Barre Chord Practice

Less of a rendition, more a practice piece I do.

Bouncing finger style lets me concentrate on the fretting hand.

Individual notes let me know where I need to tighten up the chord shape…

Somehow included both takes in the video, don’t suffer through it all, just a demo.

:grin: orange top must be my favourite at the moment :roll_eyes:

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love it

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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.

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Nice exercise, thanks for posting

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Lovely picking pattern and musical progression (a little Hotel California-esque), Dave. Thanks for sharing.

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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! :slightly_smiling_face:

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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.

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Hi Dave, for a practice piece that sounded fantastic.

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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.

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Lovely bit of fingerstyle there Dave and you seem to be landing those barre chords just fine.

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I have to agree, a little Hotel CA in there… For the most part, nice play, fingering and sound. Keep up the good work!

Rock it down,
LB

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Dave,
I thought that was great. I understand what you mean about building the muscles to pick for that long as well as the bar cords. Good job.
maidie

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