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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → Bar Chords... why?
urgh all this time i just been playin regular chords, then you realize that if you want a quick stop or an easy slide to a different chord you must use them. is there an easy way to play them without practicing them over and over???
<img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_evil.gif" border=0 alt="Evil or Very Mad"> death to B minor
Buy a hand and also a grip stregnthing excerciser. Once you build up stregnth needed for your barre cord then start playing them. Other wise PRACTICE! <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_twisted.gif" border=0 alt="Twisted Evil">
I think I am right in saying you can play most bar chords without the bar. Take a F for instance. You can play it just on the top four strings as I do often, or if you need the extra F bass note hit it with all 6 strings. Just look at the chord shape and work it out taking away the bass strings first. However, you will loose something of the sound the less strings you play in my opinion. There is no real substitute for play a full bar chord, so yes, unfortunalty it comes down to practise.
If you are finding it really tough maybe some lighter strings would help to start with or a hand strengthner as suggested. Either way don't give up, it does get easier..........I promise <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_confused.gif" border=0 alt="Confused">
Adios
Shaun
Practice, man. That's the only answer.
Play the barre, and only the barre for a while until your hands hurt. Take a 10 minute break. Repeat until bored.
Fret a chord, then strike each string in the chord to ensure you've got them all nailed down. Do this until your hands hurt. Take a 10 minute break. Repeat until bored.
Play I IV V progressions in every key, starting at F. Work your way down the neck until your hands hurt. Take a 10 munute break. Repeat until bored.
The key is that you have to develop strenghth in your hands.
Like the song says... "Practicing is just the same thing over and over and over and over...."
Like they say above, bar chords are essential to playing up the neck.
Old delta style blues players with their HUGE hands would cover the first two strings (E and B) with their index fingers and wrap their thumb over the base string. I use that technique sometimes when playing a delta blues song or a rag or sometimes in fingerstyle where I have to play a lot of melody notes in an F chord or B chord form.
Jazz guitarists usually don't use bar chords. They will use a "closed" chord format where you only play 3 or 4 notes of a chord and mute the rest with your left hand fingers.... It's great when you're comping over a Jazz or Swing piece, but not too great for folk style guitar.
But when starting out, there's no substitute for barr chords.
When I was learning, I would just sit in front of the TV and practice a bar chord, then move it up a fret and practice it there... and keep moving it up and back down. Till my hand got really tired, then I'd rest and start it over again.
It was boring, but watching the TV could keep my mind occupied. I still do this with left hand warm up and scale exercises every morning.... If you get to the point where you don't have to think about them... then they are yours.
Good luck and good licks.
ive been sitting in front of my tv watching simpsons and going from F to Bm. my hand hurts, but i think im getting better. thanks everyone for your help.
~kori
Kori,
You are on your way to playing the Barre chords. A good excercise for a barre is to do switch between a B back to A. This excercise will help strengthen your barre finger and allows it to relax when you go back to the A chord.
If you like Bm, then do a switch between Bm and F#m. This will help you keep your barre finger clamped for both chords.
Good luck!
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ive been sitting in front of my tv watching simpsons and going from F to Bm. my hand hurts, but i think im getting better. thanks everyone for your help.
~kori
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Kahuna, is right on practicing the pattern on Bm to F#m. You can use this pattern up and down the neck on different chords: F to Bflat, G to C, A to D and B to E. All on the dot markers on your neck, starting from the head stock (F) to the octave(: marker 12 fret).
After the pain goes away and barre chords are much easier for you is when you will find the reward of practicing. Keep it up.
Bootleger
Bootlegger guitars.
Another good practice is going from an F form bar chord to a B form bar chord to a Bm form bar chord....
Start out with the F form up at the G position. Then the B form bar chord at the C position then take the Bm form up two frets and make it a Dm... Then back down to the C bar chord.
Guess what you've got.... "Louie Louie...." The basis for MANY MANY old rock songs. By changing the location of that starting bar chord you can now play in any key.
It's a basic <b>I - IV - V(minor)</b> chord progression....
Notice how the Root or base note of each chord is positioned.
The G note is on the 6th String... Right below it is the C note on the 5th stringfor the C chord and then two frets up above that is the D note on the 5th string.... There you have your base riff... and the ability to transpose any I - IV - V chord progression into any key.... And there are litteraly THOUSANDS of songs in a I - IV - V chord progression...... all you need now is the strumming pattern and the lyrics and you are playing almost anything....
<font size="1">"Good picking and good licks."
<i>"Bordom is a personal defect."</i>
-- Lamar Stephens
</font>
If you still need help with this, i have a suggestion.
This all depends on how big your hands are though.... People with bigger hands will find this easier than others.
You can "cheat" your barre chords pretty well by using this method. take F major for example. Use your thumb to press down the first fret sixth string to get the bass F. use your third finer on the third fret to barre the fifth and fourth strings. use your second finger to press down the second fret third string, and your first finger to barre the first fret on strings 1 and 2.
It takes some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it the most difficult chords can be "cheated" through with little trouble.
For the minor chords with a sixth string bass note, theres no cheating.but for chords with a fifth string bass note, its easy. take Bmin for example.
press your first finger on the second fret first string. Second finger goes on the third fret of the second string. third and fourth fingers go on the fourth fret of the third and fourth strings. Thumb is used to mute the bottom two strings.
You can move both these finger patterns up and down the fretboard and it should come out sounding pretty good.
Welcome!
I'm a bit of a newbie myself but my Bar chords are getting pretty OK. The thing that really helped me break through was when someone told me to relax and re-tense my barre finger to get rhythm as well as just strumming. This gives you lots of potential sounds and allows your bar finger muscles to develop through repetition rather than just endurance. Any fitness freak will tell you this is the way to grow muscle. As soon as I started practicing this way I had my Bar chord break through.
I just bought a new guitar which had little space between the strings and the neck, and the whole barr-chord problem was gone <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_smile.gif" border=0 alt="Smile"> that was a great discovery! <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_biggrin.gif" border=0 alt="Very Happy">
No easy way. As much as you hate barres, I might suggest using more of them. Painful as that sounds. HARD WORK.
Anyone who cares, I have played barre chords and practiced them so much I got ganglion on my wrist tendon, but don't you worry about that.
anywho, the best exersize I found was smoke on the water. Play, E, G, A, E, G, Bm, A E, G, A, G, E
Using barre chords for all notes apart from the E it helps you to form barre chords and move them up and down the board.
Barre Chords....ARRRGH!
I never use them and I know this will drive the serious players nuts, but I've found that almost any barre chord will sound O.K. if you just fret the fop four strings and strum with the emphasis on them.
I know I should practice, practice, practice, but as a guy with no higher aspirations than to sit in my den and play well enough to recognise and sing along with the tune myself, this works sufficiently well to allow me to play enough songs well enough to keep myself motivated and keep the whole guitar playing thing fun.
It all depends on your motivation for playing...do you want to be a Guitar God (something that no amount of practice will ever make *me*), or do you just wnat to play for fun and relaxation?
Tunedeaf (forever mediocre)
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Barre Chords....ARRRGH!
I never use them and I know this will drive the serious players nuts, but I've found that almost any barre chord will sound O.K. if you just fret the fop four strings and strum with the emphasis on them.
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I'm far from a serious player, but that is horrible advice.
What you are advocating is adding an open E and A to every chord you play, and that's going to make you sound lousy.
Barre's aren't that hard. Practice is hard, though, and it's what you need.
I'm a casual player, but I want to sound good, even in my living room.
Hi everyone! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I am a newbie and have played for about a year. Just now I have got my barre breakthrough, and I must say, it was WORTH all the pain. Now I find it "easier" to play more advanced chords that I hardly dared to try out earlier. Now I excersise on the Theme of New York New York and can play it "okey" 
Thanks to the barre (in my opinion).
So my humble advise, practise to you are bored to death and your hand and arm and everything is IN BIG PAIN
Newbie from Oslo,Norway
Great job Sparky7! Yes, there is no easy way to get good at barre chords except keep playing them! Some have already posted here exercises one can do to help strenghten one's left hand. Those spring grip exercisers are great tools to help make your grip stronger. So, easier hold barre chords.
Playing barre will open a whole new world of new songs a person can play! It also helps you move into playing some licks and riffs.
Kahuna
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Hi everyone! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I am a newbie and have played for about a year. Just now I have got my barre breakthrough, and I must say, it was WORTH all the pain. Now I find it "easier" to play more advanced chords that I hardly dared to try out earlier. Now I excersise on the Theme of New York New York and can play it "okey" Thanks to the barre (in my opinion).
So my humble advise, practise to you are bored to death and your hand and arm and everything is IN BIG PAIN
Newbie from Oslo,Norway
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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → Bar Chords... why?
