The chords of b minor and d minor

You’ll often find that some very important chords are all too often left out of learning how to play acoustic guitar simply because they are considered ‘hard’ or inconvenient . However, it’s impossible to have a complete song playing system without them and in some ways it’s a little irresponsible to neglect important chords such as B minor or D minor, both of which are well within reach of a beginners level program. There will be many times when you’ll want to play a song only to find that you require a B minor to do it for example, so it’s vital that you start getting used to the shapes of Bm and Dm from an early stage in your lessons.

Unlike other ‘easy guitar methods’ Guitar in a Nutshell does not try to cheat or fool you, you’ll get a complete song playing system with no gaps or things to frustrate you later on when your trying to learn songs. We view our system as a completed circle, you won’t find any dead ends that leave you stranded and not knowing what to do when learning songs, the method is a responsible one which will equip you with a finished song playing system rather than one which ‘skipped’ over any hard stuff just to call itself easy. Whenever there are any challenging parts Guitar in a Nutshell will provide you with solutions to get around it.

Learning how to play acoustic guitar is an enjoyable journey but you must dedicate yourself and some practice time to accomplish it. It’s true that the chord shapes of B minor and D minor can take more time to get comfortable with but if you neglect them you won’t have a complete song playing system. You’ll be forever limited by that fact and consistently find that you cannot perform songs you’d like to do because those chords are present. In the key of G, a B minor chord is chord number III while a Dm is chord number II in the key of C. In order for us to be able to have a complete circle in our keys and the freedom to follow a cycle of fifths or perform many common song cadences those chords must be mastered.

Whenever you come across a chord shape which seems difficult the same approach can always be applied. Firstly you need to be patient and realise that it could take a month or more to get the chord shape down depending upon its level of difficulty. The great thing when learning how to play acoustic guitar however is that once it’s down, it’s there forever and you won’t have to learn it again. You’ll no longer be frustrated by its presence and can take a very big step forward. Start to devote a little bit of practice to the chord each day - just 5 minutes of concentrated practice will do. Then forget about it. Gradually as the days pass you’ll find that you’ll become ever more comfortable with the shape and can begin to drill it more confidently with drum tracks. You know, success with guitar lessons is all about consistency.

It’s best not to try to introduce strums at this point, simply practice getting to the new chord from a variety of others with single strums and in time with a drum track or metronome. You might begin for example to go from G to D minor for 60 seconds, then switch and attack Dm from an Am instead. The way to focus in on mastering a D minor shape would be to include it in every progression you devise, whether it be of 2, 3 or 4 chords - keep attacking the chord from every other one you can think of. Learning how to play acoustic guitar well is done in this way with a positive attitude along with targeted practice routines!

Continue onto Acoustic Guitar Lessons: Strum No.3