bb chord.

So let’s take a look at it…

Bb Major Bar Chord – E Shape

As I just mentioned, learning the E shape too is pretty important.

So to build this shape, start by playing an E major chord like this:

Then slide this shape up 6 frets to the Bb note on the low E string:

And use the underside edge of your index finger to bar down the strings that would normally be left open again:

Just like magic, there’s your other way to play a Bb major chord.

And like with the A shapes, you can turn this into any kind of major chord depending on which fret and which bass note you choose to build the chord off.

That’s why I recommend learning the notes on the A and E strings when learning bar chords:

That way you can play any major chord using either an A or E string root note on demand.

For tips on how to learn the notes on the guitar strings fast to improve your chord playing and soloing ability, click here to view my post on that.

How to Practice These Chords for Fast Progress

Knowing how to play a B flat (Bb) chord on guitar is great and all, but it’s as useful as a tennis racket in a snowstorm unless it’s in your muscle memory.

So to help speed up the process of learning these chords – you’ll want to use the best method know to man…

Yup, you’ve guessed it – The Switch Method:

WARNING: The Switch Method has nothing to do with the Nintendo Switch...

1. Start by playing the Bb chord shapes individually. The A string shape, the E string shape, and maybe even the open shape if you’re feeling naughty.

2. Then begin to switch back and forth between these 2 or 3 shapes for a couple of minutes.

3. Once this begins to feel comfortable, add another bar chord to the mix, like Eb major – A shape. Then switch between these 3 to 4 chords. Bb – A shape, Bb – E shape, Eb – A shape.

4. Then once this feels comfortable, add another chord (E.g. G major – E shape) to complete a set of 4 chords to switch between.

This’ll quickly hardwire these chord shapes into your fingers. You’re also practising switching to them at the same time too, as you would do in a song.

Within a week, all these chords will feel easy as pie.

Another thing you can do to help with playing bar chords in particular, is to do reps of squishing a bouncy ball.

Yup, you heard me correctly. Start by placing it in between your thumb and index finger, and just …well… squeeze.

This works the pincer muscle that we use to bar stuff. Doing reps like this will help strengthen this muscle over time and make playing bar chords loads easier.

Wrapping It Up

The great thing about learning a chord like Bb is that you aren’t really just learning Bb. You are learning a way to play ALL the major chords.

And you didn’t even come here to learn the other chords, but I taught you them anyway… Muhaha! I’m so evil…

But anyway, have a go at some bouncy ball reps and soon enough your pincer muscle will be so strong that you’ll be able to crush Peanut M&Ms between your fingers.

Trust me, you’ll become the coolest guy in town.

I’ve been Sam Olverson

Have fun chording!

P.S. If you want to learn how to play the minor and 7th bar chord shapes too so that you can play progressions in any key, then click here to view my full post on that.

The post 3 Easy Ways to Play a B Flat (Bb) Chord on Guitar appeared first on Beast Mode Guitar.

Sorry, that was literally terrible. But I don’t regret it!

Today we return to another episode on the forgotten B chords – the B Minor chord – and how you can play both its open position and bar chord shapes on guitar.

I’ll let you know my favourites, as well as some extra info on how bar chords work along the way.

So without further ado, let’s roll.

The B Minor Open Chord Shape

I’m gonna be straight with you. Most people just use the B minor bar chord shape.

But not everyone is a bar chord player yet – although I’ll still teach you how to become one in this post – so I’ve crafted a couple of open position shapes for y’all to use.

Here’s the first one:

Alright, I lied. That’s technically not an open position shape because there’s no open strings being played.

But do you know what? It’s pretty darn close to where all the other open chords are, so that’s good enough for me.

Plus, you don’t have to bar anything, which is nice.

And if you really want a proper open chord B minor shape, then feel free to just lift and shift a finger or two and play this one instead:

But I much prefer the first one because it’s easier to mute the strings you don’t want, and you don’t have to choke that D string when you want to change to a different chord.

Plus, by lifting your finger off the 4th fret in the second shape, you are replacing one of the 5ths in the B minor chord with another minor 3rd.

And chords always sound better with two 5ths in them rather than two minor 3rds.

Also …um… there’s a final shape that you can use if all else fails, but it ain’t pretty:

Meh. You’ll have to mute that string in the middle by lightly tapping it with your index finger or something.

And when you’re vigorously strumming and belting out the lyrics to The Emoji Movie at 2 o’clock in the morning despite living in a shared apartment, you’re gonna end up accidentally pressing down that G-string and it’ll ruin your étude.

Trust me, I learnt that the hard way.

The B Minor Bar Chord – A Shape

Time for the fun stuff. This is the one that you’ll see people use the most, and even if you’ve never even tried to play a bar chord before, here’s a great place to start!

It’s called the A shape because we build it off the Am shape. To see what I mean, start by playing an Am chord like this:

You’ll notice that the root A note is (on) the A string.

That means that if we shift this entire shape two frets up and use the B note on the 2nd fret of the A string as our root note instead, we make a B minor chord!

This is the exact same shape as the Am shape, except we use our index finger to “bar” down what would normally be the open strings.

To bar, all you need to do is flatten and press down the underside edge of your index finger across the top five strings on the second fret.

You don’t have to press too hard, just so that the lowest note (on the A string) and the highest note (on the high E string) can be heard.

If you don’t know which notes and numbers correlate to which strings, then click here to view my post on that, it’ll make communicating with other guitarists much easier.

And you can use this concept to play ANY minor bar chord using its A string root note.

For example, the note on the 6th fret of the A string is an Eb. That means that if we slide this exact bar shape all the way up to the 6th fret and use this Eb as our root note, we make an Eb minor chord.

Woohoo! Bet you never though you could ever do that, huh?

And that’s it. You play this shape on the second fret of the guitar, you’ve got yourself a B minor chord.

The B Minor Bar Chord – E Shape

So you know the first B minor bar chord shape and that’s great.

But knowing a second shape is sooo useful when playing progressions with other bar chords in.

Picture this… You’re strumming a progression, and you play the E minor bar chord using the 7th fret of the A string as your root note. All is fine and well as you dilly-dally there for a while, until…

Shiver me timbers! The next chord is B minor! And that’s an entire galaxy away down on the 2nd fret. Oh, boy! What should I do?

Aha! That’s where the E shape comes in.

What if I told you that there was a B note on the 7th fret of the low E string too…

And that, using this note, we can construct a different bar chord shape to play B minor higher up the fretboard.

That way, we wouldn’t even have to leave the 7th fret to switch from E minor to B minor.

So to find it, start by playing an Em chord like this:

You’ll notice that the root note is on the E string this time.

From here, slide the shape up 7 frets so that your 3rd and 4th fingers are on the 9th fret.

Then flatten your index finger down across the 7th fret to bar down all the remaining strings that would normally be left open.

Like this:

And this would be great… If this shape wasn’t practically impossible to play.

You’d need super human strength to be able to press down all 4 of those strings cleanly.

So instead, most of us just ditch the note on the low E string which makes barring all the more difficult, and play the shape like this instead:

Or if you’re a minimalist and like to have as few notes in your life as possible, then there’s always this one too:

Yes, we are technically not using the B note on the 7th fret of the low E string as our bass note on these two…

But we are imagining that it’s there and sacrificing it for the greater good of a clean sounding chord progression.

Like with the A shape, we can shift this E shape to different frets to use different root notes and make different chords.

Just this time, we use an E string note (theoretically) as our bass note instead.

If you don’t know the notes on the guitar strings then click here to view my post on that so that you can play more chords on the fly.

Wrapping It Up

B minor ain’t an easy chord to play on guitar, but resist its inherently evil intentions and send it back to hell where it belongs!

Plus, by learning the B minor shapes you’re basically learning to play bar chords too.

And that’s also pretty cool, am I right?

I mean, you didn’t even come here to learn that. But I dragged you into it without asking, so you didn’t really have a choice…

But anyway, enjoy having a play around with those Bs and life will feel that little bit better.

I’ve been Sam Olverson,

Chow!

P.S. If you want to learn how to play major, minor and 7th bar chords too so that you can play chord progressions in any key, then click here to view my full guide on how to play bar chords.

The post 7 Easy Ways to Play a B Minor Chord on Guitar appeared first on Beast Mode Guitar.

Hmmm, I dunno. You look kinda suspicious.

But hey, we’ll carry on anyway.

Today I’ll show you an easy open position B chord shape as well as the two other ultra-useful bar chord shapes that you can play on guitar.

I know right, aren’t I great?

So let’s get started with the open one.

The Open Position B Chord Shape

I’m gonna be honest, the reason no one ever teaches you how to play an easy B chord on guitar, is because no one ever uses the open shape.

I literally had to invent one this morning after I realized I’ve never seen one before.

But I don’t know why, it’s still a B major, has the notes of a B major, and sounds like a B major.

So you can use this to your heart’s content if playing bar chords isn’t an option for you:

I think the reason people don’t use this chord is because they can’t find a B chord note that’s easy to play on the G string of the guitar…

So just get rid of it! Snip it off! Throw it in the trash! Burn it! Shred it! Blend it!

*Please do not do any of those things.

All you actually need to do is lean your index finger back a bit so that it gently touches the G string and then it’s muted.

Also make sure you either don’t play the low E string, or mute it with your thumb/middle finger too.

And BAM! You’ve got yourself an easy to play B major guitar chord – no catch.

But you’ll see most people playing a B major chord as a bar chord shape, so it’s important you’re able to recognize what these look like too…

The B Major Bar Chord – A Shape

What the heck? How can a B chord be an A shape? Dude, that makes no sense…

Aha! Well, let me show you…

Start by playing a regular A major chord, but play it like this:

Now, slide everything up two frets. Your 2nd, 3rd and 4th finger will slide up to the 4th fret and the open strings (technically on the 0th fret) will slide up to the 2nd fret.

That leaves you with a shape looking like this:

But in order to play the notes on the lowest and highest strings, we have to flatten our finger across the strings to reach them.

So that results in:

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the B bar chord in the A shape.

Why the A shape bit? Because it’s an A chord slid up so that B is the root note.

And you could also play it like this if it feels easier:

Fun(-ish) fact: you can use this B major bar chord shape to make any major chord in existence…

All you have to do is slide it up to a different fret/root note on the A string.

For example, there’s an Eb note on the 6th fret of the A string. If you slide this shape up to the 6th fret so that this Eb is your root note instead…

BOOM! You’ve made yourself an Eb major chord.

And that’s how bar chords work, in a nutshell.

If you want to learn more about how to play bar chords on guitar so that you can play any chord progression under the sun, click here to view my post on that.

So using this logic, let’s build the second – and equally useful – B bar chord shape together…

The B Bar Chord – E Shape

Knowing not just one, but two bar chords shapes will make your guitar playing life as easy as falling off a log.

The problem is that if you have chords like Eb in your progression, your only option to play them is as a bar chord.

And Eb is way up on the 6th fret, which is miles away from all the B shapes we know on the 2nd fret.

Large, leaping chord changes like this always leads to stuff getting messy.

But Sam, what if we used the B note on the 7th fret of the E string as our root note to build a chord instead?

That would mean we only have to move 1 fret to get to the Eb chord.

Oh my, you’re a genius! That’s exactly what I was going to say.

Yeah, I promise I didn’t read your script…

You what? Anyway, the whole point of knowing the E shape too is to keep chords nice and close to each other.

So to find it, start by playing an E major chord like this:

Then shift it up 7 frets so that your 3rd and 4th fingers are on the 9th fret, and the B on the 7th fret of the E string becomes your root note.

And because we don’t have three index fingers (MAN that would be cool), we’ll bar all of them down like this:

Bish bash bosh, there’s the second way that you can play B as a bar chord.

It’s called the E shape this time because it’s built off the E major chord.

(Pretty radical, I know)

Wrapping It Up

Now that you’ve got not one, not two, but three ways to play a B chord under your belt, you probably feel like you can take on the world…

Meh, not really.

And that you could maybe even conquer Mars if you wanted.

Nope.

And that you could create a device that could take us all to a new planet for Earth’s population to inhabit.

…

Anyway, hopefully this post has been helpful to you, and you aren’t too fed up of Bs by now.

Now go brag to your friends that you know how to play a B chord, and especially that you can play a B chord in open position.

That’s sure to stump them.

I’ve been Sam Olverson,

See you later!

P.S. If you want to learn more about how to play bar chords on guitar so that you can play any chord progression ever, click here to view my post on that.

The post How to Play a B Chord on Guitar Easy appeared first on Beast Mode Guitar.

This is especially annoying when you go to play a song, and it says Bm7 on the chord sheet…

For me anyway, it led to a panic attack and running around the room screaming.

And whenever I asked someone if they could teach me it, they all just gave me a slightly suspicious, scowling look and turned away.

Only after threatening to snip someone’s guitar strings with my scissors did I finally get access to this cult knowledge.

To spare you from going through all that, today I’ll be going over the easy ways to play a B minor 7 chord on guitar with a nifty diagram for each one.

Let’s roll!

The Open Position B Minor 7 Chord

Just to put this into perspective, I didn’t even know this chord existed until this morning.

But it’s just a bog-standard chord really, so I’m surprised no-one ever teaches it.

And I don’t know why because it’s so darn useful!

So this is how you do it:

You can always use your index finger to play the root note instead if you feel like it.

However, it’s much easier to switch to other chords if you learn it this way.

Yeah, it’s kinda fiddly, but you’ll get used to it.

That’ll work for basic progressions, but if you want to play Bm7 in any situation, there’s a couple of other shapes you should know about…

The Bm7 Bar Chord – A Shape

The rest of the Bm7 shapes from now on are bar/barre chords, which you’re more likely to use in the long run.

So don’t skip ’em. Or else…

If you’d like to view my full guide on how to play bar chords on guitar, so you can learn to play any chord in any key, then click here to view my post on that.

Anyway, here it is:

We call it the A shape because the shape is the same as an Am7 chord shifted up two frets.

If you don’t know how to bar yet, then this’ll be good practise of an invaluable skill.

You basically want to flatten the underside edge of your index finger across the strings so that it presses all the strings down at once.

It should look a little something like this:

Play every string to double-check that everything rings out clearly, and then you’ll be good to go.

It’ll take some time to build up strength and get used to bar chord shapes, but once you’ve learnt one, you’ve learnt them all.

This is a Bm7 chord because we use the B note on the 2nd fret of the A string as our root/bass note.

So if we shift the shape up to the D# note on the 6th fret of the A string and use this as the root note instead…

Then congratulations! You’ve just played a D#m7 chord.

That’s fundamentally how bar chords work, and if you learn how to play the E shape as well then you’ll be flying high.

The Bm7 Bar Chord – E Shape

Knowing the A shape bar chord is great, but wouldn’t it be nice if we could play a Bm7 bar chord higher up the neck as well?

So far, both the shapes we’ve learnt are way down on the 2nd fret.

So if we want to play an Em7 bar chord on the 7th fret on the A string, we’d have to jump up and down the fretboard the entire time.

It’s a long way to go and results in very messy chord progressions.

And that’s why we have E string shapes.

There’s a B note which we can use as our root note on the 7th fret of the E string.

If we learnt this shape, we wouldn’t even have to change fret to switch between the two chords.

Less movement = much cleaner chord changes.

So here it is:

That’s a nasty one. It’s gonna take a lot of strength to press that many strings down at once in the beginning.

So you can always use this one too:

It’s a bit of a weird shape to get used to, but will definitely be easier than the first one.

And once you’ve got one of those down, BAM!

You now know the three best ways to play a B minor 7 chord on guitar.

Wrapping it Up

You came here wanting to learn a Bm7 chord, but you got three!

AND, you learnt the fundamentals of bar chords too.

Wow, Sam! You’re the best!

Stoppp, you’re making me blush.

Anyway, now you can brag to your friends that you know how to play a Bm7 chord, and they don’t.

Relish it whilst you can…

Over and out!

P.S. If you want to learn how to play bar chords on guitar and have the power to play any chord you want, then click here to view my post on that.

The post How to Play a B Minor 7 Chord on Guitar appeared first on Beast Mode Guitar.

Why? Because they sound so goddam sweet and everyone loves them to bits, particularly the Germans…

You learn to play these bad boys and your song writing and chord progression skills will reach a whole new level.

That’s why today I’ll go over how to play the Major, Minor and Dominant 9th chords and how you can use them to write chord progressions.

What are 9th chords?

9th chords are basically 7th chords, with the 2nd note of the scale added to the chord too. (7 + 2 = 9 *mind blown*)

So let’s try and build a C Major 9th chord together…

We start with the base C major chord, consisting of the notes C, E and G.

We then add the major 7th note (B) to make it a C major 7 chord.

And then we add the 2nd (D) note (aka the 9th) to the chord to get a 5 note chord consisting of C, E, G, B and D.

And BAM! You’ve got your Cmaj9 chord.

To make a Dominant 9th or Minor 9th, we do the same thing.

Turn the chord into a dominant/minor 7th chord, add the 9th and voila!

(If you don’t know how to play your 7th chords on guitar, then click here to view my post on the before we move on – everything 9th related is build on those)

By the way, the reason the 2nd and the 9th are the same thing is because there are 7 notes in the C major scale.

We just sort of count a second octave to the scale from the 8th (root) note again when we are dealing with chord extensions like 9ths, 11ths and 13ths. (C D E F G A B C D E F G A B C)

You’ll notice the second (D) note is the same as the 9th note.

*And also major/dominant/minor 9th chords are not to be confused with add 9 chords.

In major/minor/dominant 9th chords you add the 7th and the 9th, in add 9 chords you only add the 9th – no 7th involved.

Anyway, enough jibber jabber, let’s get into how to play these things…

How to Play a Major 9th Chord

Although learning to play 9th chords on guitar sounds great and they’re super useful, be warned – they can be an absolute pain to play.

Particularly some shapes will make you say No thank you!

But I’ve tried to find the most playable ones for y’all so they don’t take too long to learn.

Here’s the first way to play a Major 9th Chord with an A string root/in the A shape:

But Sam, isn’t that supposed to be a 5 note chord? You only have 4…

With chord extensions like 9ths and stuff, we actually often leave the 5th out.

We have all the 4 notes that we need to make it sound like a major 9th (Root, major 3rd, major 7th and the 9th) and adding the 5th would make the chord a pain to play for little gain.

It’s just a bonus note that we can add if it’s easy to and once we have everything else we need.

That being said, here’s the second way to play this – based off the E shape:

(If you don’t know how to play bar chords yet, then view my post on that by clicking here, you’ll find out what I mean by E shapes and A shapes)

If you are obsessing because you feel like the E shape needs to have an E string root note…

Then, uhhh be my guest to have a go at this version:

That looks easy, it’s basically the same as the last one!

Hahaha… I pity your innocence.

Anyway, that’s all the major 9th chords for ya.

You’ll want to learn an A shape and an E shape version for each 9th chord.

That way you won’t have to move up and down the fretboard too much during chord changes.

So let’s get straight into the Dominant 9th ones…

How to Play a Dominant 9th Chord

If you want to awaken the true jazziness within you, then learning the Dominant 9th chords on guitar is the way to go.

Just have a listen to this A shape C9 chord:

Delicious.

But for those of you who aren’t finding it too delicious because barring the top 3 strings is a bit of a pain, then you can always play it this way, without the 5th on top:

It’s perfectly fine, but in my opinion the other first version sounds better.

I just think it’s worth the effort getting used to the slightly awkward barring in this case.

And luckily, the E shape is pretty similar to a Dominant 7th E shape so it’s easy to play anyway:

A bog standard C7 barre chord with an added 9th on the end, nice.

But oh no, what’s this on the horizon…

*BEWARE – EXTREMELY DIFFICULT CHORD SHAPE INCOMING

Here’s the second way you can play the C9 E shape:

*wince*

If this feels somehow feels comfortable, you’re a jazz chord king or you prefer the sound of it, then knock yourself out.

But personally, I think the first one will cause less headaches.

*Practicing Chords For Fast Progress

Alrighty, so it’s a good idea to try and get at least semi-decent at the chords above before moving on.

Otherwise you’ll just forget how to play all of the 9th chords on guitar.

So I recommend using what I call The Switch Method to help with this:

1. Take two of the chords you are trying to learn (E.g. Amaj9 – E shape and Dmaj9 – A shape) and get comfortable with them by taking your fingers off the fretboard, then back again onto their shapes.

2. Then practice switching between these two chords, back and forth for a couple of minutes. (E.g Amaj9 to Dmaj9 to Amaj9 to Dmaj9)

3. Once this feels comfortable, add a third chord to the mix (E.g. B9 – E shape) Play it on it’s own for a bit and then add it to the chords you are switching between. (E.g. Amaj9 to Dmaj9 to B9 to Amaj9 to Dmaj9 to B9)

4. Once this feels comfortable, you can repeat this process with another chord (E.g. E9 – A shape).

And BOOM! In the space of 10-15 minutes you have four brand new chords under your belt.

This method is great because you are essentially memorizing and practicing changing to multiple chords all at the same time, making it super efficient.

I wouldn’t go past 4 chords in a set though, otherwise it get’s confusing and you don’t get enough reps of each new chord you add.

Give that a go, and you’ll be more than ready to learn to play some Minor 9th chords on la guitar…

How to Play a Minor 9th Chord

Well done. You are now officially 2/3rds of the way to 9th chord virtuosity.

To complete your arsenal, you’re gonna need to know how to play a Minor 9th chord.

So here’s the A shape for ya:

Pretty similar to your C9 A shape, but it’s more common to play this one without anything on the high E string.

But that’s not to say that you can’t! Just attempt it at your own peril hehe…

And that brings us onto the final chord of the day… Whoop, whoop!

The Cm9 E shape:

You’re gonna need some serious index finger clamp strength for that one…

Nowadays, my index finger is so strong that I crush peanut M&Ms on a daily basis, so it ain’t a problem for me.

But not everyone will be in the same position as me and it may take a while getting used to it.

And for that I recommend getting a cheap bouncy ball and doing reps of squishing it between your index finger and thumb like this:

But if that all sounds like too much effort to you there is a second shape you can use…

You have to pay the price though with a more awkward fingering but it’s still perfectly fine:

Congratulations!

That’s all the 9th chords for today so now if you’d kindly let me to go back to my Dominoes Meat Feast *Vegetarian Edition* Pizza with stuffed cru-…

Holy cow! I almost forgot to tell you how to actually use these things.

Oh well, the pizza is just gonna have to wait.

How to Use 9th Chords When Writing a Chord Progression

Fundamentally, there’s literally no point learning to play 9th chords on guitar if you don’t know how to use them.

You’ll just end up just not using them, forgetting them and throwing your guitar out the window for good measure.

So how do you actually use 9th chords? Thankfully, there’s not any complicated music theory that goes along with how and when to use them.

Any time you would play a major 7th chord normally, you can try a major 9th chord…

Any time you would play a dominant 7th chord normally, you can try a 9th chord…

Any time you would play a minor 7th chord normally, you can throw an egg at someone you don’t like.

Man, I just love 9th chords!

But what if you try turning a major 7th into a major 9th, and it sounds a bit off?

In this case, that 9th note is probably not in the key. So either leave the 9th or include it for special effect!

Alternatively, you can just find a simple chord progression and ninth-ify it with major, minor and dominant 9ths and see if you can find something that works.

Let’s build one together – here is a simple i – VI – iv – V progression with a jazzy groove:

WOW THAT’S… boring, right?

So after experimenting a bit with some 9th chord variations of these, I think I found a version that sounds good:

When choosing which 9th chord variation to use for each chord, it is worth noting a couple of things:

1. The V chord, which is often at the end of the progression, always sounds good as a dominant type chord – whether that be a dom 7th or dom 9th.
2. The minor chord will pretty much always be the minor 9th variant.

Now that progression’s alright, but it’s missing a little something… AHA! Some jazzzz…

Oooh la-la! Now THAT sounds awesome. Here I have added a couple of ascending half step slides up to the chord I actually want to land on. There are also a few cases of moving chords chromatically up and down before landing on a sweet normal chord again.

All of that helps give it a jazzier feel.

Wrapping it Up

And there we have it. Those big, scary, why-did-I-choose-to-learn-guitar 9th chords – conquered like a pro.

Your chord prog skills are soon gonna be reaching a whole new level in the not too distant future.

People are gonna be like…

Teacher: Wow Sam, that sounds great. I’ll give you an A* if you tell me what it is…

Me: It’s called a major 9th chord, you might have heard of it… *smug look on face*

Best mate: Woah man! That sounds sick, what is that?

Me: Pff, it’s just a major 9th chord, nothing special… *even smugger look on face*

Hot girl: Omg! That sounds so sweet. Can I get your number?

Me: I mean, it’s just a major 9th chord, but yeah sure… *smuggest look on face*

See? Works a charm.

You’ll be able to get some super smooth chord progs out of these 9th chords so use and abuse them to your will.

Anyway, I’ve got a Dominoes Meat Feast *Vegetarian Edition* Pizza with stuffed crust to get back to, and you’ve got some 9ths to play around with, so I’ll see you in the next one…

Enjoy!

P.S. If you want to learn how to play 7th chords on guitar the you can view my post on that by clicking here.

The post How to Play 9th Chords on Guitar Fast appeared first on Beast Mode Guitar.

Alright guys and girls, it’s time for us to look at the G Chord.

It’s genuinely one of the most common chords in almost all genres of music. Nirvana, AC/DC, Bon Jovi, you name it – the G chord is used. But annoyingly, every seems to have their own version of a G, so it’s really hard to tell which one is actually the best.

Today, I’ll go over the various G chord shapes that you can play on guitar, and the best one’s that you should use.

Prepare yourself, because you’re gonna be so fed up of Gs by the end of this that you’ll want to erase it from the alphabet.

We’ve all been there before…

Anyway, if you want to play more than 50% of chord progressions ever invented, you’re gonna want to know how to play a G.

So let’s get started…

The most popular way to play a G

Big, fat and ballsy, this version of a G chord has been used by almost every rock band under the sun since the beginning of time.

This is the version that I personally use because just sounds so goddam crisp:

As a beginner, this one may feel a wee bit fiddly initially because you’re gonna need all four fingers on deck.

G and D are a common chord pairing, which is great because in this shape your ring finger doesn’t have to move between the two chords.

You can use it as an anchor/pivot point when switching between chords to make life easier.

As great as this shape is however, it’s a bit of a faff to change to as it’s completely different from other chord shapes.

That’s why some people out there prefer this one…

The 2nd most popular way to play a G

Alright, so you’ve probably made your mind up about whether you love that G or passionately despise that G by now.

If you fall into that latter, then today is your lucky day because there’s another!

So here is the almost as common and equally correct way to play a G chord on guitar:

Many people prefer this way because it makes switching to other chords like E, Am and C dead easy since all your fingers are on the right frets.

It’s also a lot more similar to the G7 and Gmaj7 shapes – which I’ll show you later – meaning that they become super easy to switch to.

I have been using this shape for years, but recently switched to the first one because I just thought it sounded nicer.

But you choose whichever floats ya boat.

Variations of G – 7th and Major 7th

Now that you’ve got the core G down, it’s time to start showing you the spicy stuff…

And what better way to colour a G chord than adding a 7th?

Errr… A 9th or a 6th?

That was a rhetorical question, I didn’t want you to answer that.

Oh, ok…

G7 and Gmaj7 are the two most common variations that you will see in a song.

No one ever uses G minor so you don’t need to worry about that one really. Besides, it’s practically impossible to play in open position anyway.

Get G, G7 and Gmaj7 down and you’ll be good to go.

If you wanna play a G7, then this is the way:

Pinkie off fret 3, index on fret 1 and BAM! You’ve got yourself a a jazzy G7 chord.

You can thank me later

And – as promised – if you want to turn the G into an ultra chill sounding major 7th chord…

You’re gonna want to play it like this:

Just kidding, no one really wants to play it like this.

It’s massively uncomfortable and disgusting, but you don’t really have a choice.

It sounds good anyway, so who cares?

Uhhh… me?

Shush.

How to play a G bar chord

You may or may not have seen bar chords before.

If you haven’t then you can view my post on how to play bar chords on guitar by clicking here – they are beyond useful.

They’re a little it more advanced than open chords however, so feel free to skip this for now if you want and come back in the future when you’re ready.

But today, I’ll just be giving you a quick overview of how to play the G bar chord on guitar.

It should look a little something like this:

To play this G bar chord, you’re gonna need to learn how to “barre” multiple strings down at once.

Barring is basically a way of using the underside edge of your index finger to press down a bunch of strings at once.

You’ll want to put your middle, ring and pinkie fingers in position first, and then try to squash down the remaining strings using your index finger.

It may be difficult in the beginning – but you’ll soon get used to it.

Put all together, this version of a G chord should look like this:

Summary

Congratulations!

You’ve just learnt how to play a G chord on guitar.

You’re only bound to use it a couple of a hundred trillion times though, so it’s no biggy.

Anyway, I hope this post has been helpful, and that you can now go back and learn that song that you wanted to play from earlier.

Enjoy!

P.S. If you want to learn how to play the infamous F chord on guitar quickly and easily, then you can view my post on that by clicking here.

The post How to Play a G Chord on Guitar appeared first on Beast Mode Guitar.

The chord that everyone has to learn but no one really wants to.

But do ya know what?

It’s useful as heck.

It’s used in loads of chord progressions and it’s the final core major chord that you’ll need to learn.

In this post, I’ll explain the various ways to play an F chord on guitar, with some tips on getting good at them quickly too.

How to play a standard F chord

Alright, so you may be wondering…

What is an F chord, and why does everyone hate it as much as finding the start of a Sellotape?

Well, that’s a great question.

To put it shortly, here is why:

Yuck. Just yuck.

To play this chord, you’re gonna need to learn how to “barre” multiple strings down at once.

Barring is basically a way of using the underside edge of your index finger to press down a bunch of strings at once.

You’ll want to put your middle, ring and pinkie fingers in position first, and then try to squash down the remaining strings using your index finger.

It should look a little like this:

It takes a bit of practice to get each string ringing out cleanly, but soon enough, your pincer muscle will strengthen up and it’ll feel much easier.

Besides, I’ve got a tip on how to build up that muscle later to speed up that process.

Because this shape feels a bit odd, you will notice that it becomes exceptionally annoying when you’re playing a chord progression in a song.

It’s just so different from the other shapes!

But that’s why someone invented this bad boy…

An easier way to play an F chord

Alright, so by now you’ve attempted the F chord and are screaming…

SAM!? WHY IS THIS SO FRICKING HARD? IS THERE ANY OTHER WAY!?

Well, it’s your lucky day, because there is. Sort of. It’s not exactly the same but sounds similar enough to the first one.

I still think it’s important that beginners spend some time learning to play the proper F chord on guitar because it’s better in the long run.

But if you need a quick fix, or have some really quick chord changes in a song, then this is the way bro:

But Sam, you’re missing out a note from the chord, isn’t that cheating?

Yes, it absolutely is!

But hey, it works.

And no one will give a dam whether you use this version or the other version in a song.

Some people will say that you should always use the proper bar chord version.

And to that I’d say…

Yes, it’s super important that beginners learn the proper bar chord version because it’s one of the fundamental chords in guitar and it just sounds the best…

And if you only know the fake F then you are officially a noob…

But in reality, when switching with chords like C and Am quickly, this version is so much more practical.

And because it’s easier to switch to, it’s also easier to get a cleaner sounding chord, making the entire chord progression sound better.

But if you’re playing a chord progression using other bar chords anyway, then the standard F shape is actually the easier option.

Anyway, now I’ll show you the last F shape that you can also use if you wish to.

A third way to play an F chord

I’ll be honest, I never ever use this shape.

I just want to show you it so that you aren’t confused when you see other people playing it.

You only need play the top 4 strings and use 3 fingers, but I still find the previous shape the easiest.

This one just sounds a bit thinner and feels a bit fiddlier but hey, some people might like it:

It just feels like more of an awkward way to place your fingers and you have to mute two strings this time instead of one.

But whatever, it’s still an F and it’ll work fine if you wanna use it.

Common F chord variations…

There are two widely used variations of an F chord on guitar and they shouldn’t take you long to learn to play at all.

The first one is an F major 7th chord.

In some cases, this one is actually even more common than the standard F chord.

And – even better – it’s actually the easiest version to play.

Woohoo!

It looks a little something like this:

This chord is used extensively throughout Half a World Away by Oasis, helping to make it sound sparkly and nostalgic.

The other variation of an F chord that you will see, is F minor:

But in the beginning it’ll be really hard to get all four barred notes sounding cleanly.

And you hereby have permission by decree of Sam Olverson at Beast Mode Guitar to just play this one if that one is too tricky at the moment:

And I’ll tell you a little secret…

Come closer…

I actually use this version of F minor more than the full one.

There we go, I’ve said it.

It’s just easier to get that minor 3rd ringing out nice and clearly without needing Hulk-like pincer muscle strength.

I know, I know, it’s not really allowed, but I know how to play the full shape anyway so I’m not a noob.

It’s just that if you have some fast chord changes or are really struggling to get all the notes ringing out in the first one, then this is the one to use.

How to get good at F chords quickly

Ok, so by this point you may have decided to throw your guitar out the window in rage – or worse, become a bassist.

But I’ve got a couple of quick tips for you to help you out and make sure that you absolutely do not become a bassist.

Trust me, guitarists get the girls.

I mean, have you seen the crowd at a John Mayer concert?

The first one is a tip to help you build up that pincer muscle for playing all the barre notes required in F chords…

I find that getting a cheap bouncy ball and doing reps of squishing it between your index finger and thumb like this is a great way to grow that muscle:

Do reps of this regularly and these barred notes will feel 10x easier. Stuff like the full F and F minor shapes just won’t pose a challenge for you anymore.

The second tip is to help with getting better at changing to and from the F chord shapes.

At first, I recommend practicing taking your fingers off the fretboard and placing them on again in the F chord shapes you’re trying to learn repeatedly.

Even just practicing this for a few minutes a day will yield great results.

After this, practice switching between all the different F shapes you’re trying to learn for a couple of minutes E.g. Full F Chord to F minor to F maj7.

Then try playing these in a random chord progression with other major and minor chords.

This helps to make sure that you can use them in a proper song situation.

Summary

Although the F chord can prove a challenge in the beginning, learning it will set you up for life.

And once you’ve got good at the full F chord shape, then learning bar chords will be a walk in the park.

We call it the F chord because it makes you want to scream F%$&!

And I’m sure for you it will be no different

Have Fun!

P.S. If you want to learn more about how to play bar/barre chords – like F – and how you can use them to play any chord ever made quickly and easily, then you can check out my post on how to play bar chords by clicking here.

The post How to play an F chord on guitar appeared first on Beast Mode Guitar.

Whether it’s Metal, Rock, Grunge, Pop, Indie – you name it – power chords are used literally all the time.

They’re used in the main riffs from Smells Like Teen Spirit, Iron Man, Master of Puppets, Welcome to the Jungle, Killing in the Name, Song 2 and many more that I can’t be bothered to write.

In this post I’ll go over how to play power chords on guitar so that you can start riffing.

What is a Power Chord?

A power chord is – in short – a mini chord.

They are 2 note chords consisting of a root note and a 5th, often played using only 2 or 3 strings.

Due to the lack of a minor or major 3rd, a power chord is completely neutral.

This makes them easy to use in any key.

Their main use, however, is to beef out the sound of riffs that would otherwise consist of single notes.

How to Play Open Power Chords

Alright, it’s time to get you riffing.

Luckily for you these are the easiest chords on God’s green earth.

Do you have a single finger?

Congratualtions! You can play this chord:

Find me anything easier and I’ll buy tickets to a Nickelback concert.

All we’ve done is taken an E note and added the note 1 string and 2 frets higher to it to make it an E5.

Try to make sure that you’re muting the other strings with the underside of your index finger whilst you’re at it to reduce excess noise.

You may also see this power chord being played like this:

The extra note on the D string is also an E, but an octave higher than the low E string.

Therefore, it’s still an E5 chord.

Neither version is wrong and you’ll see both all the time in song tabs.

These rules also apply to A5 power chords:

And – like with E5 – you can also play this with the extra A note on the 2nd fret of the G string:

And here’s the final open power chord, D5:

And because the B string is weird and makes all notes 1 fret higher than they should be, the other version would look like this:

There you have it. That’s all the open position power chords for ya.

Now, although these are really great, you’re still limited to the same goddam chords.

And you’ll soon realise that you wanna play other power chords on guitar like F#5 and B5 in combination with these.

But never fear, they’re literally right here…

How to Play Closed Power Chords

Alrighty.

If you want to become super flexible with playing power chords on guitar then you gotta get good at these.

If you were to play the A5 in a closed position, then there are again two variants:

And:

Most of us guitarists decide to use our pinkie instead of our ring finger in the first version. It’s a matter of preference, but I find that it feels like less of a stretch for your hand to use your pinkie, especially when standing up.

The fundamental rule is, to make a power chord, take the note you want to beef up, and add the note 1 string and 2 frets higher to it.

And this works with any note on any of the lowest three strings.

For example, there is a D on the 5th fret of the A string so a D5 would be:

Boom!

Just like that, you’re a power chord pro.

The reason I say that this + 1 string and 2 frets rule only works on the lowest 3 strings is because of that darn B string again.

You gotta shift what note would normally be there up a fret, like with the D5 from earlier.

So, if you used the C note on the 5th fret of the G string as your bass note, and wanted to turn it into a power chord, then it would have to look like this:

But literally no one ever uses power chords this high up so don’t worry if you don’t quite understand that.

As long as you get comfortable playing power chords on the lower strings, then you’re good to go.

How to play Power Chord Variations

Although the power chords above will cover most bases, there are a couple of variations you should still be made aware of…

Some power chords consist of a root note and a 4th, instead of a 5th:

It just gives a slightly different sound from the standard power chord.

And sometimes if a band is playing in drop D tuning (with the low E string tuned a whole step lower), you will see power chords played like this:

The lower tuning on the E string shifts the A note a whole step further up from the 5th fret to the 7th fret.

This is still an A5, but the tuning changes the shape a bit.

Hopefully that’ll save your brain from being frazzled when you come across it in the future.

Wrapping It Up

The fact is, power chords are pretty easy and it won’t take you long to get used to them. Unless you’re missing a hand or something, but then I’d start to question why you are playing guitar at all.

Anyway, when you’ve got them down you’ll have every riff under the sun at your fingertips.

Now go get riffing!

P.S. If you want to learn how to write great guitar riffs using these chords and become a riffing beast, then click here

The post How to Play Power Chords on Guitar appeared first on Beast Mode Guitar.