Dan, youāre exactly where I am. Donāt get frustrated! One thing that has worked for me: I choose a song that contains one or two (but not more) of the following: challenging chord changes, strumming or picking pattern, muting technique, power chords, or other technique. I just keep working on it! So much more satisfying than just playing chord changes. To keep it interesting: start playing slowly, maybe one strum per bar or one strum per beat, until you really have it down. Then add in a more interesting strumming pattern. Or increase the tempo (but not too much!). Just keep working on each smaller goal. What Iāve noticed is that working on one song in this way spills over into new things I try. For example: I donāt have the full F barre chord mastered, but when I play a new song with that chord it goes pretty darned well! Iāve also noticed that I pretty quickly have memorized the chord progression.
Also (and maybe I should have written this first): break the song into sections, and learn them one at a time. Verse, chorus, bridge. If a part (a verse for example) is played slightly differently in different parts of the song - each one gets its own section. For me, this is very satisfying. Learn all the sections, then glue them together.
And itās clear there are a lot of us in this same situation. Must be part of many learning journeys! Conversations like this one help keep me motivated as well. I now realize Iāll be in Grade 3 for quite a while, but I donāt mind because Iām becoming a better guitarist. And thatās the goal!
The index finger does not need to barre all of the strings, it only has to mute the sixth string while fretting the fifth and first strings. Try to curve your index finger a bit to increase the pressure on the fifth and first strings. Your middle, ring and pinky finger will cover strings 2, 4, and 3 respectively.
A couple of notes on barre chords in general.
finger placement is key - try to practice getting your fingers in exactly the right position. You can do this without even pressuring the strings - just focus on the position.
Over time, the skin on your index finger will begin to toughen up and make fretting the barre much easier - just as callouses on your finger tips did
Instead of trying to hold down the whole barre chord for an entire bar, try pulsing the pressure with each strum, this will allow you to apply more pressure right when you need it and then relax in between beats. Over time you will build the strength and pressure control (plus toughen up that skin) that will allow you to play full songs with barre chords.
This video was really helpful for me in developing my barre chord technique. I still canāt really play a reggae rhythm, but I have gotten much better with barre chords!
I think Rob was saying that he found the techniques presented helpful in improving his barre chords in general. He describes the technique in his third note, just above the quoted line.
This Is also a good substitute, and knowing this reminds me to be mostly concerned with making sure I solidly fret the 1 string, and not be too concerned if I mute either the 5 or 6 string with the barre.
It all depends on what youāre trying to do. Iām currently trying to learn John Lennonās Happy Christmas (War is Over).
It goes A, Asus2,Asus4, A, Bm, Bsus2, Bmadd11, Bm, E sus4, E, Eadd9.
Jumping from A to Bm is driving me mad because if you donāt get the Bm perfect, the Bsus2 and Bmadd11 donāt work. The Bm substitute doesnāt work for this.
The time stamp in the video that I linked specifically covers the pulsing of pressure that I described. I found it super helpful in improving all of my barre chords, including Bm. I thought that it might be useful to some of the other posters in this thread that were mentioning difficulties with B minor and other barre chords.
I know that for me, early on in learning Bm and F, I was using a lot of pressure to try to get the barre down and hold it. It would cause fatigue and pain, plus when I tried to move to those chords, it slowed me down because I was trying to get into the proper fingering and apply a lot of pressure. The technique in the video really helped me to understand how little pressure is really necessary to play a good barre chord which also allowed me to change chords much faster.
I had trouble getting this change accurate and fast, too (in Neil Youngās Harvest). I found it a lot easier if I played the A with a mini-bar using my index finger. It made a big difference, surprisingly. Try it, if you already havenāt.
Hi Dan, as a beginner myself I rarely offer advice over and above comments on what I like about someones performance of comment however in this instance I feel compelled to say āDontā Personally I feel that there is nothing more soul or motivation destroying than spending most of your time just practicing techniques.
We all pick up a guitar to play a song, right? So most of my enjoyment comes from actually playing (and in my case) singing songs that I enjoy. I have some easy ones that when I am frustrated, I dive back and play my āgo toā songs with easy chords and a few embellishments and the enjoyment returns.
The balance between playing songs and plugging away at a technique is really important, too much plugging away I feel is where some people get too frustrated and drop off the radar.
Also, some great additional advice in this post guys.
If playing a Bm for a few strums I donāt have a problem. If you donāt get it perfect on the first downstrum you have time to adjust before the next upstrum.
The issue Iām having with the John Lennon song is if I donāt hit it spot on I donāt have time to adjust before lifting fingers off for the Bsus2 and Bmadd11 and back to the Bm.
Agreed, but if you want to get the song down youāve got no choice but to plug away.
With any chord either open or barred posture plays a big part in how it feels, take this Bm we are talking about, and this is just talking about how it can feel not suggesting this is how to play it by the way, but we do have to be curious try pulling the neck of your guitar up and or moving the nut closer to your body sit up straighter or even stand, we have to make our bodies comfy as well as our fingers, its a big thing getting comfy imagine if your guitar was longer how hard it would be or if it was shorter how easier, Of course, I am exaggerating but for a reason we have to consider everything that helps us to achieve our goal.
I thought āMy Sweet Lordā would be a fun and easy songā¦lolā¦I would say it belongs in level 100 for for all the barre chords necessaryā¦lol. After about 2 or 3 weeks of really focusing and experimenting with posture and the timing of pulling the elbow in etc, I feel like a made a bit of a jump and Iām almost thereā¦ we keep trying and encouraging each other and we get there!
