what does E/B means?

[fluffytimes]

hello

i've seen this E/B on some guitar tabs and i was wondering what do they mean.

any idea?

 

[carboxymoron]

If it's talking about chords then it means an E major chord played over a low B note. For example here is your usual E major, followed by two possible ways of playing an E/B:

e|----0------0------7----|
B|----0------0------9----|
G|----1------4------9----|
D|----2------6------9----|
A|----2------7------7----|
E|----0------7------7----|

This is called a chord inversion, specifically 2nd inversion of the E major chord. A 1st inversion would be E/G#.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inversion_(music)

 

[yehosaphat]

Since we are on this, how do we play E/G#? Is there other ways of playing this besides playing the regular E chord and stretching your pinkie to reach the G# note on the low E string?

 

[carboxymoron]

Like you said, the "obvious" way is to just add a G# at the bottom of the normal E major chord, but that is not very easy or comfortable to play. We can move the middle G# up to a B instead:

e|----0------0------0----|
B|----0------0------0----|
G|----1------4------4----|
D|----2------2------2----|
A|----2------2------x----|
E|----4------4------4----|

I would play this (2nd chord shown) by using my ring finger on the low E string, index finger to barre the 2nd fret, and pinky on the G string. Sometimes I'm lazy and will simply mute the A string, using the same fingering (ring, index, then pinky).

Other common ways to play E/G#, one open and one barred:

e|----0------4------|
B|----0------5------|
G|----x------4------|
D|----6------6------|
A|----7------7------|
E|----4------4------|

The first one is easy to play and very useful as it lets you slide your index finger up one fret to an A, you'll find the progression used in some songs.
The second one is basically your C chord, barred and brought up 4 frets. If you need a high G# to sound out as opposed to always leaving the bottom two strings open then this can be useful.

 

[Jumpin'Jellybean]

Since we are on this, how do we play E/G#? Is there other ways of playing this besides playing the regular E chord and stretching your pinkie to reach the G# note on the low E string?

Depends, you plucking or strumming? If yer plucking, move the D/F# up 2 frets. Voila.

 

[simplecomplexity]

e|----0------0------0----|
B|----0------0------0----|
G|----1------4------4----|
D|----2------2------2----|
A|----2------2------x----|
E|----4------4------4----|

i play it the second way too.. helps in the translation...

 

[lemonade93]

Oh? I play an E5, Index finger put on the B on the first string and mute the A string , Voila a very nice E/B