Barre Chords - Nightmare !!

[Ninanina]

As some may know I'm learning electric guitar but I just cant seem to be able to do a basic F barre chord.. they just hurt my fingers and I get buzzing strings all over the place...:doh:

Anyone have any tips to getting the barre chords right as I'm getting mighty peed off with them at the moment

Thanks for any help


;)

[Stratmangler]

If it hurts then try hanging your thumb over the bass F note and play the rest of the chord with your remaining fingers.

http://ezstrummer.com/chord_images/f_chord.gif

As per the image - use the fingers shown, but play the note on the 6th string with your thumb.
It's worth developing the hand strength to play the chord normally, and it's best if you can swap between the two ways of playing the chord.

[Ninanina]

If it hurts then try hanging your thumb over the bass F note and play the rest of the chord with your remaining fingers.

http://ezstrummer.com/chord_images/f_chord.gif

As per the image - use the fingers shown, but play the note on the 6th string with your thumb.
It's worth developing the hand strength to play the chord normally, and it's best if you can swap between the two ways of playing the chord.

Thanks Chris I will try that method :)

[lurcher]

To be honest, its not hard to play either of those shapes, I bet if you held each string down on its own, your fingers would be fine. What you are working against is the force it needs to try and get the fingers to go there and stay there all of them at the same time. You are fighting yourself not the guitar. if you look at how the hand works, the fingers are moved by tendons, and the muscles that pull on them are nowhere near your finger tips, you are learning a physical thing that your hands have never done before.

With that in mind, try some simple finger exercises to gain control of your fingers, alternate between the exercises and trying the chord shapes.

http://www.justinguitar.com/en/TE-102-MinimumMovement.php

If its hurting the tips of your fingers it may be you are tilting the fingers over too far and you are not using the tips or pads but closer to the nail bed.

[Oldpinkman]

Justin is definitely your man. Practice is the key. Little and often.
I think the thumb over is harder, but I have small hands.

How you turn your hand makes a difference. And F is hardest like B flat, due to being at the nut. Practice an A to start with (F at the 5th fret). If you can play that clean an F will come eventually.

2 tips work well for me.

Don't just practice one thing, particularly something you can't do. You just get worse, and it aches sooner. If it's hurting you will just be getting worse.
2- practice playing well, slowly- and don't practice playing it wrong. Sounds obvious, but in a rush to pick up new songs to accompany sue, who is a professional singer, I used to rush and would end up training myself to play it wrong.

[Gordon Steadman]

How is it further up the fretboard? If you can manage half way up without buzzing, its always possible that the nut is too high. The strings will fight you if the gap is too big. It shouldn't take any effort if the guitar is set up right, no matter where you make the chord, just resting the fingers without too much pressure should be enough.

[Haselsh1]

Movable chords never sound quite as good as open chords unless you stick a bit of distortion on the sound which adds quite a bit of sustain. Classic rock rules...!

[Oldpinkman]

Movable chords never sound quite as good as open chords unless you stick a bit of distortion on the sound which adds quite a bit of sustain. Classic rock rules...!

I must plug that into my acoustic sometime! Try Am to F for "Power of Love" (If you are playing in key with Gabrielle Aplin it needs a Capo at the first to make it Bb minor to F#)

If it helps to feel there's others in the same boat Bev I'm struggling with a new chord - well changing to it. Gmaj7. Don't get me wrong - I can play this chord quite comfortably a couple of ways. This is a new one, and my little fat fingers don't like it. Root is on the 5th fret 4th string, and its a sort of stretched version of the Fmaj7 which is an easy version of the 4 string F.
It needs a half bar change to it from D major, and playing a finger style accompaniement with the bass note first, I gotta get the bass string fingered instantly on the change.
I can change fast enough to strum in time with the music now. Its gonna be a few weeks before the finger style is seamless :(

[Haselsh1]

I must plug that into my acoustic sometime!

You could always buy a decent guitar

;)

[take5]

practice playing well, slowly- and don't practice playing it wrong. Sounds obvious, but in a rush to pick up new songs to accompany sue, who is a professional singer, I used to rush and would end up training myself to play it wrong.



Great advice.

This is the best practice advice available, for anyone, at any level.

[Oldpinkman]

You could always buy a decent guitar

;)
I covet a maton messiah to the accompaniment of gollum noises. :)

I do have a wee plug in jobbie which does for me too - but never seem to have time to play it. :(

[The Black Adder]

Yeah, try and lower the action slightly. Might be best to send it to a guru and have it fettled. :)

As mentioned, for one, practice is the key.
Have you got nails? If you have like me it's time to clip em.
Softer strings maybe? - Not a great fan of soft strings myself but they can be used for practicing quite well.

Buy an air guitar? :)

[Stratmangler]

Softer strings maybe? - Not a great fan of soft strings myself but they can be used for practicing quite well.

I've never seen soft strings for a Strat (or any other type of electric guitar for that matter) ;)

[Oldpinkman]

I've never seen soft strings for a Strat (or any other type of electric guitar for that matter) ;)

Depending on whats fitted now you can get lighter gauge strings. I used to use really weedy ones like 9-42's on electric. Eric Clapton wouldn't last 30 seconds with em. Trouble is, if you change the string gauge you are going to need to adjust the tremolo spring (and strictly, probably the truss rod). I'll never forget the first time I changed string gauge, and nobody explained that to me, and I spent about 6 hours solid trying to tune this guitar which ended up like a banana - made worse because I have a floyd-rose type.

So you come back to a good set-up. But I thought Bev was having lessons, and her teacher would know about action - and she had the action set when she bought it, or am I getting muddled. Certainly, if it hasn't been set up, £60 with a really good guitar tech, for the full monty including a fret dress is priceless. Sooo much nicer playing a well set-up guitar.

But I expect the issue is practice - and you'll get it in the end. It wasn't so long ago I threatened to put mine on the fire cos I was never going to be able to play an A open major chord (fat fingers). :eek:

[Stratmangler]

I agree with you about practice being the likely cause of the issue, Richard, but as has also been said in the thread there could be an issue with setup.

Fender USA (and Bev's guitar is an American Standard Strat) are usually OK with their setups, but they're not always spot on.
The first thing I did when I got my American Deluxe Strat home was whip the strings off and set it up for a set of 10-46 strings, and adjusted the truss rod and action.
The guitar left the factory with 9-42 strings on, and I prefer a slightly heavier string gauge.
The factory setup was decent enough, so if I'd been happy about the string gauge used I more than likely would have left the setup alone.

[The Black Adder]

I meant lighter gauge... sorry.

[Stratmangler]

I meant lighter gauge... sorry.

:D

[Ninanina]

Fender USA (and Bev's guitar is an American Standard Strat) are usually OK with their setups

Yes my main Strat is an American Standard and my teacher has checked it out for me and believe the action is as low as possible so I can't use that as an excuse, my other Strat is a cheapo Idonesian one (which actually plays quite well!) and the action is still pretty low set..

Today, in my lesson, I managed to do the F barre chord a few times pretty well so maybe the practice is at last paying off... I can't do it well every time but I think I might be getting there.. ;)

[Stratmangler]

I can't do it well every time but I think I might be getting there.. ;)

It takes time, but it will come.
You'll be doing Andy Summers type stretches before you know it! :)