best songs for learning (awful) barre chords!!??

Try "Wild Thing" by the Troggs - it uses basically 3 chords - A, D, E
A D E
|-5--5--7--|
|-5--7--9--|
|-6--7--9--|
|-7--7--9--|
|-7--5--7--|
|-5--5--7--|
However, being a I-IV-V progression, this can be applied to thousands of other tunes - Summertime Blues comes to mind.

I'm going to have to suggest that you try experimenting with different barre chords and different strumming patterns also. Mix it up and make your own stuff. Don't limit yourself to what someone else plays. This is one thing that I wish I would have done when I was starting out playing. I played only other people's music for the first 9 or 10 years and it really stunted my abilities. I could play anything I wanted but I couldn't think of anything to play on my own because I never exercised that part of my brain. I played for years more after that continuing to play other people's music and found it extremely difficult to come up with my own stuff. Everything I came up with was based on someone else's style. It wasn't until I stopped playing other people's music all together that I found my own style. I'm not saying to not play other people's music. It is a great way to learn little tricks here and there but don't be afraid to try to come up with your own stuff.

Give a try to Abilene all major barre shapes broken with the C7 shape.
ABILENE --– Bill Anderson

G B C G
Abilene, Abilene, Prettiest town that i've ever seen
A7 G D7 G A# G
Women there, don't treat you mean in Abilene, my Abilene


A good excercise would be to take a song that you can play well with open chords and try it with barres.

A good excercise would be to take a song that you can play well with open chords and try it with barres.
Took the words right out of my mouth.

A good excercise would be to take a song that you can play well with open chords and try it with barres.

Ah! and you'll also get some fretboard knowledge to boot!

Let it Be < Beatles (just incase)

That song pulled me through barre chords.

Well , not very surprisingly , i would recommend 'Hotel California'

Its the ultimate song to get barre chords and open chords too.Shifting between the two is even a bigger pain.

That song has everything.

Bm - F# - A - E

G - D - Em - F#

Play only D , E , A as open chords , rest as barre chords.It will take some time , but later it would get very easy.Try on.

And lets not forget ...Hotel California , is one of the best songs of all times ! :D

I also recommend Hotel California. But I use open chords only on E and Em. The rest I play as Barres. Sounds better to my ears when playing alone

Pinball Wizard - the ultimate exercise in barre chords and sus4's.

A :-)

Radiohead "Creep". Has helped me a great deal recently.

If you're starting out with Barres, this is a good choice I think.

Matt

second Creep, Jack Johnsons Sitting, Wishing, Waiting

Matts space oddity lesson is a good one too

I agree, that space oddity has gotten me introduced to different barchords and some strange open chords as well. Definatly a good begginer lesson.

Try "Wild Thing" by the Troggs - it uses basically 3 chords - A, D, E
A D E
|-5--5--7--|
|-5--7--9--|
|-6--7--9--|
|-7--7--9--|
|-7--5--7--|
|-5--5--7--|
However, being a I-IV-V progression, this can be applied to thousands of other tunes - Summertime Blues comes to mind.
excuse me but A D E is not I IV V it's I V VII.