Confused about beginers course tutorial Bm and BM

Hey & welcome to GT!

Originally Posted by: W.A.S.P.

She has shown B major and B minor chords, bu they are completly different to the Essential chord sheet examples.

All major and minor chords are formed by playing some combination of the 1st, 3rd & 5th scale degrees of their parent scale. That means there are many different ways of playing (or voicing) any given chord.

Which voicing is used or taught depends on the instructor, the musical context or purpose. For example, any given B major chord is formed by playing these notes any place you can find them on a musical instrument.

B (1st or root of B major scale)

D-sharp (major 3rd of B major scale)

F-sharp (5th of B major scale)

Some curriculums start with this particular voicing:

|--2--(F#)------------|[br]|--4--(D#)------------|[br]|--4--(B)--------------|[br]|--4--(F#)------------|[br]|-----------------------|

|-----------------------|

Because:

1. There's no easy open string option for those 3 notes.

2. It's fairly easy for beginners.

3. The shape matches the upper part of an open A major chord. It's easy to see how the B major shape is related, but 2 frets higher.

But some curriculums start with this voicing.

|-----------------------|

|--4--(D#)------------|[br]|--4--(B)--------------|[br]|--4--(F#)------------|[br]|--2--(B)--------------|[br]|-----------------------|

Again, because it matches the A major, but also because eventually you'll learn barre chords. But also because the root note B is the lowest. The root note doesn't have to be the lowest note in a chord voicing!

You can play either one & it is a B major chord. Eventually you will learn to combine them into a barre chord shape!

|--2--(F#)------------|[br]|--4--(D#)------------|[br]|--4--(B)--------------|[br]|--4--(F#)------------|[br]|--2--(B)--------------|[br]|-----------------------|

You could just play the middle 3 notes!

|-----------------------|[br]|--4--(D#)------------|[br]|--4--(B)--------------|[br]|--4--(F#)------------|[br]|-----------------------|[br]|-----------------------|

But as you can hopefully see these are simply different ways of combining the same 3 notes over & again. They all have the characteristic sound of B major, but with variations. Some voicings double certain notes, some do not, the result is that some voicings have more or less bass or treble, a lower or higher timbre, more or less bright, more or less full. But they are all B major chords.

I think the difference between the chart & Lisa's lesson may be that I taught the previous version of the Fundamentals courses. And I start with the root note in lowest position.

https://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=11139

But when GT had Lisa do the latest version of the Fundamentals courses she chose to start with the B major chord using a different voicing. So, maybe the chord sheet needs to be updated to reflect that.

From a practical perspective, as a beginner you can pick either one & it's fine. They are both B major. Eventually if you keep learning and playing guitar you will need to know both anyway for different musical contexts.

Hope that helps! Have fun practicing!

Thanks for your explanation, unfortunately I don't think it is a good idea to send an essential chord sheet out to someone who wants to learn, and then show fifteenth chord patterns in your training videos.

All it does is cause confusion, and to be honest I would always be doubtful of anything else I was taught, always thinking is this the right way or is there going to be another way, and which one should I use.

Not a good start :-(

Hi Chris,

Just seen your video, I think I would switch over to your tutorials now, you have a MUCH better way of explaining the chords.

Thanks

Originally Posted by: W.A.S.P.

Thanks for your explanation, unfortunately I don't think it is a good idea to send an essential chord sheet out to someone who wants to learn, and then show fifteenth chord patterns in your training videos.

[/quote]

You're welcome! I think the essential chords chart is supposed to be a summary of what you will learn throughout the beginner courses. It's not supposed to be where you start. After all, that's what the Fundamentals course is about: starting at zero & learning step by step, chord by chord, etc.

There's no way a beginner can be expected to take a chart with no explanation & play all those chords. It's just a suppliment to use after you've worked through the courses & have practiced all the material.

[quote=W.A.S.P.]Just seen your video, I think I would switch over to your tutorials now, you have a MUCH better way of explaining the chords.

Sure, some people prefer different teaching approaches. And that's why we have both Fundamentals courses still available.

If you want to follow both of my older Fundamentals, the links are at the bottom of each landing page for the current courses. So, if you go here:

https://www.guitartricks.com/course.php?input=fundamentals1

And scroll to the bottom of the page you will see the link to this:

https://www.guitartricks.com/course.php?input=guitarfundamentals1v1(discontinued)

Likewise if you go to the landing page for GF2:

https://www.guitartricks.com/course.php?input=fundamentals2

Scroll to the bottom & you will see the link to this:

https://www.guitartricks.com/course.php?input=fundamentals2(discontinued)

Either GF1 is a great place to start! :)

Originally Posted by: ChristopherSchlegel

From a practical perspective, as a beginner you can pick either one & it's fine. They are both B major. Eventually if you keep learning and playing guitar you will need to know both anyway for different musical contexts.

I second this!

I can understand a beginner's worry about "doing it wrong" but even if you were playing the wrong chord (if it were mistakenly called a C chord), you'd still be learning a chord. :)

I think what matters the most, in the beginning, is getting your hands on the guitar and playing... putting in the time, seeing how it feels, making mistakes, experimenting... whether you're doing it totally right or not. Your dexterity is going to improve and you're going to acquire skills even if you're only playing 50% right.

Compare it to learning a sport -- there are serious techniques to playing tennis, but you can make a ton of progress and get hooked on it just by swinging a racket at a ball.

My point is, as a beginner, don't worry too much about doing it wrong. Just put in the time, learn, experiment, and have fun!

Also: you're on the right track, finding something like this, and asking questions about chords. It means you're detail-oriented and you'll learn even faster.

-Carl.