barre chords question

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by JonPR

Also, the index is not just supported by the thumb. The index pulls back on the neck a little, against the pressure of your right arm on the guitar body. It's possible to play a barre chord with the thumb not touching the neck at all! Try that, just to get a feel of the bracing action of the right arm. However, in practice, the thumb is definitely involved, if maybe in a more guiding role than a pressure role. (If you were to play the barre solely by pulling back on the neck, you're likely to bend the neck enough to put the guitar a little out of tune, or make the strings rattle against the frets.)

Mainly it's thumb and fingers. Pulling back on the next can be supplementary in some cases when you hold the a given chord position for a period of time but is a slowing anchor when moving around with any tempo.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

Mainly it's thumb and fingers. Pulling back on the next can be supplementary in some cases when you hold the a given chord position for a period of time but is a slowing anchor when moving around with any tempo.

I agree. I remember being very surprised when I read someone suggesting that most (if not all) of the effect was - or should be - a pull back on the neck. Then I checked my own playing, and found I was applying a small pulling force subconsciously. The main pressure is from the thumb, but it's supported (to varying degrees) by the right arm bracing.

I also read about the idea of the weight of the arm assisting the pressure on the barre. That made no sense to me because the weight is surely downward, across the fretboard. Release the thumb, and the weight of the arm means your hand drops off the guitar! It only makes sense if you regard the elbow as fixed in its right angle, because then the weight of the whole arm (pivoting from the shoulder) would tend to pull back as well as down.

Still, I can see that thinking about all these things can help. Maybe...

[Scguit]

I either avoided or faked my way through barre chords for a decade. I then got turned on to Jaimie Andreas Barre chord lesson series

https://www.guitarprinciples.com/sho...load-p-60.html

There’s about 20 short exercises that build on each other and over the course of 3 months, taking about 20 minutes 5 times a week I have built up passable 3, 4, 5 and 6 string bar chords. The website and production quality isn’t super slick. But the system, which relies on training muscles and showing techniques through exercises you wouldn’t do while actually playing, will build the strength and muscle memory necessary so you can eventually do barre chords with much less effort. Most of the exercises are the kind you can do while watching TV or listening to a podcast so its easier to stick with them. Probably per dollar the most I’ve ever got from a lesson.