How to play Barre (bar) Chords

[Robert****]

You don't have to go to the bar to play bar chords...

[Shredd Ed]

Hi Robert,

Cool. Thanks for that.

Just that one small tip in the vid about thumb position has made all the difference for me. I've always had the thumb too high up and lowering it has strengthen my barre right up.

As always, it's the small things that make a big difference.

Ed

[piebaldpython***]

Excellent vid Robert. Great tip about the thumb. That will help a lot as I tend to have my thumb all over the place.

Hmmmm.....any chance you could do a vid about placement of the thumb for soloing. Like if you were doing the Am pentatonic scale at the 5th fret, could you show what does your thumb do during the scale I really have no clue as to what to do with my thumb at these times.

A vid would be immeasurably helpful. Thanks.

[ibanezjunkie]

i do my barre chords like hendrix, cus i learned half of what i know from watching him.

how he plays purple haze especially.

[sunvalleylaw]

It is good for me to review this. Although I have been playing barres a couple years now, I still struggle with some shapes, and getting all strings to ring cleanly all the time. For some reason, the 5th string root major chord (D in your example) is harder for me to get to sound good. You mention not using the last string, and I think I either keep hitting the B/High E strings which don't sound so good, or when I don't, miss the sound of those strings. The chord then sounds more like an expanded power chord to me. Fine in a rock song, but not as nice sounding as the other barres for the jazzy stuff I am trying to learn to play with my Dad here soon.

I also struggle with my thumb position (my instructor wants it in line with the barre, while I tend to point it up more toward the headstock along the skunk line), and with gripping too hard. I continue to work on finding a good hand position that gives me the strength I need, without me overworking it. Sometimes I like to mix it up with the Hendrix/Mayer thumb over the top type to let my hand relax, and just to mix it up.

[Barre Fly]

I'm really struggling with barre chords and I thought the video was excellent. I think alot of my problem is that my fingers just aren't strong enough. It's not so bad when I'm playing my squier, but on my accoustic it's a lot harder to hold the strings down properly - but I really want to persevere with that as I love the accoustic sound.

The thumb positioning was a really good tip, as someone else said. I'd been told previously to position it higher up the back of the neck in relation to where your finger was and it wasn't giving me as much of a counterpoint as this method.

[ibanezjunkie]

a good way to get finger stregth is to do things like trill exercises (swift/fast hammers and pulls) or play guitar hero for a couple of hours, on expert...until your hands ache.

or get one of these

[MichaelE]

I'm really struggling with barre chords and I thought the video was excellent. I think alot of my problem is that my fingers just aren't strong enough. It's not so bad when I'm playing my squier, but on my accoustic it's a lot harder to hold the strings down properly - but I really want to persevere with that as I love the accoustic sound.

The thumb positioning was a really good tip, as someone else said. I'd been told previously to position it higher up the back of the neck in relation to where your finger was and it wasn't giving me as much of a counterpoint as this method.

If you don't play a lot of rythmn guitar it can be tough. I'm a rythmn player mostly because I have such a difficult time with lead. I decided to put a lot of effort into being a good rythmn player. The hand and finger strength comes with a lot of practice.

And don't wimp out and play two note barre chords, play the whole chord top to bottom regardless of whether or not it's supposed to sound. You'll be glad you did when the song calls for all of the notes to sound. You'll learn palm muting and chord hand muting too.

There are so many variations of barre chords you could spend a lifetime learning all of the inversions and practice playing them until you know them in your sleep. You can mix and match too, as they say.

Sometimes the song calls for barre chords transitioning to an open played chord and then back to the barre chords. A lot of times they are easier than sliding all the way up and down the neck to get to them too. Or you'll be moving only in one direction instead of back and forth.

It's worth it to learn them because the music sound so much better than with just two notes.

Back when I was learning a long time ago, no one had ever heard of a 'power' chord using two notes. I don't want to open a can of worms here, but I've always thought that was a cheat for people who couldn't be bothered with actually learning the correct fingering for the chord.

As far as thumb position is concerned, I never really thought about that much in over 30 years of playing. My thumb goes where it's needed for the fingers. Fingers lead, thumb follows. :

[ibanezjunkie]

ever watched hendrix?

i do alot of barre chords like him, because it gives you a bit more variation with lead playing, but im lead guitar so i have to be able to make something from nothing.

hendrix (in purple haze for example) would thumb the low E note, and do his finger formations as usual, and play the B string barre note with his first finger.

although, this does limit you as you play the high E string open every time.


just another variation of barre chords, as Michael rightfully said.

and i feel that its only a power chord is you have a root, a 5th and an octave, because it has to more than 2 notes to technically be a chord.

[just strum]

ever watched hendrix?

i do alot of barre chords like him,

A lot of distortion so no one knows if it's a clean barre?

[ibanezjunkie]

no just a hefty ovedrive.

class A at 3/4 volume

[Barre Fly]

Thanks guys!

Ibanez, can you actually write me a permission slip stating that I have a valid excuse to play Guitar Hero even more than I do already?

"Sorry kids, get in line! Mummy is working!"

[peachhead***]

Gripmasters are great- you can take 'em anywhere and use them anytime. Mine spends a lot of time with me at work.