How about that B minor Chord

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Condition1

Wow...this thread has been amazing. I started with the Am as suggested, sliding and then working on XX4432...now I am very close to barre the Bm, I can do it but just a little slow still transitioning...

Thanks everyone, really cool you guys sharing your experiences!!!!

Good for you for having the courage to go after this! You made up your mind, now you just need enough practice to get comfortable with this chord shape. You can do it!

- Glenn

[Black-n-Nan]

Originally Posted by rmp

Yea, some of these bar chords can be a chore, especially if your setup isn't spot on..

Don't forget to just roll your index finger a bit towards the headstock so there's more bone then flesh on the strings.

IMO the major mistake of fretting barre chords is the ecsessive pressure between index finger and thumb. Having said that I mean you can easily fret any barre chord with no thumb at all. Just slightly feed left elbow toward the body, keeping the thumb away from neck. This is a good exersize. Thus the thumb is used as support only.

PS. Sorry for my English, it’s not my native language

[SunnyDee]

Originally Posted by Condition1

Wow...this thread has been amazing. I started with the Am as suggested, sliding and then working on XX4432...now I am very close to barre the Bm, I can do it but just a little slow still transitioning...

Thanks everyone, really cool you guys sharing your experiences!!!!

Great. I'm glad you tried this. Just keep doing this a bit longer till it's easy and the transition will almost take care of itself, then you'll be able to do the Am however suits the context. If you don't already have the 6th string major barre chords, it works the same way using the E shape and sliding.

[mattbn73]

https://youtu.be/2MtDty64mTI

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Condition1

Wow...this thread has been amazing. I started with the Am as suggested, sliding and then working on XX4432...now I am very close to barre the Bm, I can do it but just a little slow still transitioning...

Thanks everyone, really cool you guys sharing your experiences!!!!

do it x24432

It isn't much of a barre as 3 of the other strings are being fretted by other fingers. All you are really doing is just hitting two strings at once with your index. I worked up barre strength by doing a lot of just "clamping" all of the strings with my index and thumb and playing it up and down the neck while strumming on the heavy side to bring out any muted notes that needed attention. It's like weight lifting. You don't get stronger by just looking at the weights or talking about it.

[Condition1]

I am finding that the strength going into the 4th fret helps tremendously... before I was focusing the pressure on the Barre 2nd fret...now it feels much easier

[jkilgour2000]

Originally Posted by reeve21

Have you tried that B major bar with your pinky, rather than your third finger? The joint may bend a little easier, and allow for better contact. And the length of the last section of the pinky is smaller, so it may fit "cleaner" on the 3 strings you need to bar, while avoiding the others.



This is how I taught myself, and only much learned later that it was "wrong" (can't use the pinky to do variations on other strings).

Good suggestion - going to try this