I’ve been working on barre chords for several months and I think it looks like you’re making good progress with them. In fact, I wish I could use them that well!
I’ve found that while I can now consistently make barre chords accurately (major barre chords) changing to them on the beat is being a real challenge.
Thanks for posting this! It’s helpful to see other people working on the same skill and makes me think that if I stick with it eventually the changes will come more naturally.
Yeah, just keep at them Garry. Sometimes it’s just a case of beefing up the finger (forearm) muscles, so even if it doesn’t seem like there’s progress, improvements will come with time.
For the changes I sometimes play the next chord without all al the fingers down for the first strum. Sometimes the barred finger matches (enough) with the chord progression (Some might say - Oasis) - sometimes it’s awful (Drive -REM).
Disclaimer: Justin recommends setting the non-barre fingers down first!
Nicely played Dave. Yes fingerpicking and barre chords will really highlight muted/buzzy notes that can go unnoticed when strumming. Well done for that.
I’m not a fingerstyle expert but I notice you’re not using your index finger in your picking pattern. Is there a reason for this? It may restrict your options further down the line.
Cheers Gordon, no it’s just for this pattern, it just started out as random plucking which developed into a ‘feel’ for a pattern by ear. I’m sure if I knew more theory there is a pattern in there somewhere; root to 5th, root to 3rd, I don’t know… … but as it developed, the index finger seemed a bit clumsy for the light touch needed. When I learn any other finger pattern, Jolene or whatever, the pinky is firmly planted and index finger does it’s job.