Thanks
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6 monthsā¦now I understand Iāve been unrealisticā¦thought Iād get it in a few weeks.
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Thanks muchā¦helpful
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Iāll do so
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Thanks muchā¦I have been rushing myself.
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I wish I could cover the 6 strings as comfortably as you seem to do in your photos. I never took to barre chords, since my second guitar was a 12-stringer. I contented myself with forgetting the low E string, and never missed it.
Congrats on your success 
.
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Hey @chiprs just want to say I know how you feel! Iāve been there. At 6 weeks I was still very much rubbish on F.
Iām at 6 months now and I have only just recently started to feel comfortable with F, but only because I drilled those changes mercilessly, every day, for a very, very long time. Much longer than 6 weeks, for sure.
Be kind to yourself. This really is a difficult skill to learn.
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Have you tried using lighter gauge strings. I went to 11ās and it made a big difference. You could go even lighter.
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A years long process it think.
I am working it learning Justinās lesson on Ziggy Stardust. Fun to play. I am not smoothā¦
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Since I mentioned it, I posted my attempt in my log.
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Keep at it. It will come. Eventually my index finger just seemed to work out where it needed to sit on the strings.
Just to clarify, the E-shape barre chord on the 3rd fret is a G chord.
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Took about the same time for me to get the C chord as well!!
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A report for those struggling with F - stick with it. Its taken me three months of struggle with little result, and the common struggle with the B string, but in the last couple of weeks it suddenly came and I can successfully get it pretty much every time. Mini F was the same, but once that came the full F followed shortly after.
As great as Justinās lessons are, look around at others as you might find one that clicks with you personally. I find this one very helpful for mini F
I also found revisiting finger stretching exercises to be valuable.
In the meantime rather than move on I have used the time productively to learn a few more songs and work on strumming, especially 16th note strumming. This has proved so worthwhile I can now play āSingā by Travis (Justin has a great video to help you learn this, by the way).
Best wishes
Murray
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Isnāt that a G chord at the 3rd fret? The C barre chord is down at the 8th fret.
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A couple of early observations. Iāve got big chunky fingers and I can just about cover the fretting for ring and pinky with just ringā¦ and this makes the rest of the hand shape a lot easier. Bringing pinky into it without just flattening/muting everything is not possible without really pushing my hand forward.
Secondly, I only have an acoustic guitar and I have found it helpful to practice the chord shape further up the fretboard where the strings are easier to push down, ie further from the nut. But I read that others have worked this out tooā¦ itās nicer up there! lol.
Thirdly, in one of Justinās older videos you notice that he rotates the barre finger by bringing his elbow into his side, not by turning his wrist. That keeps the finger straighter over the fret and really helps with the B and E strings.
Terrible wickedness or great ideas? I donāt know. They work for me at the moment so Iām hoping theyāre not going to cause any issues in the longer term. Iāve learned a few chords where one finger does two strings and I find it easier.
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Is it possible that my fingers are simply too short for this chord? I mean, physically? it just does not seem possible for me.
I wouldnāt have thought so. There is a guitarist on YT who notes that he has small hands (and I assume small fingers) who is excellent. Unfortunately this is just practice and following Justinās lesson for body/hand position. Took me months to get this.
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sometimes i think i may be wishful thinking - oh, yes, THAT is why i canāt play itā¦lol. UGH, its awful.
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@Karende what kind of music are you playing? If you just want to strum an acoustic hand have fun playing sing-a-long type songs you really donāt need to learn the full barre F chord.
All of the singer songwriters be fore the 80 all use the mini barre F and nobody ever said you playing that chord wrong. So try the mini barre F it worked just fine for Neil Young.
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OOOHHHHā¦now i cannot wait to try this tonight - a small relief - thank you so much!
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