Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Discuss the Banjo lesson: Minor Chord Shapes & Drill

https://banjobenclark.com/lessons/minor-chord-shapes-drill-banjo-intermediate

Minor chords sound sad, but they don’t have to make you sad. I introduced you to minor chords in the beginner learning track, but now it’s time to really own them! Let’s unlock that fretboard so we can play any minor chord anywhere on the neck! There are no tabs or diagrams for this lesson–on purpose! I want you to watch and play along with me so you’ll really know it.

4 Likes

Hey Ben! I’ve been playing banjo for only 3 years so that word “minor” has always scared me so I avoided it, but you’ve really made it easy to understand! While continuing to improve all of my skills I will definitely begin to incorporate the minor drills into my practice sessions adding to the fun of picking a banjo! Another “Ah hah” moment! Thank you!

3 Likes

Great to hear, @tomhejza! Yes, my job is to make the scary stuff not scary, and hopefully even fun.

2 Likes

This is great content @BanjoBen. I really appreciate the way you broke it down so easily. This will really help, especially with backup!

3 Likes

welcome back @Wendell

1 Like

Looks like its time to resize the ring mr. Ben :ring:

1 Like

Thanks @Archie.

1 Like

Well this was one of those lessons where a lot of little light bulbs went off in my head and I said “Ah-hah!” more than once. Thanks Ben. You’re still putting the “fun” in “fundamentals!”

3 Likes

Fantastic lesson!!!
Geez. I thought I knew a bit about minors!! lol … laughing at myself, cuz I really didn’t… I love the bar, fist, rock-on nicknames. Thanks so much, Ben!

2 Likes

Great lessson! Pulls together all those bits and pieces in my brain.
Sue

3 Likes

Great lesson, Thank you!

1 Like

Will u be selling ur music stand?

1 Like

Ha! A feller made it for me but I can’t even remember who it was.

The biggest wow moment for me with minor chords was when I learned the 1 finger change in the F and D position to hit the relative minor. You should do a follow up lesson on relative minors. Sort of unlocks the whole fretboard.

2 Likes

I have watched the Fretboard Geography lessons with Alan Munde several times, and it never really clicked for me. Now that I watched this lesson, and understand the relationship between the Major and Minor shapes, those lessons seem obvious to me. Playing up and down the scales with the root note on a specific string, keeps you in one major shape with its related minor shape. WOW!

4 Likes

Hmm @BanjoBen I may have missed it the first time watching, But I sure heard it today Sir! Some folks (not just me ) like to use all their senses. TAB is my sick’s sense. If I can’t see it, I am sick. nod-and-a-wink

Seriously though, my reason for revisiting this lesson today is to help me with the Inside Cabin Camp: Chord Scale Transitions with KSB Lesson as I struggle to memorise the physical locations of the Minor and Flatted 7th chords.

On this occasion KSB’s TAB Handout didn’t help much. So it’s always good to have an alternative data point or reference point to help resolve a query. Since I don’t use Minor and Flatted 7th chords often, “at my age I forget things easily.” That said I may have to go revisit Minor Mingle to get in some practice.

For anyone struggling to understand me.
A data point is a single piece of information or observation that represents a specific value or characteristic within a larger dataset. It can be a numerical value, text, or even an image. In my case it’s TAB tabed