Been trying for 30 years and still can't barre chords. My son thinks I'm daffy, but my left hand simply won't cooperate. If I lay my index finger across the strings, my other fingers deform into a twisted claw-like thing and won't press squarely down on the notes. I thought of open-tuning and trying Richie's long-thumb over technique, but my goodness, my thumb is no where as big.
And when I thumb over I can only cleanly play the three bass strings (it's either the trebles or the bass, not both), but after all these years I've learned how to work this into my songs.
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I have large hands and a long thumb so you'd think it would be easy for me. It's not. At least it wasn't easy until I found the reason. If the low E string is too far from the edge of the fretboard I just can't do it, but if it's close enough to the edge I can do it nicely. I experimented with it by breaking the nut free (with the strings loose) and sliding it over a 32nd of an inch at a time until everything felt right. At that point you can take it to a tech and show them what you need and have them make a new nut for you.
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Norman Blake (among others) had this problem and solved it by filing a new nut slot closer to the edge, as well as saddle slots at the other end to keep the strings properly aligned along the fretboard. Problem solved.
