I DID IT!!!

like they say here in spain: " Ole, Ole y Ole",
   glad you made it!

I have had some trouble with bar chords as well, but a song that really helped me out was sublimes song Boss DJ, it is mostly just G and C but then near the end it switches to a bar G (third fret) sliding to a barred A# (sixth fret) and then proceeds farther up the neck to a barred C (eighth fret) and a barred D (tenth fret), this gave me alot of trouble at first, especially the root C to the barred G, but after I got that down it seemed so much easier to do bar chords on just about every song, and its a very fun song to play.  To this day I find myself playing it all the time around camp fires and such, even though hardly anyone who isnt a sublime fan knows it, its still a crowd fav anyway, just thought I would throw this out there for you, maybe it could help.

-BC

Thanks.  I'll not be playing Stairway to Heaven as I may be the one and only guitar player wannabe that is not a Zep fan.  But there's a whole lot of folk music out there with a ton of barre chords in it that's beyond my reach at this point.

I've started working on songs that include F#m with nice easy transitions.  Johnny Cash's Unchained and Jimmy Buffett's Distantly in Love are the current songs I'm using to learn this challange. 

Once I get the transition from an open chord to F#m back to another open chord working smoothly and sounding good, then I'll try Sister Golden Hair until I get it right with all it's F and F#m shaped barre chords.  And then the world is my oyster.  At least until I start trying to figure out hammer ons, pull offs, scale/arpeggio patterns on guitar, mutes, pick control for pluck/strum patterns, etc. and so forth. 

- Zurf

Yep ALVEE33, you're 100% right: Led Zeppelin, or Zep is Zep, and if you enter a guitar store, they don't play no longer "the house of the rising sun". You hera OR stairway, or useless solos played by youngsters for MINUTES: what brand they take, they put it in an amp, with a lot of distortion, and that's where the problem starts: you don't hear longer the difference of a squier versus a fender, because playing loud solos with a lot of effects: all brands sound similar. I have the luck to be at home, and being able to go during the week

Jimmy Page is talented.  He is also a self-indulgent occultist.  I have no desire to imitate him, including his playing style.  There's a lot of amazing pickers out there to learn from that I feel quite comfortable with my decision to ignore Mr. Page's contributions, skillful as they are. 

If the only way for me to play was to imitate Jimmy Page and give credit to his overblown sense of self, I'd burn my guitar.  It's not all about playing. 

- Zurf

I'd love to be able to play like Jimmy Page. The problem is everyone else in the room would be bored titless. Playing is fun. There are many songs (not just Zep songs) I don't really care for but put a guitar in my hand and let me play it with a group of pals and I'll play it as many times as required. Cos it's fun. Maybe not fun for the guys in the next tent or whatever but great fun for the ones playing it. I hope you understand what I mean.

Or maybe I'm just getting old.

I've seen lots of third party commentary and speculation, but Page himself has stated that it was a "casual" interest.  His ability to collect things no more makes him an "occultist" than my interest in Lewis and Clark makes me a "trailblazing explorer."

If you want to knock his personal life, "recovering drug addict" is a much more accurate, and factual claim.

This thread has some spunk to it! 
Zurf, congrats on the breakthrough!  First time I played a clean barre chord, I never wanted to take my fingers off the strings--figured it might be the only time I got it.  I'm working on this song now with this intro progression that could be some good practice; E (at the 7th fret), B (at the 7th), A (5th), C#m (4th), Bsus (3rd), A2.  As recorded, it's capo 2 so you wind up on the 9th fret trying to squeeze out that E.  Good song--"This is a Call" by Thousand Foot Crutch.
And I never liked Zep either--I know this could be sacralidge to some, but Plant's vocals are like nails on a chalkboard to me.

Hey Zurf, working on barre chords myself. I can't believe I was afraid of them for all these years. When you get them right, it's the best feeling in the world. Keep practicing.