Barre Chords - Worth It?

[BlastersFan55]

I've been playing acoustic only for a little over 5 years now, and really have never ventured into tackling barre chords. I've taken lessons now and then, and through some instructional books have developed into an OK player..not great by any means.

So anyway, I was looking through one of my Hal Leonard books early last week(Book 3), and decided to give barre chords a try. The book had a couple of notes about barre chords saying that they may be difficult at first, etc. But one note caught my eye that said something to the effect of "barre chords are easier to play on electric than acoustic because the action is lower on and electric, and the strings are lighter..."

Needless to say, I am having one hell of time getting these chords to ring true, and these are some of the basic ones such as F major. I can grab a regular F chord no problem, but beyond that..yeesh!

I've been practicing these for a few days now, and it is getting easier, but my question is are barre chords something I should take a bunch of time to learn on acoustic, or should I wait for when, or if I decide to try an electric guitar? I have a good Taylor 810 with medium strings which I love, and the action on the guitar is great. Obviously my problems stem from the fact I'm new at barre chords, but possibly also from the fact I'm using and acoustic with medium strings?

Should I just move on to something else rather than frustrate myself? Are barre chords really neccessary in acoustic playing?

Thanks much for any help & advice.

[Jeff M]

Barre chords are used on electric guitars also.
Yes, they are worth it.
5 years from now you will STILL be working on them.
Some tricks;
You don't need to have the strings perfectly fretted on the barre that you aren't playing...ie with a chord, generally 2 or 3 of the strings are being fretted by your other fingers.

It isn't about how hard you squeeze the barre, but about how much your arm weight is allowed to pull the barre into the guitar neck.

rolling your barre finger just a bit (generally away from the fret) tends to help.

See if your finger crease is on a string....not fretting it completely..and causeing the problem.

Generally you want to apply the OTHER fingers to the chord first, THEN the barre.

[SteveS]

Yes, they are worth it.

Take you guitars in and have the action checked. If the nut is not cut low enough, you'll have a hard time playing barre chords on the first few frets.

[jyee]

that sounds rhetorical... the way you phrase the question and the fact that you're on the forum looking at how to get better means that you're not one to settle for being a mediocre player.... which means that at some point you'll need to learn barre chords to be an excellent player***. keep going at the barre chords - it's all about practice and gaining finger strength. Also be sure to mix it up with other stuff - limiting your practice to just barre chords can bring frustration more quickly than varying your practice with other things.

*** note that i said you'll need to learn them, this doesnt mean that once you do, you'll use them all the time... it's just something that must be learned.

[rmyAddison]

Barre chords are invaluable. Once you learn the positions you can also play in any key as they are movable up and down the neck.

Yes they are easier on an electric but we all should strive for the best technique we can have. Many great electric players practice on an acoustic, get as clean as possible, then when they play their electric it's like a hot knife through butter.

Learn those Barre chords, they will serve you well..........

[geetarman]

I think they're very important for both acoustic and electric. Keep at it because your finger strength will improve and try adjusting your wrist a bit that can sometimes helps for fingering properly. Patience grasshopper.

[Joe F]

I used to hate them and totally avoided them. Then I decided it was time to learn them. What I didn't realize is how many chords it would immediately make available to me. Start with the Bm shape, drop it down a fret and there ya go Bbm. Go up a fret and it's Cm, up another fret and there is C#m etc etc... Same with the barr version of a G chord (E chord shape with a barr below it at the third fret. Need to play an Ab, just slide it up a fret. F#? slide it down a fret. Same deal with F#m. Move it up and down the neck and you've got all kinds of chords. It pretty much made it so I wasn't afraid to play in flat keys anymore although I'd still prefer a capo.

[Bikerdoc]

Yes, bar chords are harder to play on an acoustic but then again, they aren't that easy in the first place. The problem? Extension and clean touch. My fingers still don't go where they should and I practice bars all the time.

Any Yes, they are definitely worth learning since they not only had dimension to your playing but to your understanding of music and your guitar.

[Herb Hunter]

I was fortunate to have learned barre chords from the very beginning especially since I have rather small hands. When I started playing, the people I observed always used barre chords so it never occured to me that someone might fret an F chord, for example, without the barre. I started out on nylon string guitars which make forming barre chords easier. When I began to play with others in high school that couldn't play barre chords, I quickly saw the advantage of knowing them.

I have a jumbo Taylor, which like most Taylors, had good action. Nevertheless, barre chords were harder for me on that guitar than my light string gauge guitars. I had an excellent guitar technician improve the action for around $120. It is now easier to play than many guitars with light gauge strings that I try in the showrooms. This is because medium gauge strings vibrate with less amplitude than light gauge strings, enabling the strings to be lower without buzzing.

The price I paid may seem high to some but the technician adjusted the frets to a tighter tolerance than the factory which allowed the strings to be lowered even more than if all he adjusted was the bridge and the nut.

[ozanbilgin]

Believe it or not, I discovered the holly 'action setup' after 20 years of playing and my guitar's action was so high that I could almost insert my little finger between the strings and the fretboard around 14th fret. And I was still able to produce full sounds using barre chords. Now that I have my acoustic guitar set up like a strat and I feel myself like Clapton. I completely agree with people saying 'learn with an acoustic'.

[BigRed51]

The value of bar chords depends on your style of play. If you're going to play jazz chords, they are handy. They are handy for strumming in church on songs with modulation after modulation. If you are going to do any single note flatpicking, they are worthless. Many years ago, when I was young and impressionable, I used them every chance I got, and was somewhat pleased with myself at how many chords I could play. But I got over it. Haven't played a bar chord in 20 years, and haven't felt the need to. In the past couple of years as my primary interest has ventured toward bluegrass, they have gone from being of little value to being of no value whatsoever, and in fact, a hindrance. The only time I would be tempted to revert is if I ever needed to go back to a pure strumming rhythm style ... and I can assure you that won't happen.

[bitsmith]

Originally Posted by Jeff M

It isn't about how hard you squeeze the barre, but about how much your arm weight is allowed to pull the barre into the guitar neck.

I'd like to emphasize the importance of this point. This is something I didn't fully understand until after I'd been playing for 30 years. I'd heard statements to this effect and had tried to apply the idea to my playing, but didn't really "get it" (and I knew I wasn't getting it, because what I was doing didn't seem to make the playing any easier).

If you try to play in such a way that you think you're following this advice, but it still doesn't seem easier, you're probably not allowing the weight of your arm to work to maximum effect. One of the things I noticed when I finally "got it" was that when I'm fully letting the weight of my arm help me, it feels like more pressure is being applied by the base of my index finger (close to the first joint) at the bottom of the neck. The pressure at that point is keeping my finger (and hand) from sliding off the fretboard. When I'm not fully leveraging the weight of my arm, and applying pressure more by using the muscles in my hand to press down with my index finger, I don't get the same sensation of more pressure being applied at the base of my index finger.

There's one other point I'd like to make that I think can't be overemphasized. When it comes to playing guitar, it's not uncommon that when you try something you haven't done before, your subjective reaction is "This is impossible!". I'm talking here about a feeling of absolute certainty that you'll never be able to do whatever it is you're trying to do. When this happens, it's easy to think "I guess the people who can do this didn't have this problem". Don't believe it. In the many years I've been playing guitar, I've had this experience many times, so I can say from experience that a technique that seems impossible on first attempt can, with practice, eventually become easy. What's required to bridge that gap is primarily motivation and perserverence.

Bryan

[flyingace]

I have been playing for nearly 30 years and rarely use barre chords. I do use them occasionally when I play in open tunings, but in standard tuning - almost never. There's almost always a way to substitute for a full barre.

Is there anything wrong with these chords? Of course not. They have their place depending on the type of music you play. Can you say Dave Matthews? If you like DMs music, you might as well get them down cold.

Otherwise, my advice is not to spend a lot of time practicing them. If the use of a barre chord pops up, and substituting a 4 or 5-tone chord just won't work, then pratice that particular chord.

[brandywine]

Learning the barre chord forms has the collateral benefit of teaching you how to find and play lead riffs, acoustic and electric, up and down the neck, because the riffs are formed off the notes of the scale, the same as the barre chord. In other words, you will learn to play some interesting passages up the neck simply by picking notes out of the barre chord form.
Absolutely, learn the barre chords.

[jaeger29]

I think there's no question that barre chords are very valuable. Learn it, and you've instantly learned every major chord in the scale. Learn the variant (min, 7, etc.) and you'll always know that chord wherever you need it.

I also find that they're helpful when arranging fingerstyle pieces.

Without a doubt, I would advise you learn them and get them down well. You said you can grab a "regular F chord" no problem. How are you playing that F chord?