Barre chords

[Myvalk]

Is it just me or are barer chords hard to form? I have normal sized hands but have a very hard time forming them lots of buzing

[Wyllys]

Practice. The first 20 years are the hard part...

[MC5C]

Good set up at the nut, lower the action a bit, go down a gauge or two on string sets, and keep at it. Play quietly at first, don't try to strum real hard. It's just experience.

[WonderMonkey]

Edited to include A-Mac's very valid thoughts on my below post.

Originally Posted by A-Mac

Don't let the F chord be your introduction to barring the E form. Practice barring it at the third fret for G and the fifth fret for A. First fret barres are difficult because of it's proximity to the nut which can lead to buzzing strings and frustration. Once you feel confident with the G and the A, revisit the barred first fret F. Until then, go with the partial.

It's an issue that many have had. I went down this trail when working on the barre F. Below is the link if you want to read the responses.

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=444198

Don't let the F chord be your introduction to barring the E form. Practice barring it at the third fret for G and the fifth fret for A. First fret barres are difficult because of it's proximity to the nut which can lead to buzzing strings and frustration. Once you feel confident with the G and the A, revisit the barred first fret F. Until then, go with the partial.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by Myvalk

Is it just me or are barer chords hard to form? I have normal sized hands but have a very hard time forming them lots of buzing

Type in the word "barre" as a title word in the "Play" part of forum's search function.

[WonderMonkey]

Originally Posted by A-Mac

Don't let the F chord be your introduction to barring the E form. Practice barring it at the third fret for G and the fifth fret for A. First fret barres are difficult because of it's proximity to the nut which can lead to buzzing strings and frustration. Once you feel confident with the G and the A, revisit the barred first fret F. Until then, go with the partial.

True. I should probably remove my link so it doesn't deter anybody.

[Myvalk]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Type in the word "barre" as a title word in the "Play" part of forum's search function:
voilá! http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...archid=6444550

WoW!! IT'S not just me And my wife said I was special. I guess not lol.

[amyFB]

Originally Posted by A-Mac

Don't let the F chord be your introduction to barring the E form. Practice barring it at the third fret for G and the fifth fret for A. First fret barres are difficult because of it's proximity to the nut which can lead to buzzing strings and frustration. Once you feel confident with the G and the A, revisit the barred first fret F. Until then, go with the partial.

^^^^ exactly the way I did it.

[jseth]

Lots of aspects to "helping" with barre chords, but, in the end, the answer is "Yes, they are hard to form and play cleanly"...

Practise making the shape of the root chord (like the E major chord) without using your index finger (the one with which you will form the barre)... get comfortable doing that in open position; practice so you can form the chord easily with just those other fingers...

Then when you want that chord barred, just use that index finger as the "new nut"...

Much easier to form barre chords as you move up the fretboard, too.

Bear in mind that rarely, if ever, will you want EVERY note to ring out from that barre chord, so don't make yourself crazy trying to "get it perfect"!

Just keep after it... play them until you get frustrated, then play some other chords... then go back to it later... the more you do it, the easier it gets...

Honestly? After nearly 60 years of playing, I don't LIKE playing barre chords and will invent new chord forms to avoid them if the song still sounds good to me without them!
They are, however, a necessary part of playing the guitar for most, if not all, accomplished players.

[LouieAtienza]

Here are some tips that helped me... but before that, ensure your guitar is set up well so you have the best chance possible. There are many factors that affect playability such as nut and bridge height and relief (which most necks need to play as low as possible); but scale length, top compliance, and other factors as well can influence string tension. Try putting the capo on the first fret, then play a barre chord on the second or third fret. If you find it easier, you probably need a setup.

I played many a guitar at the Woodstock festival, and marveled at how easy some of these guitars played, only to have the builder inform me the guitar was strung with 12s or 13s.

That said here are some things that helped me (having shorter fingers):

• I rotate my hand slightly so the edge of the index finger closest the thumb is pressing the strings
• I fret the barre as close to the fret as possible (this is a good tip for all fingers.) If you barre at the middle of the fret it will take more effort to keep the strings on the fret, and if you have fleshy hands you'll need even more pressure to overcome the strings digging in.
• I try to keep my thumb more toward the center of the neck.
• I also have my thumb a little closer to the guitar body than the index finger. In this way when I rotate my hand, the thumb acts as a fulcrum in pressing theedge of the index finger down.
• I don't feel like I'm using a lot of hand strength to play a barre, and I'd err on the lightest pressure that gets the job done rather than masing the finger down.
• I find it easier to have either the waist of the guitar on my LEFT lap, with the neck pointed up a little, like a classical player. It facilitates the hand rotation and I feel gives more "leverage" to the fingers.

This may not be for everyone but it did help me when I started out.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Myvalk

Is it just me or are barer chords hard to form? I have normal sized hands but have a very hard time forming them lots of buzing

You got a lot of good advice here. If you just put on new strings and don't want to change them down to a lower gauge right away, get a capo and throw it on the 2nd or 3rd fret and practice the barre's with it on. It takes time though, but that's part of playing. Welcome to the club!

[g4vrr57]

Agreed. Lots of sound advice here. (ouch)
I started off with classical tuition in 1971 and there is a reason why those players use a foot stool, set their fretting hand thumb in the middle of the neck and seat the waist of the instrument's body on the fretting-hand side leg (does that make sense?)
Barré fairly close to the fret but not too close.
Start practising up the neck and forget chords for now. When you can barré six strings move down the neck towards the nut.
When you have got that nailed introduce an easy chord over the barré such as standard tuning E minor, again higher up the neck and work down towards the nut.
Get more ambitious with chord shapes you use.
Begin to realise that fretting a chord over a barré actually helps because it reduces the pressure needed to avoid buzzing behind the chosen fretted chord shape.
Start to curve the barré a bit to reduce effort in the barréd finger. This means curling the barré finger round to use the harder side profile of your finger as opposed to the fleshier pad side.
Become initiated into the inner circle of barré chord players!
In other words, walk before you run.
Now you can start to fling off the shackles of foot stools and regimented patterns of holding the instrument if you ever followed that mantra, like I did as soon as possible!
They couldn't beat using the picking hand little finger (pinky- ugh...) as a pit prop out of me though!
Sure it's hard. It was hard on your fretting finger tips at first too if you think about it.
One thing; I know it's subjective but I would make a plea not to use fretting hand thumb over the top. It may well work for many peeps, but it definitely will end up restricting what you can achieve as you improve. If you set your objectives fairly low ball (no problem with that) then go ahead and fill your boots with a fretting hand thumb barré, but otherwise stick with getting good habits under your belt. It's open season with a strapped on solid body though!
$0.02 of course...

e&oe...

[Myvalk]

So very much good advice. Thank you all so much. Too many responses to thank everybody individually, so please take this as a United thank you.

[MC5C]

I mostly try to play in a jazz style, and very rarely play a straight major barre chord. But that shape is key to many other chords and variations, and having it fall under your fingers mindlessly is key to putting the bass note below a lot of chord melody work. I rarely play more than four notes in any chord. An awful lot of learning the guitar (like the basic E and A shape barre chords) is a stepping stone to other things. You learn them, and you use them as stepping stones to other techniques.