Hi, this is my first post and I am also a newbie to Banjo Ben. I play several other instruments (piano, flute, ukulele (a little), some percussion) well and have a degree in music. Already I have found that these lessons have filled in many gaps for me. I love learning with these lessons. You have a gift for instilling joy in playing Ben! Keep up the good work.
I had a strong desire about 4 years ago to pick up guitar. I have tried over the past 30 years to play, hoping my very petite hands would grow, but that hasn’t happened. Because of a cyst on a tendon in my left wrist, it was excessively painful for me to play back then. God has since healed me and I’ve been slowly working to build dexterity & strength in my fingers, having conquered the A & E major chord progressions (B7 major chord, not B). I am glad I have found enjoyment in it. I also was given a 3/4 student guitar which has helped quite a bit. The smaller distance around the neck has helped me attain proficiency in the A & E chord progression.
Now that I’ve started these lessons, I want to try to master the other chords so I don’t have to rely on a capo. I still find the F chord and B chord that you showed in the lessons quite a feat to master and a bit painful for my wrist. Would there be any stretches or exercises I could use to help the dexterity of my fingers and wrist so it’s not quite so painful? The cyst created similar symptoms to carpal tunnel problems, if that is helpful to your advice.
Thanks in advance! I appreciate all you are doing to help us learn to spread the joy of music with others. ~Debbie
Discuss the Guitar lesson: Common Major Chords
Hello and welcome to the forum, Deborah!
Thanks JohnM. It was sweet of you to welcome me.
Hi Deborah!
It might have nothing to do with your wrist or finger issues, but “Tendon Glides” have been super helpful for me in overcoming some finger tendon issues. I find they are a good warm up for playing as well. Here’s a video that shows how to do them… the tendon glides start at 1:13 in.
Hey and welcome! I’m sure there are, but I’m not an expert there and I don’t feel confident giving you specific exercises beyond the common hand/wrist exercises you may find online. I’m proud of the progress you’ve made and hope it continues! I’m honored to have you on board and thank you so much for the kind words. The F chord is a tough one, yes, and it’s in the “top 6” chords to know to play bluegrass. The B7 will suffice for most any need for B in bluegrass.
For the F chord, why do bluegrass guitarists tend to just bar the first two strings? Is it for speed or is there another reason?
That’s always how the F is played. It’s not just bluegrass. It’s the best way to fret it.
One more bad habit I’m going to have to unlearn somehow!
You can do it! I remember first learning the barred F chord and thinking it was the hardest thing I’d ever tried to do on the guitar. But then it all of a sudden gets easy. And there’s no better time to fix a bad habit than now, before it gets more cemented.
Yeah, I think there’s a speed aspect to it, but also you can choose to not fret the 3rd string for a suspended chord. You can also do all kinds of other customizations to the chord that you can’t do if doing the full barre chord.
I have playing guitar for a couple of years. G major has always been my toughest chord. Your trick of bringing the ring finger down first did the job and really helped me. Thanks. It’s funny I joined your site to learn banjo but you are also really helping me with guitar and mandolin. This website is a bargain.
Very cool, thanks!
Hello,
I have super short fingers and am really struggling with the B major chord in any of the variations you showed in the video. How terrible would it be if I just dropped my first finger to the high E string at the second fret instead of stretching for the A string? It makes a brighter sound that isn’t as bluegrass sounding, but in that position every note is clear and I can manage it without hand pain. It was a variation I remember seeing someone at a jam session use.
I don’t remember what was shown on the video, so I am not visualizing the shape you are trying to make. However, an easy B variant is a B sus4. From low E to high e it goes
X 2 4 4 o o
If you don’t want the sus4 sound, don’t play the open high e very loud. Also this chord is neither minor nor major.
You can do that but you’ll be missing the low root note on the A string. I think you can get it!
Can C9 be substituted for C in most bluegrass songs for speed of chord changes?
I would say so. I personally use it just for very quick changes to C (as opposed to a C chord to hang on for more than a few beats), but definitely experiment and see how you like the sound in different songs.
Is it still possible for an eleven year old to do b and f chords with small hands and a full size guitar? I’ve been trying them but am nowhere close.
A simple F chord.
B chord can probably be like below or just the first 3 strings.
Play a B7!