B7 Problems

[jlosee]

Hello my beginning blues brethren. I have a question. Is anyone else beside myself struggling with the B7 chord. I've been working it for weeks and can not seem to get a clean sound. Mostly, it's muffled.  I will keep practicing it but it seems to be a losing battle. All the other chords are working great!  I wonder if my fingers are just too thick to accomodate that chord.  Any shortcuts, or little tricks would be greatly appreciated.  I love Griff's course but am frustrated because I don't want to proceed until I can master B7. Thanks for reading my post.  

 

[stratogeezer]

There are going to be some chords along the way that give more trouble than others.
Move on and still keep practicing that chord.

 

[jlosee]

Thanks for the encouragement. I will keep plugging away!

 

[MikeS]

jlosee, I'm not sure this will help on your B7, but it helped me with a CMaj7 I was having problems with. Griff suggested holding the neck closer to your head. It makes it easier to get your fingers into position. hang in there, it WILL come. Let me know if this helps.
Mike

 

[jlosee]

Thank you sir. I will try that!

 

[IrishRover]

jlosee, yes there are a lot of strings in a very little space.  As Mike said if you raise the neck of the guitar so that if someone is looking straight at you the neck of the guitar is pointing at about one o'clock it will be easier to place your fingers.  The other thing to do is once you have your fingers in position play each string separately and make sure each rings out clearly.  Once you can do that then it is a matter of practicing until you can do it correctly every time.  Pretty soon you will wonder why you thought it was so hard - until the next time that is  

 

[Griff]

And once you have it basically memorized and it's just a matter of perfecting it... go ahead and move on. As was said before, there's always going to be some little thing that will trip you up. You just have to wait those things out sometimes.

Grif

 

[Lame_Pinky]

Yep the B7 has not always - spell that never - been one of my fav. chords even when I 1st played after several years I still could not do it right not that I bothered too much with it as I mainly only played barre chords - yes those big ugly clunky ones, Griff ! I've been playing again now for 9 weeks & in that short time with the BGU material I have I'm getting along much better with open B7 chords - in fact I'd say I play it better now than I did 20 something yrs ago - and only in the space of 9 weeks !
So stick with it for sure keep practicing but don't just get stuck with that one chord - one problem I had with it was getting the pinky down or trying to get it down at same time as other fingers.This ' threw ' me off I think so I started just getting the index,middle & ring fingers down 1st then bring the pinky into play after the others were down.
Don't worry about your fingers possibly being to thick either Albert King was a monster of a man & had hands the size of a giant & there are some who say he could still play a fairly decent guitar.

Looking forward to seeing you join the ranks of BGU soon,

LP  

 

[MikeS]

I just thought of another thing that helped me on tough chords. JohnC suggested holding the chord, then releasing pressure without moving your fingers, then pressing (no need to strum). Just keep doing the press & release boogie for a few minutes at a time several times a day and you will gain the muscle memory quickly.
Mike.

 

[jlosee]

  I do sometimes run through my chords with my eyes closed and hit A7, E7 very well. My fingers fall in the right place on B7, but mostly it is half muted.  I will move on with the course and put into practice the suggestions you guys gave me. Thanks.

 

[Lame_Pinky]

Keep practicing the chord James but by all means move along if it - B7 - is still troubling you in a few weeks there are other B chords that can be substituted for it.

LP

 

[jhagan421]

Really curl that pinky!  I've found learning B7 now from scratch, like you are that if I hold it loose (don't strangle the neck) that I get better sound.  As opposed to say Cmaj or Gmag where (for me anyway) a really firm hold is better.

 

[Emilio]

Hello James

I had similar problems with the F bare cord and another guitarist I know suggested I learn a song with loads of F’s in it.

This was a little tricky at first, but after two weeks or so I got it nailed, so I guess this technique really worked for me.

I hope this helps

Regards

Emi

 

[jlosee]

Thanks again everyone.

 

[Ken_H]

I too have problems with that chord. My fourth finger always gets in the way of the open B string. I found that bringing my elbow close to my body and really trying to arch my fingers helped. I don't know if that's good form or not.

 

[gpower]

Guess I'm in the minority on this chord. It's always worked for me. The ones I always have trouble with are ones where you reverse a couple of fingers on back to back beats.

 

[rcarlton]

That B7 chord kills me to. I make a mess out of "Full out blues" when it comes time to use it. I have been putting my left foot on a pile of books to raise the neck. It helps a little. Just wanted you to know you are not the only one grumbling about that chord. :'( Good to know it is OK to move on. I was stuck in neutral for the last month.

 

[drlee]

I had never seen a B7 chord before this course so it has taken me a couple weeks to reprogram the old brain to except it and for you it will become easier just switch from chord to chord yes you will screw up but the screw ups will become less and less over time good luck I know you can do it.Lee

 

[jlosee]

I've been working it and its coming alongwell.  Also trying the methods others have suggested. My new challenge is C7. Back to the grindstone.  

 

[Charlie_13]

Try to slide your fingers closer to the fret or on it.