That's "B-flat", as in a very tough (for my fingers) chord that's the basis of most of Ben Gibbard's music. It's a very pretty chord, with equal parts hope and sadness...lots of melancholy but also a good amount of brightness. Works great to add some texture to G and C Major.
After 4 months (!) of hibernation I finally broke the old Seagull out and hit the strings a bit. I sheepishly had to look up some basic chords again, and my nails are too long(they have to be really short to play) but it was great to play again. Playing is both exhilirating and frustrating: exhilirating when I can piece together some chords in proper rhythm and tempo (usually for seconds at a time) and frustrating when I realize my limitations and how far I have to go before I can "really" play. How come I just didn't stick with those lessons I started back when I was 16? Why weren't my friends and I into actually MAKING music, instead of just listening to it (and talking about it ad-nauseum)?
Turns out I didn't pick great teenage hobbies: soccer, which was lots of fun and had a high "coolness" factor but thanks to months at a time of twisted and taped ankles now my ankles sprain when even looking at uneven ground (which really sucks), and acting, which was tons of fun and exhilirating and taught me tons and I really enjoyed every minute of, but ever since I decided the actor/director's lifestyle wasn't one I wanted to pursue (I'm waaaaay too risk-averse), and after leaving Franklin Covey (where at one time I wanted to be the next Stephen-Covey style facilitator/presenter/life changer) to enter the world of business...well, let's just say there's not a lot of opportunity for me to use my middle English accent these days. Come to think about it, another hobby of mine was Japanese...and I don't get to use that much at all. Unless there's an unknown opportunity coming my way that involves playing soccer in Japan while starring in shakespear plays at night....I think it's time to pick new hobbies. Which brings me back full circle to the guitar...there were no less than 5 guitar "acts" at the ward talent show last month, and zero Sam Shepard monologues. Not that the end goal is to perform at the ward talent show...
Anyway, playing again was great. Gotta get to it more often. And get that Bb!
Friday, July 6, 2007
Learning Bb
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2 comments:
Sounds like they coulda used a Shakespearean monologue...
Are you doing Bb as a bar chord? Once you can do bar chords, my man, you have opened yourself up to 85% of the entire rock world. You want to talk about playing easy songs? How about you can play entire Jack Johnson songs with bar chords where you never change the shape of your hand--you just move up and down the frets. But you have to get through the guitar wall...er... or bar... of bar chords. It's a pain with a payoff.
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