#16
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No would be the "short" answer... just keep after it, you'll get it eventually... there are a lot of different chord shapes involved with playing the guitar that feel "undoable" at first, but become second-nature after a time...
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"He's one of those who knows that life is just a leap of faith. Spread your arms and hold your breath, always trust your cape..." "The Cape" (Guy Clark/Jim Janowsky/Susanna Clark) |
#17
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I'm sure the op is more concerned about learning the shape and not the fact that it's an F when played on the first fret. If you capo the first then the chord becomes F# anyway unless you down tune to Eb. Which reminds me that down tuning the guitar is another option to ease up tension and make it easier to learn the barre major shape. |
#18
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Are people having a laugh? The point of using a capo is to detect if the nut needs correction. You put the capo on. Try the bar chord. If the bar chord is easier then the nut needs lowering. If there is no difference the nut setup is OK. Then you take the capo off.
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#19
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Ok maybe I'm not fully understanding the capo thing. Are you saying to put the capo right in front of the nut that way it lowers the strings but you're still able to barre an F? |
#20
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A person who has played a lot of guitars will probably have experienced both well set up guitars as well as poorly setup guitars. Such a player will know when a guitar nut needs lowering. Someone on their first guitar will not be able to tell. The capo test can demonstrate to such a player what their guitar could feel like with a correctly set up nut.
If it is easier to play a bar F shape with the capo on the first fret then the nut needs lowering. If there is no difference then the nut is not the problem. More practice is needed. |
#21
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Play an F barre chord. Then capo the first fret Then make the same shaped barre (which would now be a F# chord barre). If that is easier to do than a F barre then likely the nut slots are higher than necessary.
__________________
Derek Coombs Youtube -> Website -> Music -> Tabs Guitars by Mark Blanchard, Albert&Mueller, Paul Woolson, Collings, Composite Acoustics, and Derek Coombs "Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Woods hands pick by eye and ear
Made to one with pride and love To be that we hold so dear A voice from heavens above |
#22
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The barre chords are mostly technique with just enough strength to place them. Come off the power and study the strings your index finger needs to fret. Focus on only those. Then, the idea is to keep just those strings ringing when the other fingers are fretting their respective strings. It's a dance of technique. Once you get the index finger to properly fret the required strings you need to hold that finger's shape as you engage the other fingers.
Initially, you tend to throw the entire chord shape simultaneously. Strumming requires that. If picking, however, you might break that down to placing the fingers on the notes of the chord that must sound first, following them with the balance of the fingering to complete the chord. This is encountered a lot in finger picking and it offers lot's of opportunities to cheat the chords - playing partials, dyads (double-stops), arpeggios, etc., that strumming disallows (unless similarly effected with deft use of the flat pick). |
#23
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Gotcha. But isn't the F barre still harder than further down the neck even if the nut height is right? At least that's the case with my guitars. |
#24
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#25
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Not the first few frets anyway.
__________________
Derek Coombs Youtube -> Website -> Music -> Tabs Guitars by Mark Blanchard, Albert&Mueller, Paul Woolson, Collings, Composite Acoustics, and Derek Coombs "Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." Woods hands pick by eye and ear
Made to one with pride and love To be that we hold so dear A voice from heavens above |
#26
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This seems to be an ongoing question here, there is still no quick answer you're looking for. It simply takes time to be proficient at it. Forget the finger overlap method, do it right. You have to build up that muscle between your thumb and forefinger and the only way to do this is to keep at that F barre chord. Don't wuss out or look for other work arounds, just do it about 5 thousand times, then it'll be like nothin.
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Dump The Bucket On It! |
#27
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Denise Martin HD-28V VTS, MFG Custom Taylor 358e 12 string Martin 00L-17 Voyage Air OM04 Breedlove Oregon Concert 1975 Aria 9422 |
#28
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My hands are really small, in fact I've only met one person with smaller hands and fingers than me in my whole life, and I can do the F barre chord without a problem.
I am no expert but beside a lot of practice, it help me to experiment with the positions of index and thumb until I found a confortable position that allow me to put enough pressure without wasting too much energy on them. To practice, I used a very simple song (johnny cash version of "I hung my head" only 3 chords -F Am C-) until I nailed it. |
#29
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Well I tried the capo trick to see if I could do a bar chord with the capo on the first fret and still no luck. So it looks like its just practice for me. I can do one on my electric guitar much easier though.
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#30
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Some one has probably mentioned this already but changing your strings to a lighter gauge will make all playing, including bar chords, easier. The down side of the change is you loose a bit of tone and your fingers will pay for it later if you move back to a heavier gauge.
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