Big Spike Hammer

A Jam Classic that Won't Wear Out Your Fretting Hand

In this lesson we play the chords for a verse of Big Spike Hammer, and, by doing so, introduce the minor chord. All we have to do to play a minor barre chord is move one finger! Just place your middle finger on the fret directly behind your ring finger for either shape, and be sure to lift the ring finger. Watch the video, and click on the chord bubble to see a diagram.

In Big Spike Hammer we are playing what's commonly referred to as the "6 minor", also known as the "Relative Minor". It's based of the 6th scale degree of the key your are playing, which in B is G#. Take note of it's positional relation ship to the 1 chord(the first scale degree of the key, which here is B. When using the Chord shape that bars the two lower strings, the 6 minor is 3 frets back. and when using the other shape it is 4 frets ahead.

The song ends in a strange place, there is an abrupt stop on beat 3 of the last measure. That's because 90% of jammers and performers put a stop here in the song. Right after the stop you hear "Hey, Hey,(Della Mae)" The Second Hey marks the first beat of the Chorus. Which holds the B chord almost the whole time, with a quick F# at the end.

Big Spike Hammer - Barre Chord Chop

Make sure to listen to tsongs you are studying, and play along with the recording if you can.