Home › Forums › Active Melody Guitar Lessons › Major and Minor Chords Introductory Lessons
Tagged: Bar Chords, fret, technique
- This topic has 7 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 2 months ago by Robert B.
-
CreatorTopic
-
January 28, 2023 at 5:52 pm #332986
The introductory lessons are awesome. However, I find myself strangling the neck of the guitar to try and make bar chords clearly ring out rather than have dead strings. After awhile my hand is cramped. Brian’s hands look loose and fluid. Any tips on how to fret the bar chords without “strangling” the neck?
-
CreatorTopic
-
AuthorReplies
-
-
January 28, 2023 at 8:43 pm #332990
I’m a little confused. I watched the lesson on the major scale. Does the scale follow the whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half pattern?
-
January 29, 2023 at 9:12 am #333020
Hi,
You may want to ask this question in a separate post as it has nothing to do with the original question.Any major scale follows the W W H W W W H pattern and if it doesn’t, then it’s not a major scale.
-
-
January 29, 2023 at 8:55 am #333016
Robert,
Sure. We have all gone through this.
Firstly, make it easy on yourself. Make sure the string heights above the frets, a.k.a. the guitar’s action, is not too high. If you think the action might be too high take the guitar to a luthier / guitar tech and get their opinion. Get a quote for a basic setup which includes neck relief (truss rod adjustment), bridge saddle- and nut height check / fix, and dialling-in of the intonation.
Once the guitar is optimum, practice barring every day, and take breaks when your hand gets tired. Go back to it later. Like any form of physical exercise, know when to take a break. When you go back to it notice that it has become fractionally easier, like all things guitar. Build from there.
Little by little you’ll get it. Don’t give up; a lot of people quit guitar because of this. Don’t be one of them! 🙂
-
January 29, 2023 at 9:20 am #333022
As John mentioned, relax!
Also, when you barre across the whole neck, don’t think you have to press equally hard everywhere. In fact, the barre is only needed for the notes that are not fretted by the other fingers. For example, when you play a G major barre chord at the third fret, the barre is only required for the notes on string 1, 2 and 6. No need to press like mad behind the fretted notes on the other strings.So, gently roll your index finger toward the nut so the knuckles are in contact with the fretboard and not the flesh of your finger, and gently arch your index so you press primarily on strings 1, 2 and 6. Try to mentally focus on those strings. Adjust the position until every note rings out.
Once you reach that point, release the pressure gradually until right before you get a muted sound. That’s about the right amount of pressure and it is surprisingly less than what you would think.
But granted, some barre chords are more difficult than others, so experience will tell how you need to play them.
As John says, eventually you’ll be able to play them so don’t give up! -
January 29, 2023 at 9:35 am #333024
Hi Robert,
Really great advice above. I want to reiterate the concept of rolling your index finger toward the nut such that some of the the boney side of your finger is in contact with the strings rather than the fleshy surface. Also, practice applying only enough pressure to make the strings ring clearly. Many 16th note strumming patterns call for muted strokes. Relax your hand for the muting and, again, only reapply the minimal pressure required to sound the chord again.
Practicing on a well set up electric will be easier than acoustic and a good set up on an acoustic is critical.
John -
January 30, 2023 at 3:20 pm #333099
Hi Robert, great advice from J-M and charjo. I’ll just add a tip I heard years ago that helped me. When practicing, place your fingers first, then put the barre down last. This will allow your other fingers to seat well on the strings, then the bar just “fills in” the missing notes as J-M discussed. One does eventually get used to barre chords, but it always seems to be a challenge for a while. I know I struggled with it too, and still occasionally have to make adjustment to get it right in the context of a song.
-
January 30, 2023 at 11:09 pm #333147
I appreciate all the great advice and encouragement! I’m new to the community, so this has been really refreshing. I know posting a newbie question like this on most social media sites would get a lot of negative comments.
Thanks again for the kind words of encouragement!
-
-
AuthorReplies
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.