Amazingly Frustrated

[5th Element]

As Barry noted, a half-hour isn't much more than warm-up time. When I practice that little, I go backwards.

[TBman]

The key to barre chords....

Start on the 4th fret G#M

G#M 466444 - strum 4 times vigorously. Then
C#M x46654 - strum 4 times vigorously. Then

move the G#M form down to the 3rd fret to play GM - strum 4 times vigorously. Then
the C#M to the 3rd fret, becoming Cminor again strum 4 times, then repeat down to the 2nd fret and then repeat to the 1st and move up the neck back to the 4th fret a fret at a time. 4 beats steady per form. Your hand may cramp. If it doesn't do it more. You are looking for clean tone, that's why you have to strum hard to find the weakness. Squeeze a little harder or shift the index to get rid of any buzzing.

You can make other exercises using the F chord form as well.

[vindibona1]

I didn't have the time to read all the replies. But perhaps I can offer one more thought...

Often the radius and width of the fingerboard are the biggest foes of the hands. Just relax your left hand and look at it. Are your fingers straight, or do they curve a little bit? Of course they do. The one thing that can really help with those pesky bar chords is rolling the fingerboard edges. I suggest you let your local luthier/technician look at your guitar to see if it is a viable solution. While I haven't done that on my acoustics, I've done it on almost all of my electrics. It makes a huge difference because it allows your index finger to drape across the fingerboard more naturally.

What a rolled edge does is imitate a narrower fingerboard without changing the string spacing. I have no problems barring any chord any where, but I sure like not having to exert as much effort to do so. Check it out.

[dmckean44]

Originally Posted by vindibona1

I didn't have the time to read all the replies. But perhaps I can offer one more thought...

Often the radius and width of the fingerboard are the biggest foes of the hands. Just relax your left hand and look at it. Are your fingers straight, or do they curve a little bit? Of course they do. The one thing that can really help with those pesky bar chords is rolling the fingerboard edges. I suggest you let your local luthier/technician look at your guitar to see if it is a viable solution. While I haven't done that on my acoustics, I've done it on almost all of my electrics. It makes a huge difference because it allows your index finger to drape across the fingerboard more naturally.

What a rolled edge does is imitate a narrower fingerboard without changing the string spacing. I have no problems barring any chord any where, but I sure like not having to exert as much effort to do so. Check it out.

I've often wondered why electric guitars have a 9.5" and even 7.5" fingerboard radius when bending notes is common and acoustic guitars mostly have a 14" and higher radius. It never made much sense to me.

[Guitars+gems]

You might like this book, Guitar Zero: The Science of Becoming Musical at Any Age, by Gary Marcus.

The author is a cognitive psychologist who always wanted to play guitar but was so bad, even in the video game, Guitar Hero, that he would be booed off the stage by the virtual audience. Couldn't get past the opening song, Slow Ride. He describes his struggles and his efforts and (spoiler alert) now he plays!

https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asi..._FTcYzb3PE4HE5

[earri]

Remember with bar chords you don't actually have to barre all 6 strings, just the ones not being played by your other fingers. Imagine only barring the low and high e in your practice. Also use the side of your finger (that side facing the thumb) more instead of the flat fleshy part AMAP. Applying these two techniques will allow you to barre with your index finder in a sort of shallow "C" shape. This will require less pressure to resonate the chord.

Justin Sandercore explains it well here: https://youtu.be/MpMhueVEz2g

[srick]

I have been playing for eleven years, starting at age 53. For the longest time, I felt like I was going nowhere fast. In actuality, I was just progressing very slowly. Over the last two years, I have accelerated rapidly. How did that happen?

1) I really started to listen to the material and my playing. This included recording myself.
2) I have done several open mics. Playing to an audience is a great motivator not to suck
3) one of my teachers quickly pointed out that I was severely rhythm deficient and I have been working on that.

Our perceived suckiness may boil own to this: there many, many skills that need to be mastered to make a song presentable. Over time, you build up a numbet of skills. It's sort of like filling up a bucket... Sooner or later it spills over. And, since we are not content to merely play "Twinkle, Twinkle" or "Red River Valley", it takes a lot longer to get to competency.

Keep hacking away at it and eventually it will come.

Best,

Rick

[lowrider]

If you really want to get to get better, you have to practice more. A half hour, five days a week isn't going to get you better. First, you should be practicing the F and Bm barr chords every day even if it's only for a few minutes. I know that you'v tried everything but here's another good one for you; uses your strumming elbow to pull the guitar toward you. This will put pressure outward on the fretting hand. It really helps.

Stop getting frustrated. Learn to relax and enjoy your small victories.

You've got to find more time to practice,1/2 hour 5 days a week is 2 1/2 hours a week. I practice more than 2 hours every day and my warm up is usually over an half hour.

I struggle with some things but I keep working and I celebrate my victories. You've got to find more time to practice and learn to enjoy the things you are doing right.

Good luck, you can do this but it takes a lot of work.

[mercy]

You started playing cause you like the guitar. Get back there and play cause you want to not cause you have to improve. Ive been playing for a long time so I know, I want you to understand that you will not be good then all of a sudden you will be. Its sort of a logarithmic curve. Come back and tell us how youre doing. It helps to get a pat on the back. This is a community, we'd like to encourage you.

[WonderMonkey]

Originally Posted by SpruceTop

From now on, save your money and skip the in-person lessons but do go on YouTube and seek out the guitar music you like that is played by the many guitar players out there. Listen to what they're doing and look at how they're playing it and I'm sure you'll progress faster than you are now. You can always go back to taking lessons or not ...

P.S. As for barre chords, try using the thumb-fretting method of forming the F-shape barre chord. Although it's not the "correct" way of doing it, it will come naturally and ease your playing efforts once you get comfortable with it! The correct way of fretting a barre chord with the index finger was what we all learned after seeing The Beatles on Ed Sullivan and is what we did to impress our friends.

I use the youtube's as well. Maybe I should just play 3-chord versions of songs and not worry about anything else for a while? Possibly something about "learning guitar" is killing me?

Thanks for the response.

[islandguitar]

Lots of good advice here.
Yes, my take...practice more (among many other suggestions). BUT, if possible, try to spread that additional practice time out over a day. some in the a.m., more in the p.m. for example. Short bursts spread over more time per day can be a key to seeing improvement as it's a different way to achieve that muscle memory with the more difficult chords.

[AsianGuy]

First, make sure the guitar is properly set up. It makes a world of difference.

Second, don't compare yourself to others' learning pace. It's only going to make you more anxious and thereby slowing down progress.

Third, don't short cut yourself when learning barre chords, learn it right the first time, struggle, but master and only use the proper form. It's much harder to unlearn bad habits.

Fourth, related to the former, physiologically, it will take the nervous system and ligament (muscle of the fingers) system a few months to train, build, and adapt to what your asking your fingers to do. There was no evolutionary benefit in the action we are asking them to do for barre chords...therefore, it won't feel natural. Expect barre chords to sound horrid for the first 3 months. For me, it sounded bad for 6+ months.

[WonderMonkey]

Originally Posted by Wengr

Need more specific info. Is the guitar set up properly? Do you feel that physical problems are the reason? What do you feel is the reason?
Lack of understanding something, physical issues, or something else? Btw, I'm an instructor and I'm frustrated these days myself.

The guitar(s) are set up well, I think. The limitation is between my ears, for sure. When learning something that does not come naturally to me, I tend to complicate it, and generally, things do come more easily than this.

I think a bunch of this frustration started when I began this basement jam thing. Nobody in the group is going to go get signed anywhere, but I would like to at least sound like I'm playing along somehow, in whatever capacity.

[vindibona1]

Originally Posted by dmckean44

I've often wondered why electric guitars have a 9.5" and even 7.5" fingerboard radius when bending notes is common and acoustic guitars mostly have a 14" and higher radius. It never made much sense to me.

Me neither. Middle of the fingerboard on my Taylor requires lots of extra effort when barring. Not so much on my Martin with narrower nut, but still way harder than on electric.

One more thought for the OP. Put your guitar on a stand or hang it on a wall so its handy. Make it a point to play throughout the day. The repetition will create improvement more efficiently than just logging time.

[WonderMonkey]

Originally Posted by L20A

You can avoid a lot of bar chords if you don't like them.
With the use of a capo you can often find a different key to use that doesn't require a bar chord.
Some bar chords offer a simpler chord that is easier to play.
The F chord and Bm chords come to mind.

Another thing to try.
Play other guitars to see if they are easier to make bar chords on. If you find this to be the case, you may need to have your guitar set up.
A good set up and the right strings will go a long way to make bar chords easier to play.

I certainly don't like them, but I'd like to progress along some trail as a player. I know some people avoid the barre's but shouldn't even a fair campfire guitar player know how to play them?

I'm not expecting myself to be tremendous for sure, so "OK" is good enough and then I'll go from there.

As for the barre's, it's mostly the fingering. I've learned other chords before, obviously, but my fingers continue to feel .... stupid .... I suppose is the only word I can come up with.

I did happen to get my main guitar checked recently, and my #2 guitar players easier than it for barre's. My #3 guitar is a log with strings, so I don't worry about that one. Good suggestion though.