Trouble with Bar Chords - Advice Please

[budglo]

Be sure your guitar is set up properly.The further away your strings are from the fretboard , the harder barre chords will be. It takes some practice to get them right.

[wcap]

Lots of good suggestions here.

In some of the other threads (mentioned above) on barre chords there are folks who say they could play them pretty much immediately. Maybe so, but personally I find it hard to believe that most people would be able to play barre chords smoothly and with agility anywhere close to immediately. This was not my experience anyway.

I found barre chords very difficult at first, but I just kept plugging away at them, not practicing the chords themselves excessively, but I just started trying to use them in things I was playing. It took me at least a year - probably more like two or three years - to really have this start to work well (or sort of well). I'm fairly comfortable with barre chords (some of them anyway) now, though I doubt I will ever find them as easy as, say, open chords like D, C, G, E minor, etc.

Barre chords are really worth the effort though - they open up some very useful possibilities. I can now play more or less any chord I encounter (as long as it is not too exotic, and as long as I understand how to construct the chord...). For example, encountering chords like C sharp minor, F sharp minor, G minor 7, E flat, or A flat used to stop me in my tracks, but as barre chords these are no problem at all now. I still run into plenty of challenges in my guitar playing, but recently my wife (who I play music with) said (in a situation where I was puzzled by something) - "but you can play pretty much any chord now, can't you?"

[steamfurnace]

Originally Posted by budglo

Be sure your guitar is set up properly.The further away your strings are from the fretboard , the harder barre chords will be. It takes some practice to get them right.

+1. For nearly twenty years I thought I couldn't play barre chords. I found out after I bought my first decent electric; a Fender American strat, that my problem was high action on my inexpensive acoustic and the Kay electric I started with. I don't have too much trouble on either my acoustics or electrics now, if they are properly set up.

[emj]

There really is no set answer other than just keep doing them..play songs that have them in them and evetuallly your hands will and mind will get them..practice making the shape and lift it up and down on the strings this helps muscle memory..no simple answer other than just keep doing them and it will come

[Fatfingerjohn]

Originally Posted by Landru

I've been playing for 50 years. Had trouble with barre chords as a beginner, intermediate and advanced student. I've had trouble during my professional years, and as of this writing I don't much like to play barre chords.

Do what you can, don't barre when you don't have to, figure out alternate fingering for barre chords, etc. Best of fortune to you - Landru.

This is me as well. Don't give up until you've really given it your best as I really regret not being able to do them. My fingers/joints just won't do them cleanly; just about get by when strumming but not fingerpick. I can't reach round with my thumb very well either to hold the 6th string. But beauty of fingerstyle is that the workrounds are better, not having to hold every string down in many instances.

Good luck; hope you get there with loads of practice and perseverance. If not its not the end of the world!

FFJ

[Dazzlebrush]

Hi there,

I had trouble with bar chords for a long time, i just couldnt get it. then i decided that every morning before work i would practice a F Barr chord for a couple of minutes and before i knew it i could play them.

I thought I would never get there but its possible if you practice and then its not so hard

Best of luck with it.

[peteathome]

Timely advice! I am also struggling with them. Thanks for all the pointers.

[Athana]

Point head stock towards your face.Look down neck towards body..does neck look bowed or nearly straight?
(Focus on the part of the neck before it over laps the body)

If its bowed, take it to a guy and ask can you please adjust truss rod.
He should do it right on the spot and not make a big deal out of it(if he does you know who to avoid in the future)

Use regular light guage strings which are usually .012-.052 or 053....

With high action(strings) and bowed neck you will never feel comfortable playng bar chords.
I play rock..and been playing since 1975 ish.
When I go into a store and play bar chords on a new Martin for example..
there is no way it is remotely comfortable.
good luck