Quick Chord Question

Kinda curious about a certain chord. That is C/B which I play like this:

http://jguitar.com/images/chordshape/C-Major-B-x,2,2,0,1,0.png

I love this chord because it makes a great transition from C to Am. However, I want to play a song that requires the key to be a half-step down. So, here's the original progression:

C - C/B - Am - G - F

Transposed a half-step down:

B - B/A# - G#m - F# - E

Thing is, the B/A# sounds really odd and almost out of place. I can get away with just using a capo, but I'm confused as to why it sounds off from a different key.

C/B is just C major 7 with the 7th voiced as the lowest note or 'root' (although one might also call it Em+/B, chord names are so situational, ugh)...

anyway, check your intonation, it should be fine and typically issues like this are an intonation problem with your guitar... you can also do a check by using a different hand position and slightly different voicing to express the harmony further up the neck

B: X2444(2), Bmaj7/Bb: 6X444X or X1444X

playing it from this shape B also puts you into a great position to roll some licks off the Bmaj7 in the G#m pentatonic box....

if it sounds even weirder further up the neck then tis definitely intonation as the problem will get worse and worse further up the fretboard as the fretted notes go further sharp or flat

remember that any time you see a major 7 chord its worth a shot to try voicing it like this with the 7 on the root

EDIT

try making it 2 passing tones by putting the 3rd on the root with a suspended 2 and then doing the maj7 with a sus4 to get down to G#m:

B: X2444(2), B9/Eb, X6464X Bmaj7sus/Bb: 6X445X OR 6X4X00, G#m 466444 and maybe another passing tone like X054X0 between F# and E

you know you don't need to mute the D string in that chord as the E is in the chord....

Oops, sorry about that. I just found the diagram, I didn't notice the X on the E string.

The "X1444X" version actually makes more sense. A bit tricky to pull off with the index but manageable. I probably just used the wrong chord because the B/A# sounds terrible to begin with the chords I found online. I haven't checked intonation, but everything sounds fine (save the odd G string buzz and mute, which I'll investigate once I change strings).

This was very helpful. Thank you.

also, that G sucks there, the correct chord in this type of down progression is a minor 7 with the 7 on the root (surprise surprise) like in "The Weight" by the Band or Jackson Browne's "I've Been Out Walking" and abut a zillion other 60s and 70s tunes

so in C:

C - Cmaj7/B - Am - Am7/G - F [Fmaj7/A - Dm - G7 ad nauseum or the Paul McCartney version C - Cmaj7/B - Am - Am7/G - F - FM LOL]

I edit my response and made another one after I grabbed a spare tele for a sec.... gotta feed the boy now, ugh

I got one for ya Jimmy. What scale or progression or whatever is this. I need to know.

E----------------------0---2---4---5---7---9---11---12---14

B-----------0---2---4-------------------------------------

G---1---2-------------------------------------------------

if I am reading the TAB right and I am probably not its the E major scale beginning on the 3rd and being played in what might be the most difficult manner one could concoct to torture oneself for no apparent reason....

this would be easier, and more fluid and therefore more expressive:

D -6-7-9-------------------------------------

G ---------6-8-9-----------------------------

B ------------------7-9-10-------------------

E ---------------------------7-9-11-12-14-

utilizing traditional major scale fretting and incporporating one long stretch on the high E as in 2 and a half octave 'violin' scales followed by a slide that is best capped with a little tasteful vibrato, much smoother and easier... I can speed thru it like that, but as originally posted? not so much unless I play it really legato or let it be staccato and ignore musicality in favor of a lot of plain strings and a couple convenient open notes

you could also stick in 1 hand position and begin it on the A string in the 12th fret, but that's a pretty Clapton thing to do if you're intending this scale chunk to be a lick

A -11-12-14------------------------------------------------

D ------------11-13-14-------------------------------------

G -------------------------11-13-14------------------------

B ---------------------------------------12-14---------------

E--------------------------------------------------11-12-14-

if the major scale wasn't jumping out at you on the last inversion this one from the A string should be smacking you in the badangus right now!

You scared me at first by having the tab upside down, but it checks out as the same pattern :)

I am trying to write a few songs for Christmas for the church I play for and I started just hitting random patterns to a 130 bpm tempo and found that. I then discovered that a multitude of Christmas songs use these same notes.

So E Major... the Christmas Scale. I like it. Thanks Jimmy.

it was upside down? go figure... I can't really read tab.... I ahd tog et a guitar to do those.... I had the scale down as soon as I figured out what the first 4 notes were, from there other ivnersions are a snap, but transcribing them in TAB is quite a challenge for me and I need a guitar in hand and have to sit and count the frets because I am not a guy who counts, uses position markers or really looks down, I just know where I am

just generally major scales are X-mas

probably woulda annoyed Jesus though since the dude was middle eastern and therefore much more attuned to the harmonic minor scale

ANYONE ELSE GOT ANY THEORY QUESTIONS? I GOT THIS

I think after the whole crucifixion thing, playing a phrygian clarinet lick would get you a stern look.

ya think? I would assume he would be more pissy at my people over in Italy....

Why's that?

Romans? oppressing his people with high taxes and casual violence in the streets, nailing him to a couple hunks of wood... I could go on

I'm thinking Jesus isn't too keen on Opera

Pontious tried to avoid having to kill him though. It was the pharisees who ordered for his Crucifixion. I would think a normal man would hold a grudge against the people who were most adamant to have you killed.

DO NOT READ THIS RESPONSE IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED BY DIFFERING VIEWPOINTS:

I highly doubt Pilat actively avoided killing ANYONE. Pontius is Oscan, not Latin, making the man a Samnite, some of the meanest fuckers in Italy at the time. Before Jerusalem the guy served on the Rhine too. I can assure you that despite the gospels' assertions that the Procurator of Judea had a casual disregard for human life, especially non-citizen lives and that he wasn't losing any sleep over executing a troublemaker like JC. I wouldn't be surprised if in reality the guy delegated the hearing off to an underling and just rubber stamped the execution. In general the events as outlined by the Gospel writers fly in the face of everything we know about the Roman empire and constantly contradict the contemporary the writings of Josephus. I actually find it easier to swallow the miraculous bits than the blatant lack of historical grounding that makes it pretty obvious that the gospel writers were putting all this stuff down at a 2 or 3 hundred year remove and adding details from their own era. To further confuse things, each version has its own agenda. For instance the Pharisees you mention are a complete anachronism. They became a real force in Judaism well after the Herodian period.... if you found any of this to be interesting you can read more about it for yourself! None of this info really reflects on faith, it just casts the new testament in a different light whether you believe in the theological side of the story or not.

Interesting. I'll definitely do some reading this week.

I would bet it went down vaguely like this:

Pilat - who the hell caused that big ruckus at the temple today? I want a nice, quiet Passover this year so I can send a good report back to Tiberius and hopefully get promoted out of this shit hole and get a choice gig like governing Spain or Gaul!

Priests - Jesus of Nazareth, another crazy Galilean holy man, sir. Hes a big pain in the ass and he's religiously unclean too, always hanging out with hookers and lepers. One of his followers is a zealot rebel too. Saul over there even heard him say he was king of the jews and that in his kingdom the meek will inherit the earth.

Pilat - The meek? What a crazy idea. Well there aren't anymore kings in Judea and there aren't going to be unless Tiberius picks one of you for the job, so you better get him out of the city or bring him to me for some Roman justice. If there's any more trouble this weekend I'm going to fine all of you a talent and get some new priests who can keep the peace! Wait, you said he's from Galilee? I think that means he's in the Tetrarch's jurisdiction. I can't go stepping on Herod's toes, he might write a letter to the senate and he's got a lot more frinds than me back in Rome. Herod's in town for the Holiday, round him up and give him to Herod's people ASAP... can't you offer a reward or something? What about 30 Sesterces? That'll buy a lot of unleavened bread!