Blues Progression Using E7,A7,B7

Alexander Blue

Surfers Rule !!!
Hey Y'all,
  I want to declare B7 an unruly, painful, non-cooperative chord that 'twangs' way too much and is unwilling to be domesticated  :mad: ...
  Sorry, I got carried away a little  ;) ... I know if I practice it a gazzilion times it might sound better ... But ... I wouldn't bet good money on it ... Just having a hard time with it and needed to post my frustrations ... Thanks for listening  :cool:
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
No sweat brother. Vent away. We all have our chord crosses to bear. (mine has been the Gmaj7 in BGU Lesson 11 Minor Blues). Be sure to try JohnC's Bouncing on the chord position and getting the neck closer to your head (move the guitar, not your hear  ;D  ).
 
I

IrishRover

Guest
Not to worry Alexander, as Mike said we all have our own chord that drives us nuts. Ask LP how much he LOVES the C7  ;D.  The only advise is our favorite 3 word phrase - - practice, practice, practice........oh and venting is good too :cool:
 

gpower

Blues Junior
Right now Im messin' around with a rockabilly piece (Eyes Like A Cat) There's a chord in the turnaround that my fingers refuse to play (F#m add9/G#)
 
L

Lame_Pinky

Guest
One thing that maybe a factor here , as maybe/probably/possibly (covered myself there  :-? ) for others aswell that are having some difficulty is tension in your hand.If the hand is tense then the fingers will be also i think that if there is tension in the thumb you will grip the neck to tight, therefore making clean smooth changes difficult to say the least.If you need a lot of tension to hold the strings down then you might want to look at your action but if you are playing an electric there should not be any tension at all.Its easy to say i know &  it happens to us all when doing something new we natuarally tense up but with time a bit more practice - well a lot more actually - & it will come to you.You'll be helping new members to BBG with their woes about the "dreaded" B7 chord in no time at all Alexander  ;)

LP

...just don't start me on C7 ok  :mad:
 
M

Murr

Guest
I was hating that chord also, all but a few days ago, and guess what, it got better. I only hate it a little bit now. :eek: ;D. You'll come out of it juuust fine. Stay Cool :cool:
 

henryj

Blues Newbie
What fingers do you all play the A7 with?  Griff teaches 1 and 2 but 3 and 4 seem much easier.  If I used 3 and 4 will I regret in in the future?
 
L

Lame_Pinky

Guest
You will not regret it if thats what feels comfortable to you.Griff is probably demonstrating the easiest approach at 1st (stand to be corrected there , Griff  ;) ) I use my 2nd & 3rd finger for A7 chord & predominately use 2nd & 3rd for E7 and 2nd,3rd & 4th for E maj.I play like this so I can bring a barre chord into play quicker or easier - one of the two   :-/

LP
 

Steve_M

Blues Newbie
After a few days off & on practice I feel I have that 'spawn of satan B7' almost under control. If this had been a week or so ago it would be a different story. Just time and a bit of practice and I have an enviable set of callouses to prove it  ;D
I  use fingers 2 & 3 for the A7 chord and wondered the same thing.... I just find it easier and quicker than fingers 1 & 2 and hope I am not making problems for myself further down the line.

Cheers

Steve
 
M

Murr

Guest
I use 2 & 3 for that chord. I find it much easier but it is all up to the individual, use what suits you.
 

BignJames

Blues Newbie
Hey Y'all,
  I want to declare B7 an unruly, painful, non-cooperative chord that 'twangs' way too much and is unwilling to be domesticated  :mad: ...
  Sorry, I got carried away a little  ;) ... I know if I practice it a gazzilion times it might sound better ... But ... I wouldn't bet good money on it ... Just having a hard time with it and needed to post my frustrations ... Thanks for listening  :cool:


I'm no B7 fan either.
 

wgabree

Blues Newbie
One thing you can do with B7 is just play the bottom 2 notes (5string2fret, 4s1f, 3s2f).  Later, when you have that solid attempt to add the 2sOpen & 1s2f.

Cheers
Wayne
 
L

Lame_Pinky

Guest
What a pity it is that Griff did not include a exercise that contained B7 & C7 - imagine the howl of protests that would have generated  ;D

LP
 

SunnyOne

Blues Newbie
I used to be able to play regular old C chord but with the electric is just not sounding right. Driving me nuts!
 

560sdl

Blues Newbie
Make sure it is tuned correctly.  With an electric, I hear things that are out of tune much more readily.
 
L

Lame_Pinky

Guest
With the electric the fretboard is not as wide & - I'm sure you've noticed - the strings are closer together , so when playing " regular old C " on acoustic you had a bit more room for your fingers to fit in,  now you have to try fitting them in a smaller area. This is where you find that your fingers or fingernails are touching , however slightly , other strings & this is the cause of chord not sounding as well as you were use to when playing on an acoustic.
As you play more & more with your electric you will start making minor adjustments to make sure you are not touching the strings, like everything else it will come.

LP
 
M

Murr

Guest
I have noticed that on an electric, if you fret as hard as you do with an acoustic it changes the tone of that note. I found that you don't have to fret or pick/strum as aggressively as you do with an acoustic. I thought the same Sunny, things just don't sound right. Check my tuning, all in tune. So I just lightened up a bit. There, that is my 2 cents. ;) PS: Turn up volume and distortion, ALL SOUNDS GREAT. [smiley=laugh.gif], ;), :-?, ;)
 

SunnyOne

Blues Newbie
i'll lighten up on the electric, and then go back to the acoustic and learn to press hard again...should help keep alzheiimer's away!
 
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