Quote:
Originally Posted by personatech
Whenever I play a barre chord, my index finger always seems to mute the B string. I really have to press down my finger, almost uncomfortably so, for the B to ring out as it should.
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I find I need to have the B and E both held down by the bony underside of the index finger joint.
When the finger is curled, there's a natural fold of skin there, so you need to straighten the finger right out - bend it up the other way if you can. You'll then feel that the underside of the joint is hard, while the skin between the joints is softer.
Place the joint over the B and E, and pinch with thumb on the back of the neck - pinching thumb pad against that first joint. The rest of the index can be bending up away from the strings, to make sure you're pinching that joint down on to the B and E. (The knuckle should be a right angle, and the index dead straight, perhaps curved slightly upward.)
In fact, focus on just getting the B, as that's the one you have trouble with. Position the index across the string to get that bony part of the finger on to the B. If the B is working the E almost certainly will be too.
Once those top 2 strings are clean, you can then fold the index tip down to grab the 6th. In the "E"-form barre, the index needn't press the ADG strings down as firmly. However, for the "Em" form, you will need the G working too, and that may mean moving the index further across the neck.