Linking them with power chords you say??? Well now that is something I should have thought of, but didn’t!!! Lol.
Boy am I glad I have been practicing the barre since Justin suggested I should. Before I always thought I’ll get to it. Not realizing just how much time it takes to get down.
Only ever played Hotel C with the Bm and F# barre chords and never fingerstyle. So I had a noodle while you were chatting and played just an open D and Em (fingers 3 n 4) and the rest in barres while plucking away. Opened up a world on possibilities ! Thank you.
Thanks everybody for joining, hopefully I could inspire some new ideas to work barre chords into your playing. Perhaps I gave you a some extra good reasons to bravely push on in your practice
**** The slides for the session and the answers to the remaining Q&A questions will be provided by Monday Feb 5th 23:00 CET**
Excellent, exactly what I meant in “use them in songs you already know by replacing them”.
It is good practice and you don’t need to focus too much on the song itself as you’re already familiar with its strucure. Fingerpicking them is great to check your accuracy and applied force on each string.
Great lesson, thanks! Really enjoying these clubs - definitely helps with the motivation.
My question in the Q&A lesson was actually not about playing E-shape barres on the 6th string using the thumb, a la Jimi Hendrix, but in fact about using the possibility of using the thumb to play the root note on the A string, for A-shape barres, with the third finger doing the rest, like normal.
I am convinced I have seen this in live videos of “That Look You Give That Guy” by Eels, where the intro (and whole song, pretty much) is a progression of [capo 5] C, C/B, Bb, A, Dm, Dm/C, G.
Switching to a first finger/third finger A-shape barre for the B flat feels awkward, so I had a look at him playing live, and thought he played it with the thumb over all the way on the A string to hit the B flat root note, so that’s how I learned how to play it! Now I’m not so sure he hits it at all when playing solo like in the link below - and on the record, I think perhaps it’s the bass guitar that picks up the bass notes of the chord progression.
My own journey with barre chords is still very much in progress. I find that to play the E-shape minors, my index finger has to move up a couple of mm to get the minor note. I also like Justin’s tip of using the free’d up second finger to add extra pressure on the first finger.
In a classic case of trying to run before I can walk, I learned of the existence of the C-shape barre from the lesson on “Under the Bridge” but I wouldn’t say it’s a shape I’m confident to use!
@EdHales He seems to be using his thumb over to mute the E and A strings only. He is not fretting any root notes on the 5th string with thumb.
That would be very uncommon.
Hi Lieven, I never had any issues with motivation so far , thanks god, but could need the encouragement to work a LOT more on barre chords than I’m currently doing. Together with Richard’s triad session it opens up a lot of the “secrets” or better knowledge of the fretboard and your session yesterday gave me the kick to work more on the implementation of those shapes into my song repertoire. Apart from Justin’s lesson of moving the F up and down the neck, E shape barres are only covered in the last module of Grade 3 (or did I miss something?), but everyone seems to start much earlier, even with the A shapes, which are part of the intermediate lessons. Not sure, when to start, but I reckon, the earlier, the better ?
Thanks again for the session yesterday, you guys are really inspiring and motivating !
This is where I first put F into the practice schedule, some glad I did. Took months before I could even put it into a song!!!
Now a year later I am just starting A shapes. But not too concerned as there is lots left to consolidate yet and I don’t want to put too much on the burners!!
I think the problem is that people shy away from F until they absolutely can’t avoid it and then get frustrated because most people won’t be able to play it in just a few days of practice. My advice to anyone would be to practice it before you need it, maybe just a minute each day. Don’t bother with the hacks and shortcuts, just learn it properly from the outset. It’s taken me months to get to the point of having a passable F, I still have more practice to get it fast and accurate but I’m glad that I took it on rather than avoiding it.
This was my mindset as well, and like you, it was the same for me. Actually sounds like we are in about the same boat!!! . But such a great feeling when it falls into place!
Do not avoid it, is definately in our best interest, in my opinion.
@LievenDV Thanks for the barres webinar, which was useful but made me realise that there is so much I don’t know. At this point in time (Grade 2, moving to Grade 3) I’m (just about) OK with E shaped barres and have l looked at the A shape, but only for a specific song. I certainly haven’t looked at C, D or G shaped barres!
The main issue for me is changed between open and barre chords and also between E and A shaped barres. Still lots of work to do on this.
The other issue is remembering where to put your fingers for a certain barre, whether it’s E or A shaped and what fingers to put down/lift off.
.
… “Hello F-chord, my new friend” 
, thanks god, but could need the encouragement to work a LOT more on barre chords than I’m currently doing. Together with Richard’s triad session it opens up a lot of the “secrets” or better knowledge of the fretboard and your session yesterday gave me the kick to work more on the implementation of those shapes into my song repertoire. Apart from Justin’s lesson of moving the F up and down the neck, E shape barres are only covered in the last module of Grade 3 (or did I miss something?), but everyone seems to start much earlier, even with the A shapes, which are part of the intermediate lessons. Not sure, when to start, but I reckon, the earlier, the better 
?
!