Iāve been tasked to play a song for a childrenās class with a tricky chord progression (and was requested to play in this particular keyā¦ I think itās Eb major?)
Itās in 4/4 time.
Verse goes Bb-Eb-F-Bb
Chorus goes Cm-F-Dm-G, then Cm-F-Bb
Any tips for practicing the chord progressions, in terms of making the changes faster + not straining my fingers too much? Any finger exercises to recommend to prep my fingers for the chord changes?
FYI: for Eb, I find Iām most comfortable playing it this way although itās still a stretch. & I often tend to accidentally strum the open 5th string which clashes >.<
Hi @amandalyt , it seems to me this is in the key of Bb. One approach would be to play it in the key of A (i.e. 1/2 tone lower) and capo on the 1st fret to bring it to the requested key. Hereās how the chords would go:
Bb ā A
Eb ā D
F ā E
Cm ā Bm
Dm ā C#m
G ā F#
These chord shapes in A are more familiar and easier to play.
If you put a capo on the 6th fret you can use this chords to play it in the same keyā¦but the advantage is only you have 3 barre chords instead of 4! But you can avoid that tricky Eb.
The transposed chords are:
Bb = E
Eb = A
F = Bb
Cm = Fm
Dm = Gm
G = C
To make your life way easier you can ask to play it in the key of A as already suggested or move it up only one tone and play these chords:
As @jjw1 says, the song is in the key of Bb
If you are uncomfortable with barre chords, it might be easiest to play it in the key of C as @silvia suggests. (You can play a mini-F and country G for minimal finger movement)
Verse C F G C
Chorus Dm G Em A, Dm G C (not F#m I think)
You could try tuning your guitar down by a full tone to play along with the original?
Oh, yeah, take everything I suggest with a pinch of salt
not sure if my fingers can manage barring at 6th fret but thanks for the suggestion !
I did ask if we could move the song to C major, but the pianist couldnāt transpose, she was more comfy following the sheet music which was already in a different keyā¦ so I had to transpose myself >.<
No, I would have thought the other way
D G C F A D
You are playing the key of C which is a tone higher, so you have to tune your guitar down to compensate.
Having said that, I usually turn my clocks the wrong way twice a year
@brianlarsen Brian is correct Amanda. When people refer to tuning down they refer to lowering the pitch by reducing string tension. So the thickest string that in standard tuning is E gets tuned down to a lower note, sometimes Eb (a semi tone) or D (a full tone). Tuning the thickest string to F would be tuning up by a semi-tone tone to a higher pitch.
Also note in your question that it is a semi-tone up from E to F and a whole tone from A to B. So to be consistent youād tune the E to F#.
A neat trick to remember is that if you tune down you reduce tension on the strings which can make learning barre chords easier. If you tune down a semi-tone then to play the usual F full barre chord youād place a capo on the first fret.
It might be worth have a try as you actually have to press less with index up there and you might find it easier, pressing on the 1rst fret for a regular F and Bb is quite hard.
Tuning your guitar down as @brianlarsen and @DavidP have suggested seems a great trick as well I never tried that.
