Some chords are harder than others.. Looking for some tricks, help, ideas

[jasperguitar]

As I progress ... I do not shy away from chords I don't know, or that are
unpopular. I feel that to do this is to stall as a player.

When playing the CAGED shape chords, the hard shapes for me are
the A bar, and the D .. with the stretchy 1 finger for a root tone.

Especially the A shape of the B flat. I am getting much better at
covering the three strings of the basic A with my 3 finger bar..
while leaving some room for the high E tone.. and bar .. but still.

Anyhow.. if you have some practice thoughts on the tougher chords?

Thanks.. and Happy Easter to all.

[jseth]

A couple ideas...

No doubt about it, that "A" shape barre at the first fret for a Bflat is tough; especially if you want that high string to ring out... what I do is I use 2 fingers, one to barre the strings across and one to barre just the "A" shaped fretted notes... and I mute the top string. I have kind of small hands, so I frequently use my first and fourth (pinky) to get this shape. A lot of times, (depending on the tune requirements, of course) that high string is not a necessary note to sound. You don't have to sound ALL the STRINGS, ALL THE TIME...

As for the "D" shape? Funny, I call this the "rock and roll" chord - so many great rock and blues players have used this particular shape and had great success with it... Try thinking about it as a "C" shaped chord... practise making a C chord in normal position, with the last 3 fingers on your fretting hand, leaving the index finger free... once you get the hang of that, just slide the shape up the neck, using the index finger as a "partial" barre on the top 3 strings (the G, B, and E strings in standard tuning). Although one can use a full barre across the neck if one chooses, I find it advantageous to use the side of my index finger and just use the partial barre... ESPECIALLY if you're playing anything that resembles rock/pop/country/blues! Both Jimi Hendrix and Robbie Robertson (of the Band) were fluent in this usage...

BTW, for the more "rock" type stuff, it actually helps to have the palm of your fretting hand very close to, if not on, the back of the neck...

Hope this helps! Good to see that you are forging ahead with your chord vocabulary...

play on................................................ >

John Seth Sherman

"Look at the ivy on the old clinging wall;
look at the flowers and the green grass, so tall.
It's not a matter of when push becomes shove;
it's just an hour on the wings of a dove.
Inside, it's warm love..."

Van Morrison - "Warm Love"

[daza152]

I use the pinky too on the Bb chord have tried ring and it is possible if your index barring on 1st is more than slightly over the fret practice and stretching will help

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by jasperguitar

As I progress ... I do not shy away from chords I don't know, or that are
unpopular. I feel that to do this is to stall as a player.

When playing the CAGED shape chords, the hard shapes for me are
the A bar, and the D .. with the stretchy 1 finger for a root tone.

The movable D shape is the least practical, IMO. But you very rarely need to play it. What matters (in the CAGED system) is to be able to visualise it where it occurs, so you can play any part of it, or scales based around it.

Same with the G shape - it's an akward barre as a whole (and not a lot of practical use like that), but really useful in parts.

Originally Posted by jasperguitar

Especially the A shape of the B flat. I am getting much better at
covering the three strings of the basic A with my 3 finger bar..
while leaving some room for the high E tone.. and bar .. but still.

This is the toughest shape there is! However, this is second only to the E shape in usefulness, so needs perseverance.
Try any kind of fingering you can to get it. Remember you don't need the top string - if you mute it by accident, that's not a serious problem.
Some people use a double barre - ring finger across those 3 strings, bending up to avoid the top E - some use 2 or 3 fingers in various combinations (index on lower fret in all the following):

standard (I also play an open A with this fingering)
-1-
-3- = 4
-3- = 3
-3- = 2
-1-
-1-

double barre (easier further up the neck)
-1-
-3- = 3
-3- = 3
-3- = 3
-1-
-1-

fat fingers? try one of the following
-1-
-3- = 4
-3- = 2 (tucked in behind 3)
-3- = 3
-1-
-1-

-1-
-3- = 4
-3- = 3
-3- = 3
-1-
-1-

-1-
-3- = 3
-3- = 2
-3- = 2
-1-
-1-

some people can even get this to work:
-1-
-3- = 4
-3- = 4
-3- = 4
-1-
-1-

or this!
-1-
-3- = 2
-3- = 2
-3- = 2
-1-
-1-

- as I say, if anything ends up muting the top string, the chord works fine without it - just don't fret it by accident! (That gives you a 6th chord.)

Also remember you don't need the bottom string. I often mute it with the tip of my index.

[stevejazzx]

if you're using steel string guitar the action aint gonna be nice up that part (Bb) of neck. consider if bringing down the action is necessary.
otherwise unfortunately all there is to it is practice....****, hate that answer!

[stanron]

Perhaps it's worth asking why you want to play these shapes. I'm not sure that 'just because they're hard' is good enough a reason. If you are a finger picker then these shapes provide systems where bass notes and melody notes can be found together. If you play rhythm in a band then simpler shapes can be used with better effect. If you provide accompaniment to a singer or other instrument then use the CAGED theory to determine capo positions and work with open chord shapes. With regard to practice, learn how the positions interlink and try playing bits of the shapes rather than all of them and if it stops being fun play something else.
Cheers.

[RustyAxe]

I agree with Stanron. Not all chord shapes are practical. You don't always have to play five and six string chords, either. Knowing what the CAGED shapes are is useful, of course, as it gives you voicing options. Knowing how the chords relate to each other, and which shapes work well together is something you'll pick up in time.

[Howard Klepper]

I use the D7 shape a lot, the D major shape almost never.

[Mike_A]

sometimes you can use a capo to avoid a Bb or even an F chord. just capo 1 fret higher and transpose, now you have A instead of Bb and E instead of F.

there will still be cases when you will need to fret the Bb, as everyone else said, constant practice and gaining more strength on the barre/index finger will help.

[jasperguitar]

you folks never fail to amaze me.. all very good postings, with good advice.

The reason I want to play some of these tough shape chords is
to learn, to progress.

And .. I admit it .. I like a challenge.

I am getting pretty good with the A shape bar. It has taken me
a couple of weeks or more to get it to sound clean. I keep at it,
and the more I play it the better. That darn B flat is a tough one
though...

The D shape? For some weird reason, I kinda like it.

[daza152]

Hey Jasper mate, I started out and still do learn new chords as I need them; i.e in a new song I'm trying out. There are so many chords and variations that it could be unneccessary to learn them all..eh?

[mr. beaumont]

Originally Posted by daza152

Hey Jasper mate, I started out and still do learn new chords as I need them; i.e in a new song I'm trying out. There are so many chords and variations that it could be unneccessary to learn them all..eh?

Indeed unecessary to learn "all" the shapes. (I type "all" as if there even is a finite number for chords, it's unbeleiveably huge)

But it's VITAL to learn what notes are in chords and how to find them anywhere on the fretboard. That's the real knowledge...then maybe you don't know every shape, but you can play ANY chord imaginable.