Topic: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

Can anyone suggest any fairly common songs to play with Bm as the most complex chord! Ie c,d,e,g,a all sorted to varying degrees, but not the bad boy F. Mainstream stuff is what I'm after I think......

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

Check your e-mail, I have sent you a couple of songs that I hope will help.

Roger

"Do, or do not; there is no try"

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

Hi sharkin and welcome to the forum, I think the eagles Hotel California is a good one,but it has an f# which you can play without fretting the bass e string.

my papy said son your going too drive me too drinking if you dont stop driving that   Hot  Rod  Lincoln!! Cmdr cody and his lost planet airman

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

Welcome and hotel California is the one that I've been playing  it by memory and I find that you tube is great help in learning the timing

Let no talents go unused

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

Welcome to Chordie Sharkin.  You started out well.  There are a lot of us that still can't get Bm without cheating.  Good for you.

You can see all my video covers on [url]http://www.youtube.com/bensonp1000[/url]
I have finally found happiness in my life.  Guitars, singing, beer and camping.  And they all intertwine wonderfully.

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

Welcome Sharkin,
Barre chords are nasty but worth the effort
A couple songs that you use  the Am shape up the neck are Lay Lady Lay and I shall be released.
Don't forget to make your book public so we can work on it too wink
Jim

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

Hey Sharkin-
The song I learned Bm on is the round of chords for Pachabel's Canon in D. It goes D-A-Bm-F#m-G-A-D-A. Sometimes By Step (by Rich Mullins) has many Bms also (with no Fs!).
I'd like to mention that the F#m in Canon I only barred the last 3 strings on the 2nd fret with my index finger, and had my last 2 fingers on the 4th fret A and D strings. It's not so hard that way.

"Milk is best drank out of a blue plastic cup."
"The LORD is my strength and my sheild, my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoices; and with my song will I praise him." Psalm 28:7

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

Someone shared this a while ago and I just found it again in my bookmarks.

http://searchbychords.com

Should give you at least something to play.

Keep Rockin!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

Welcome to Chordie, Sharkin ...

Looks like you're going about learning the various chords in a terrific way, by learning songs where they're used. "The Sounds of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel is normally written in Dm, but if you use the Chordie transposer to take it down 3 semitones, it comes out in a more comfortable singing key ... OR ... use a capo to key it back up. A nicely paced song also, to allow you time for transitions. You can also play "High Hopes" by Pink Floyd in the same way.

10 (edited by Astronomikal 2013-03-25 04:08:57)

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

Sharkin wrote:

Can anyone suggest any fairly common songs to play with Bm as the most complex chord! Ie c,d,e,g,a all sorted to varying degrees, but not the bad boy F. Mainstream stuff is what I'm after I think......

You could practice the doo-wop progression (I-vi-IV-V) in the key of D.

Play this first so that you know what to listen for:  G - Em - C - D.

Then practice the same thing over and over in D:  D - Bm - G - A.  This will give you the Bm as the most complex chord without the bad boy F.  Just what you are looking for.

Another thing you can do is just alternate between the open chord shapes that you know and the Bm:  A - Bm - C - Bm - D - Bm - E - Bm - G - Bm.  It won't sound pretty, but this drill will help you develop the muscle memory needed to nail the Bm from every open chord.

Forewarned is forearmed:  It might take you a couple of YEARS to be able to hit it consistently, so be patient.  After two years of working on it, I can only hit the Bm about 60% of the time.  That's up from zero, so I'm encouraged.  Hopefully you will do better.

EDIT:  All of the advice in the above posts about playing songs with the desired chords is great, but you also need to practice.  There is a difference between practicing and playing.  Practice (as I describe) a lot, and then break up the practice time by playing because practice is boring.  Necessary, but boring.

"Just because you've always done it that way doesn't mean it's not incredibly stupid." - Despair, Inc.

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

Sharkin,it is much better too learn how too do the b and f chords as most of the populer tunes have one or the other,so you would limit alot of the tunes you want too play. It took me awile with my short fingers,you may find other ways too do them like more wrist, arm, end body bending too do them.

my papy said son your going too drive me too drinking if you dont stop driving that   Hot  Rod  Lincoln!! Cmdr cody and his lost planet airman

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

Barr chords are the way to go.  If you have a electric, learnthem on it first. then the transition to acoustic will be easier. (and there is a whole long topic on that method {weather to learn on acoustic or electric first, opinions vary widely} around here also LOL.

Keep at it.

“Find your own sound.  Dont be a second rateYngwie Malmsteen be a first rate you”

– George Lynch 2013 (Dokken, Lynchmob, KXM, Tooth & Nail etc....)

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

Tenement Funster wrote:

Welcome to Chordie, Sharkin ...

"The Sounds of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel is normally written in Dm, but if you use the Chordie transposer to take it down 3 semitones, it comes out in a more comfortable singing key.

Hey THANKS FOR THE TIP I have been working on this song in standard, but after seeing this, I looked at it and im going to work it this way tonight! lol

“Find your own sound.  Dont be a second rateYngwie Malmsteen be a first rate you”

– George Lynch 2013 (Dokken, Lynchmob, KXM, Tooth & Nail etc....)

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

Glad to be of some help, Beamer (love the quotes from "Serenity", by the way) ...

The Chordie transposer + a good capo = numerous possibilities for all abilities. I find a lot of music written for a tenor voice (I'm a natural bass) so transposing down is the only way stuff works ... except of course for Crash Test Dummies. This is a great site with great tools to use!

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

Tenement Funster wrote:

Glad to be of some help, Beamer (love the quotes from "Serenity", by the way) ...

I have the series and the movie.  Watch them all the time.  They never get old.  Im a Castle addict also LOLOLOL.  Both shows have great cast.  You can tell Nathen makes sure what ever he works on, the cast all hangs out and has fun.

My other favorite quotes :  Jayne:  Shiny. Let's be bad guys.

Mal : I aim to misbehave.

Mal: Looks can be deceiving.
Jayne: Not as deceiving as a low down, dirty... deceiver.
Mal: Well said. Wasn't that well said, Zoë?
Zoë Washburne: It had a kinda poetry to it, sir.

“Find your own sound.  Dont be a second rateYngwie Malmsteen be a first rate you”

– George Lynch 2013 (Dokken, Lynchmob, KXM, Tooth & Nail etc....)

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

All great ones, Beamer! And who could forget:

Mal:  "The 'verse iz gittin' too crowded for us naughty men to hide anymore."

Or ...

Mal: "You wanna run this ship?"

Jayne:  "Yeah!"

Mal:  "Well ... ya can't."

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

Comfortably Numb is a good Bm song to learn.

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

All, thanks greatly for tips and advice.....

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

I teach a few kids guitar, and the best exercise I know of is to learn Bm and F# together. Which is why I start with Am and E. I get them to learn those two chords smoothly with normal fingering. Then I get them to play Am with fingers 2,3,4 (leaving finger 1 for the  barre). Same with E. Then I get them to play the Am - E - Am progression with the new fingerings. Only when they can do that do I get them to play Bm and F#. All they need to do is hold the barre finger in place and practice moving between the Am and E shapes as before.

A song like Hotel California (as noted above) is good for this. So also are blues songs in Bm such as TheThrill is Gone by B B King.

All the best!

20 (edited by tasmith 2013-05-17 20:50:55)

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

Kenny Loggins' tune "Danny's Song" makes real good use of the "Bm" chord without the "bad boy F" chord.

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

She's Electric by Oasis has G# and C#m which is just two frets up from Bm. That Am/Bm shape will become one of your most useful chords. Along with Em because the only other minor chord you can get in you first position is Dm which is a pig to bar. Of course once you've mastered Bm, F will be easy enough. When you see any minor chord in a song. It's going to come from one of those chord shapes.

I see friends holdiong hands, saying "How do you do"
They're really saying, "I love you"
Louis Armstrong. Wonderful world.

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

The good 'ol I V VI IV progression in D (pretty much every pop song ever!), just simply D A Bm G. Take a look at '4 Chords' by the Axis of Awesome, quite cool!

Also, move it around a bit, try throwing in a few other barre chords with it! If you can play Bm, you can also play every other minor chord using that exact shape!

Have fun!

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

bensonp wrote:

Welcome to Chordie Sharkin.  You started out well.  There are a lot of us that still can't get Bm without cheating.  Good for you.

Hi

I am also new here and this was the first post that caught my eye because Bm and F give me the most trouble as well. I have been playing a few months and I can hit them when I do it slowly but when playing it is about a 20-30%.

Is there actually a cheat to the Bm chord? or even the B chord?

-Jim

24 (edited by arkady 2013-06-15 07:54:48)

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

DiGi wrote:

Hi

I am also new here and this was the first post that caught my eye because Bm and F give me the most trouble as well. I have been playing a few months and I can hit them when I do it slowly but when playing it is about a 20-30%.

Is there actually a cheat to the Bm chord? or even the B chord?

-Jim

Hi Jim
Sounds like you are doing ok after a few months of playing barre chords take time and practice to get down 100% of the time. 
There are different ways of playing them but they require practice as well so IMHO I think it's best to stick with the traditional chord shapes at the start and just keep practicing...  sad
ark

Re: I'm learning and just mastering Bm

For a Bm cheat try baring the Em instead. 799777 or xx9777 B would then be xx9877

I see friends holdiong hands, saying "How do you do"
They're really saying, "I love you"
Louis Armstrong. Wonderful world.