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. . . there would be no miracles at all. I've been working on Bm a long time. I thought I had it pretty good when I strummed, but then I started to finger pick and what to my wondering ears did I hear? Muted strings!!!! Seems my barre wasn't as good as I thought it was. Oh, despair. For weeks, I heard no progress at all; when I picked the B string it went "thunk" and my heart went "plunk" and my playing stunk.
This morning, I was practicing and thought I heard improvement. Put on the capo to listen to what it would sound like with a really good barre and practiced a picking pattern. Then I took off the capo, barred and started picking and . . . it sounded good! That B rang out clear and true. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! She chortled in her joy.
My mom says, "Stop shouting and get ready for church!" Today I'll have a new thing to be thankful for.
Mary Beth
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And it all happened because of practice and desire. Good for you.
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Congrats MB! At my age, a good solid Bm is often the highlight of my day!
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topdown wrote:
Congrats MB! At my age, a good solid Bm is often the highlight of my day!
FUNNY! Made my dad laugh a lot, too. My mom said, "Oh, please." Mothers have no sense of humor.
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bensonp wrote:
And it all happened because of practice and desire. Good for you.
But was it practice motivated by a desire to be better, or practice motivated by a desire not be be sucky? Is there a difference? I'm serious!!!
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They probably both go hand in hand. Either way, you get better. I would like to think I am getting better rather than less sucky. Is the glass half empty or half full for you?
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M.B. wrote:
bensonp wrote:
And it all happened because of practice and desire. Good for you.
But was it practice motivated by a desire to be better, or practice motivated by a desire not be be sucky? Is there a difference? I'm serious!!!
There is no difference.
Congratulations on the Bm. That will open a lot of horizons for you. Or at least some songs.
- Zurf
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bensonp wrote:
They probably both go hand in hand. Either way, you get better. I would like to think I am getting better rather than less sucky. Is the glass half empty or half full for you?
Depends.
On what?
On whether I'm thirsty.
Ok. Can you--?
If I'm thirsty, then it's half empty, but if I'm not thirsty then it's half full.
I see.
Yup.
So what are you now?
I'm hungry. When's lunch?
Teenagers!
Annnnnnnd scene!
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MB glad to see you stuck it out and did not give up.
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If you try to always see it as half full, regardless of the reason, you feel positive thoughts instead of negative. Positive thoughts get you further down the road, negative thoughts bum you out. It's all perspective, as I'm sure you are already aware.
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bensonp wrote:
If you try to always see it as half full, regardless of the reason, you feel positive thoughts instead of negative. Positive thoughts get you further down the road, negative thoughts bum you out. It's all perspective, as I'm sure you are already aware.
I agree, Pete. It's hard to stay positive, but it's a lot better. And it's good to be reminded of that fact, cuz even when you're aware of it, you don't always remember it.
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learn some acoustics yea baby show me the way ! where do I begen? nuff with the the small talk. smokeysan lets rip it!
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????
robest@live.com wrote:
learn some acoustics yea baby show me the way ! where do I begen? nuff with the the small talk. smokeysan lets rip it!
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I agree Russell. ???
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I'm waiting for that individual to come back and edit in some spam to the post. At this point, there's nothing we moderators can or should do. But I'm watching.
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Good to see the mod squad is watching him, sounds like a very strange person.
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There's a general pattern for spammers. They're evolving and we evolve with them. The latest trick is to drop into a thread with a mildly on-topic post, then come back and edit it with the spam. This guy fits the pattern.
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Tricky little devils
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Just read this post. So funny!!! I Have noticed muted strings when I fingerpick my B, I'll try the capo. Thanx
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auxi wrote:
Just read this post. So funny!!! I Have noticed muted strings when I fingerpick my B, I'll try the capo. Thanx
Hi Auxi,
On the topic of Bm--today it wasn't as good as yesterday. Blerg. Oh well, maybe it'll sound a little better tomorrow. I find that if I want a good solid sound, I need to slow down and make the barre with careful attention to pushing my wrist up perpendicular to the neck. If anyone has good advice about this, I'm all ears. Or hands.
Now, the book that I'm using to learn basic fingerstyle provides a "Cheater Bm" where instead of using a barre you make the Am shape with fingers 2, 3, and 4, and then use finger 1 to fret the high E string at the second fret.
X X
---------------------- Nut
: : : : : :
: : : : : :
----------------------
: : : : : :
: : : : : 1
----------------------
: : : : : :
: : : : 2 :
----------------------
: : : : : :
: : 3 4 : :
When the Gods of Barre are not smiling on me, I use that method.
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There's another weird one you can use for fingerpicking, but it's as much or worse of a bear as the barre version. I like bass enough that the barre was worth the effort for me. It's not as clean sounding as an open chord, but it's good enough if you pick quick enough that you don't have time to hear the blung instead of plunk.
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You can try to roll your finger over to the side a little so your finger nail is closer to the nut. Hope that makes sense. That way your finger is more rigid and the strings don't fit into your knuckle creases.
Check it out:
http://justinguitar.com/en/IM-111-EShap … Chords.php
Right about 4:00 mins. is where he gets to it. But the vid is good.
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That's not "cheating." It's a perfectly valid Bm shape. It's also a Cm, C#m, Dm, D#m, Em, Fm, F#m, Gm, Am, and A#m, depending on where on the neck you fret it. 
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zguitar wrote:
You can try to roll your finger over to the side a little so your finger nail is closer to the nut. Hope that makes sense. That way your finger is more rigid and the strings don't fit into your knuckle creases.
Check it out:
http://justinguitar.com/en/IM-111-EShap … Chords.php
Right about 4:00 mins. is where he gets to it. But the vid is good.
Thanks, z! I had heard about rolling your finger like you describe, but I'd plumb forgotten it. It really helps! Also thanks so much for the link to Justin video. One of his videos gave me a lot of insight in the past, and this one did too. I like his teaching style, very encouraging and down to earth, and he takes it nice and slow and with a gentle sense of humor.
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jerome.oneil wrote:
That's not "cheating." It's a perfectly valid Bm shape. It's also a Cm, C#m, Dm, D#m, Em, Fm, F#m, Gm, Am, and A#m, depending on where on the neck you fret it.
Thank you, Jerome! It's good to know that. My knowledge of how chord shapes work up the neck is limited, but I'll remember your advice as I slowly get more familiar.
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