Those pesky barre chords

[Banter Shack]

Hey folks,

I recently enrolled in a music school where I live as I feel some professional assistance will be of huge benefit. My tutor is pushing me to practice barre chords so I am trying to dedicate an hour a day exclusively to this aspect of guitaring. My question is: How long did it take you to master barre chords, or at least the A and E-shaped ones? Do you have any tips that most of the guitar Youtubers haven't mentioned?

Cheers!

[rick-slo]

Don't think I ever had a problem with that with a properly set up guitar (action height). Would I practice one hour straight on barre chords? Probably not as fatigue can set in. Have your teacher play your guitar for a bit for an opinion on how well it is set up.

[cliff_the_stiff]

My challenges have been changing into and out of barre shapes.
I particularly struggled with B min barre to G cowboy or D cowboy to Bmin barre…
So I practice with my changes by learning song that use them a lot.
Weary Kind by T-Bone Burnett, Redbud tree and sailing to philadelphia by Mark Knopfler, Least Complicated by the Indigo Girls are good examples of songs changing in and out of those shapes.
If getting the timing is hard, I start with placing the power chord R/5th/Octave
and arpeggiate the first notes to buy me time to place my forefinger to properly voice the upper notes.

[MC5C]

Your teacher may have a different opinion, but I think that barre chords are a step in learning that you can quickly get past. Take "A" shape barre chords. Five strings is all you need, the middle four are fine, the fifth on the first string is not critical to anything. If you decide that's OK, then it quickly stops being a "barre" chord and you just use your first finger on the root on the fifth string, that's all, your other fingers play the other notes (Am, Am7, A7).

E shape barre chords are similar, you can get away with root on the sixth string played with your first finger, but it's better to learn the full chord, and not really all that hard. D shape chords with the root on the fourth string (first finger) are good also. I often play G shape chords on the top four strings, but they are just a different way of thinking about A shape chords but with the root on the top string instead of the fifth string. G shape chords, you got your Maj, Maj7, dominant 7 and your maj 6 chords all by changing the fret on the high E string.

Heathen's often play E shape "barre" chords with the thumb on the low E string, I don't but a heck of a lot of really good players do. Tip - playing an E -shape G barre chord at the third fret is often a heck of a lot easier to get clean sounding than the F at the first fret. Practice the G chord, getting to it, transitionin from it, and the F chord will get easier too.

Edit - for the Bm chord, make it really easy by playing an Am shape without using your first finger, just second, third and fourth finger. First finger just waggles free and doesn't do anything. Focus on playing the middle four strings clean. When you can get to that shape and play the notes cleanly, just slide it down two frets and use your first finger to play the low B on the fifth string, and mute (or don't play) the high and low E strings. Just play the middle four strings. Perfectly fine Bm chord right there.

[Aspiring]

I had to revisit my Barre chord technique after I decided to work through Spanish Romance.

Even though I had been playing E A a shapes pretty regularly I realized that I had issues with some of the notes that were behind the supporting fingers in those shapes on my Barre finger.

I looked through a lot of advice and really worked on my overall guitar position, angle and thumb position etc

The other one that helped me was finding the tip on using the right forearm to lever the guitar into the fret hand

Another was on really getting my index finger straight and slightly rolled into the side.

[rmp]

Originally Posted by Aspiring

Another was on really getting my index finger straight and slightly rolled into the side.

^--- This!

[Jamolay]

As a beginner learning barre cords (with some significant knowledge of body mechanics and overuse injuries) I would be very cautious of practicing for an full hour of barre cords right away. Work up to it or you will end up with a forced vacation from guitar playing.

[jseth]

Good stuff in these replies, for sure...

I learned barre chords when all I had was a cheap nylon string guitar; in hindsight, I realize how much easier that made the whole process! The idea of using the outside edge of the forefinger more is a really good tip. Because I have smallish hands and fingers, I frequently make the "A shape" barre with my little finger... I can do it with my ring finger, but a lot of times (especially down near the nut) it's far more comfortable to use my pinky for the 3 parallel strings.

Recently, I've had to "relearn" how to play the guitar, due to some serious physical setbacks... getting barre chords anywhere was problematic, at first, let alone playing them cleanly! Over on the TGP, I watched a fellow's video about barre chords, and he talked about the motion of fretting the chords being more of a "pulling" of the hand and arm towards the shoulder than it was a "pushing down" of the strings on the fretboard.

BIG lightbulb going off! Of COURSE! I learned this many years a go, and it became so automatic that I never even thought about again... cultivating that motion has helped me considerably in current rehabilitation with guitar playing...

More than anything, just in the doing of it, you will become fluent and it will become automatic before long...

[Aspiring]

Originally Posted by Jamolay

As a beginner learning barre cords (with some significant knowledge of body mechanics and overuse injuries) I would be very cautious of practicing for an full hour of barre cords right away. Work up to it or you will end up with a forced vacation from guitar playing.

Yeah good point. When I was doing my relearning I picked up some new calouses and learned the hard way the value of doing some stretching of my fretting hand before after and during practice.

[Gordon Currie]

Like jseth, I learned barre technique on a nylon string guitar.

It was my second guitar. My first was so cheap and unplayable that I stopped playing for over two years.

I think barre chords are a significant obstacle for most people, but once you get the muscle tone and placement correct, it should stay with you for life.

Funny thing, though - I seldom use barre chords anymore in actual playing.

However, barre technique introduces us to fretting finger independence - which is an unbelievably potent concept.

As far as tips or time to mastery, I mastered them in the early Seventies, and I honestly can't remember. What I DO remember is a lot of hand soreness until I started to get it.

[Dalegreen]

perhaps this lessons may help you out. It is the approach I teach to my students for the past 28 years:

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by Aspiring

Yeah good point. When I was doing my relearning I picked up some new calouses and learned the hard way the value of doing some stretching of my fretting hand before after and during practice.

Yeah, I used to play in a ska/ reggae band, the whole sound basically requires allot of barre chords so you can up stroke your treble strings and then kill the chord to get that staccato "chink, chink" sound. Doing this through much of a several hour practice session could really take hand fatigue into a whole new level.

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by StevieB86

....... My question is: How long did it take you to master barre chords.... !

Mmmm......

Let's have a think. I first picked up a guitar when I was about 11 or 12, and have dabbled on and off since then. So about 50 years! I'm sure that I could play them at one time, probably when messing around playing electric guitar in a band. But I certainly haven't used one for the last umpteen years. My present set of 25+ songs doesn't have a barre in sight!

I probably could bang one out if needed but my playing style has developed without needing barre chords. I think that is more a reflection of my right hand flat picking technique and the musical genre I play.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

Mmmm......

Let's have a think. I first picked up a guitar when I was about 11 or 12, and have dabbled on and off since then. So about 50 years! I'm sure that I could play them at one time, probably when messing around playing electric guitar in a band. But I certainly haven't used one for the last umpteen years. My present set of 25+ songs doesn't have a barre in sight!

I probably could bang one out if needed but my playing style has developed without needing barre chords. I think that is more a reflection of my right hand flat picking technique and the musical genre I play.

So how are you playing stuff like B and F, as well as your assorted sharps flats, and 7ths etc...? Personally, I'd generally rather not use barre chord forms, but I'm having a heck of a time imagining a world where I could quit using them altogether.

As often as not I'll opt for fretting only a couple select notes of the chord, and using open strings to fill things out, but that tendency goes way beyond barre chords. I'm pretty interested to hear how you've managed to cut them out altogether.

[srick]

When making a barre chord, pull the guitar into your side using the biceps of your left arm… the same muscles you’d use with a weightlifting ‘curl’. This takes the pressure of the barre away from the fingers and uses the larger muscle groups.