Fingerstyling barre chords :(

[blindboyjimi]

It shouldn’t matter the brand of the guitar but here’s what I did. I’m a practicer and slow and steady does it. You need to learn the position and get the callouses. Surprisingly you’ll need a very little of each. First, buy an inexpensive capo and a cell phone metronome app. Capo at the 5th fret so your FMaj and Fmin will be at the 6th fret. This puts the angle of your wrist at a more comfortable spot. It also takes the nut and set up out of the equation.

Then leave your guitar out on a stand if the heat/humidity will allow it. Play a C (open), F (barre) G (8th fret barre), D (open) and then back to C (open). Next time through play the Fmin. Play that 10x through 3x a day with a capo at a rate that you can EASILY and CLEANLY do. At first, it’ll be a bit buzzy, but as long as the chord and notes are formed well it’s ok if it buzzes a bit. When you can play it 25x, 3x/day, move the capo to the 4th fret rinse and repeat and move the capo to the 3rd fret….. until you can do it without the capo.

It’ll take you a few months but you’ll learn great practice tips and you’ll have your barre chords down. Don’t forget you’re not wasting time because you are learning barres from the 8th fret (C) down to the F in both major and minor. Then when you take on the 5th fret root chords Major and Minor and 7ths, it’ll be that much easier.

Finally, say the 6th string root notes out loud so that you learn your notes too. Obviously, the top and bottom strings are the same and once you learn your 5th string root notes you’ll have all your chords down and you’ll have memorized half the fretboard!

Best of luck.

[rearis]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi rearis…

Playing an F barre is not a strength move, nor is finger styling. But it is about clean fingering, and proper position/shape of the pressure on the barre finger.

I do not find Elixirs harder to barre than any other string.

It is possible your action on your guitar is too high. A proper setup would fix that. But changing string brands (of the same weight) will not affect the tension you need to press clean barre chords.

You can change strings if you want, but the F barre is the hardest to play cleanly of all chords in existence, on the entire face of the whole earth, for every single person who plays acoustic. OK - most.

Three One Minute videos that may help you with barre chords…Made these in 2008 for friends and students (the video looks it's age).



Where is the Pressure? - CLiCK



Barre From Above and Behind - CLiCK



Barre from Front - CLiCK

Hope you resolve this soon…

Dude, thanks for these videos!! I'll apply your tips tomorrow, you play so easily LOL

So basically I'm suppose to use the side of my finger, which I already knew that but it only works if I use the middle of the finger. And I have to make a diagonal shape with the index finger, and let the tip of it stands out a little bit?

You said the the finger aren't suppose to be perpendicular to the fretboard except the F chord? I didn't quite get that. It's in the third video at 0:12 - 0:25.

[rearis]

Originally Posted by blindboyjimi

It shouldn’t matter the brand of the guitar but here’s what I did. I’m a practicer and slow and steady does it. You need to learn the position and get the callouses. Surprisingly you’ll need a very little of each. First, buy an inexpensive capo and a cell phone metronome app. Capo at the 5th fret so your FMaj and Fmin will be at the 6th fret. This puts the angle of your wrist at a more comfortable spot. It also takes the nut and set up out of the equation.

Then leave your guitar out on a stand if the heat/humidity will allow it. Play a C (open), F (barre) G (8th fret barre), D (open) and then back to C (open). Next time through play the Fmin. Play that 10x through 3x a day with a capo at a rate that you can EASILY and CLEANLY do. At first, it’ll be a bit buzzy, but as long as the chord and notes are formed well it’s ok if it buzzes a bit. When you can play it 25x, 3x/day, move the capo to the 4th fret rinse and repeat and move the capo to the 3rd fret….. until you can do it without the capo.

It’ll take you a few months but you’ll learn great practice tips and you’ll have your barre chords down. Don’t forget you’re not wasting time because you are learning barres from the 8th fret (C) down to the F in both major and minor. Then when you take on the 5th fret root chords Major and Minor and 7ths, it’ll be that much easier.

Finally, say the 6th string root notes out loud so that you learn your notes too. Obviously, the top and bottom strings are the same and once you learn your 5th string root notes you’ll have all your chords down and you’ll have memorized half the fretboard!

Best of luck.

Thanks man, I really appreciate it

[rearis]

Originally Posted by donlyn

Fingerstyling barre chords

For the Fm and/or F#m, you can always hold your middle finger over the index finger and use both fingers to apply pressure on the barre.

That's what I do for a 12 string barre. If nothing else, it saves your index finger from exerting itself too much and gives it a little help.

Don
.

Yeah I already do that, thanks!

[rearis]

Originally Posted by Tannin

Hi Rearls,

Three things you can try:

• Try moving your index finger up or down a little bit so that you don't have a joint over the string that's not sounding.
• Place a capo on the 1st or 2nd fret. Now play. Is it easier than before? If so, take your guitar to a luthier or technician to have the appropriate adjustments made - probably the nut slots filed down a little, but he or she will decide that after looking at your guitar. A minor adjustment (which is all that is required in most cases) costs about €20.
• Don't get your hand over-rotate. If your thumb sticks up above the back of the neck, rotate your wrist a bit to get it back down to a more mechanically efficient position. This helps with barre chords a little bit and with many other things quite a lot.
• Don't be afraid to experiment with alternative chords. Instead of F barre chord - 1 3 3 2 1 1 - try F maj7 - 1 0 2 2 1 0 (same as Am but your index finger frets the 6th string, and it's a lovely chord) or the "easy F" - x x 3 2 1 x or x 3 3 2 1 x - or the non-barre F played like a C chord with your index finger barring the first two strings (x 3 3 2 1 1), or F maj7 b5 - 1 3 3 2 0 0 - which can work surprisingly well if you use it with care.

Be aware that the 1st fret is THE hardest place to play barre chords. Work on playing (e.g.) B on the 7th fret and A on the 5th fret first and gradually introduce harder ones as you work towards the 1st fret.

Thanks!! I'll get these chords down no matter how!! xD

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by rearis

So basically I'm suppose to use the side of my finger, which I already knew that

Generally I would avoid doing that with the index finger. Throws the wrist out of position and lessens the reach up to higher frets with your other fingers.

[rearis]

Originally Posted by tbirdman

I found from the guitarfam.com website which has some free barre technique this practice plan which worked wonders.

First start on the first fret and just try to barre with your index finger. Take your finger away from the fret board a decent distance and flex your fingers. Try it again. Do this for 5 minutes, twice a day. After you get good at a clean barre, you can move up to the first fret.

Do the same thing with the E shape. Practice different fingers going down first though. Do this for 5 minutes.

After you got both of these separate exercises down, practice making the barre chord with first the barre finger and then the E chord shape. Then reverse it doing the E shape first, then the barre.

The website has free videos on what I just described.

Thanks! I haven't heard about this website.

[rearis]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Generally I would avoid doing that with the index finger. Throws the wrist out of position and lessens the reach up to higher frets with your other fingers.

Yeah that's exactly what happens, so now I'm confused. Did you use the side or middle of the index finger?

[ssstewart]

some awesome tips have been given.

you could also try learning to wrap the thumb around top of fretboard to cover e string, hence eliminating the full barre ( a tommy e trick) it also makes chord changes much easier and fluid once mastered...your thumb will eventually adapt and curve at first joint over time...this is a long term solution, not a quick fix..but worth it over time to train thumb

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by rearis

Yeah that's exactly what happens, so now I'm confused. Did you use the side or middle of the index finger?

Finger middle on the fretboard and close to the fret.

[rearis]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Finger middle on the fretboard and close to the fret.

Did you make the fingers perpendicular or slight at an angle?

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by rearis

Did you make the fingers perpendicular or slight at an angle?

Pictures I post a while back (topic was thumb position) but it should suffice here:

In a barre the thumb is normally anterior to the index finger:





It is also ok to double finger barre when it fits into the demands of the music:

[rearis]

Thanks!

[TBman]

+1 on seeing if using a capo on the 1st fret makes the guitar a lot easier to play. If so, it needs a setup.

Even with a perfect setup, it will take a while to learn to play cleanly though so don't get discouraged.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

Hi rearis…

Playing an F barre is not a strength move, nor is finger styling. But it is about clean fingering, and proper position/shape of the pressure on the barre finger.

I do not find Elixirs harder to barre than any other string.

It is possible your action on your guitar is too high. A proper setup would fix that. But changing string brands (of the same weight) will not affect the tension you need to press clean barre chords.

You can change strings if you want, but the F barre is the hardest to play cleanly of all chords in existence, on the entire face of the whole earth, for every single person who plays acoustic. OK - most.

Three One Minute videos that may help you with barre chords…Made these in 2008 for friends and students (the video looks it's age).


Hope you resolve this soon…

I dont find Elixers harder to barre than any other string either, but I do find them harder to bend, and beyond the super slippy coating which doesnt help, to me they feel like they have a tad more tension than other brands.

So I guess, if dealing with a beginner, possibly with a nut thats a tad high I'd say there is some possibility that a different brand of strings might help a little bit.