I need strengthening/chord changing exercises for B shape barre chords.

[Dr. Overtones]

All in the title. It takes me a while to get my non-barring fingers in place, and once they're in place it's so awkward I lose strength in the barre and end up with buzzy, muted notes.

By the way, by "B shape" I'm mostly talking about Bm and F# barre chords.




Tips on technique would be appreciated as well.

[fredpamm]

When I was learning bar chords, I had the same problem. So a friend of mine suggested that I learn to grab all E and A (maj, min, and all the others) chords with my last three fingers and not use my index finger. Once I learned that, barring any chord is easy

[mmmaak]

An alternative it to try fretting the 3rd and 4th strings with a reverse-bend of your ring fingers. If you have large finger pads, an even better solution would be to fret those two strings with the *tip* of your ring finger. I have small hands, and this only works for me at the lowest frets where the string spacing is closest.

[ljguitar]

Hi Dr. O...
Here are three short (1 minute each) videos I made for friends and students regarding barre chords and positioning the hand...


Barre - click

From above and behind the neck - click

Where is the pressure - click

As I suggested to you before in another thread (about your pinky), if you practice switching or grabbing the chord without using the right hand, you will learn to position them quickly. Then you can add the right hand back in after you master the skill...

Master all the E and A chord forms with fretting fingers 2-3-4 so you can just add the barre and be good to go...


Hope this helps...

[JeremyG]

Thanks Larry. Perfect timing as I'm just beginning to work through a few barre chords myself too, depending on the songs.

I can/do get frustrated but...no more whining...!!!

I appreciate those You-Tube links. This was good to hear.. Thank you.

Jeremy.

[TBman]

Practice them higher on the neck (5th to 7th fret) and work your way down over time.