Originally Posted by: Simon KeyesJust moving towards the end of Fundamentals 1 and onto the B Major and B minor chords as part of the final "Essential Chords for Beginners".
However, the free chart that was offered and downloaded has errors on the following chord charts compared to the videos :
B Major indicates index finger on 5th string 2nd fret rather than 1st string 2nd fret ?
B Minor indicates index finger on 5th string 2nd fret rather than 1st string 2nd fret ?
Am I missing something ?
Can you post a link to that chart? Or the chart itself?
It sounds like they are simply 2 different voicings of the B chords. All major and minor chords are formed by playing some combination of the 1st, 3rd & 5th scale degrees of their parent scale. That means there are many different ways of playing (or voicing) any given chord.
Which voicing is used or taught depends on the musical context or purpose. For example, a B major chord is formed by playing these notes any place you can find them on a musical instrument.
B (1st or root of B major scale)
D-sharp (major 3rd of B major scale)
F-sharp (5th of B major scale)
So you can play a B major chord like this:
|-----------------------|[br]|--4--(D#)------------|[br]|--4--(B)--------------|[br]|--4--(F#)------------|[br]|-----------------------|[br]|-----------------------|
Some beginner versions of open chords add the F# on the high E string in order to let the student strum strings from the D string all the way across without having to avoid strumming that high E. Just isolating 3 inner strings can be a tricky challenge for beginners. And using that high E also gives the chord voicing a little more high end sparkle with that F# on top!
|--2--(F#)------------|[br]|--4--(D#)------------|[br]|--4--(B)--------------|[br]|--4--(F#)------------|[br]|-----------------------|[br]|-----------------------|
However some teachers use the low B, because it's closer to the barre chord version students will eventually learn.
|-----------------------|
|--4--(D#)------------|[br]|--4--(B)--------------|[br]|--4--(F#)------------|[br]|--2--(B)--------------|[br]|-----------------------|
Here is one of the full barre B major chords.
|--2--(F#)------------|[br]|--4--(D#)------------|[br]|--4--(B)--------------|[br]|--4--(F#)------------|[br]|--2--(B)--------------|[br]|-----------------------|
As you can see all of these are simply ways of combining the same 3 notes over & again. They all have the characteristic sound of B major, but with variations. Some voicings double certain notes, some do not, the resutl is that some voicings have more or less bass or treble, a lower or higher timbre, more or less bright, more or less full.
Hope that helps!
Christopher Schlegel
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