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.