having trouble with barre chords

Pappas · October 2007

hey guys, ive been playing almost 2 years now self taught, im decent at playing chords, power chords etc and i love playing lead

now i can change chords pretty good ie go from playing g to d to c etc with no hassle, but whenever i have to play a barre chord, i always take about a second to get the fingering right, ie F barre chord 1332. any hints or tips to help me be able to get my fingering in position quicker. im not used to it i guess as i always play power chords with only my first and third finger, so using the last finger on the third string is new to me as i normall fret second and third strings with the third finger.

also when you guys play barre chords do you fret all 6 strings wtih your first finger, or just the top one or 3?

i think its just a case of 'practise makes perfect' but thought id ask anyway

Anon · October 2007

Pappas wrote:

also when you guys play barre chords do you fret all 6 strings wtih your first finger, or just the top one or 3?

i think its just a case of 'practise makes perfect' but thought id ask anyway

no, frett all six strings with index finger. it does just take a lot of practice, and you just keep moving your finger around until you are cool with the tone. then it's just practice and getting your finger stronger and once you get it, you won't look back. hopefully someone can explain what i mean a little i better. i wish i could show you, you would get me then!

keeponrockin · October 2007

It's just practice.
I remember learning how to switch chords, It was a bitch!
Once it clicks, It just clicks though.

Pappas · October 2007

Pj_Gurl wrote:

no, frett all six strings with index finger. it does just take a lot of practice, and you just keep moving your finger around until you are cool with the tone. then it's just practice and getting your finger stronger and once you get it, you won't look back. hopefully someone can explain what i mean a little i better. i wish i could show you, you would get me then!

yeah i can usually get it, but only after i have to adjust my fingers and by then ive already played the chord once (to keep in time with what im playing), so the first 1 or 2 times i play the chord it sounds shite but the third time+ usually sounds fine

DOSW · October 2007

The key to good practicing in general is patience. If you don't have a metronome already, you should look into getting one... they're a great practice tool. Go through a bunch of barre chord progressions as slowly as it takes to get them right, even if that means taking as long as a few seconds between each chord. Just make sure that the timing is equal for each progression (this is where the metronome is a life-saver). Then, once your chord changes are perfect at the slowest necessary speed, you can gradually increase the speed of the metronome and perfect it at faster and faster speeds.

That's the ideal way to do it. I personally don't have the patience for it, and as a result my learning has been painfully slow. But what I said is how it SHOULD be done.

lucylespian · October 2007

Start playing chords like E, Am, Em with your 3rd, 4th and 5th fingers. Tihs gets those finger used to ffretting those positions while your index does the barre.
Practising the barre only by making a flat pincer between your thumb and index, while keeping your thumb centred on teh back of the neck is great ttraining as well.

ianvomsaal · October 2007

Bar chords are just a matter of repetition.
You’ll build calluses in areas of your fingers that you don't have calluses, and you'll develop a bit more finger strength from the repetition.
A good method is to hold chords for a certain length of time (like holding each chord for 25, 35, 45 seconds at a time).
Watch the clock and try this, but try to remember that the chord needs to sound good the entire time.
Maybe after 25 seconds the chord will start to hurt, but if you keep going back to it you’ll eventually be able to add more time.
By doing this your finger strength will increase and you'll develop the calluses in the middle of your fingers more.
Eventually the chord transitions will come easier, your fingers will be even stronger, and the chords will sound better.

- Ian

Pappas · October 2007

cheers guys some great advice here

as i was saying, changing between normal chords and/or power chords i can do fine, its just those damn barre chords that get me.

Mookie1976 · October 2007

Hi my friend,

you might wanna check out Justins "barre lessons on youtube". It helped me a lot! There are 4 parts of it on youtube.

Part1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpMhueVEz2g

Or check out his homepage, I really like it.

http://www.justinguitar.com

Cheers

Mookman

IGotShit76 · October 2007

Mookie1976 wrote:

Hi my friend,

you might wanna check out Justins "barre lessons on youtube". It helped me a lot! There are 4 parts of it on youtube.

Part1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpMhueVEz2g

Or check out his homepage, I really like it.

http://www.justinguitar.com

Cheers

Mookman

I started playing guitar 3 months ago and this is probably the coolest guitar lessons website I found.
He he ... and I'm currently trying to master my barre chords ... patience and practice are the two main ingredients.

Pappas · October 2007

cheers guys, that website is awesome!

having trouble with barre chords

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