I've been playing accoustic guitar for around a year and still have problems playing some Barre chords. Especially the F major chord on first fret. So much so that I always look to play chords that dont need some part of its fingering on first fret. I have tuned my guitar down a tone also. Makes pressing the strings a little easier...Ok for now because I just play to myself. I am starting to get a bit bolder and just place my fingers randomly on the frets to see what sounds they make.....then try to work out what chords they form.
First welcome to the forum.
Hope you have had a look at some of the lessons available, a lot of questions can be answered there.
When I started with acoustic I switched to extra light strings, that let me practice longer without so much pain, might let you barre with less pressure. If your guitar has not been set up by a guitar tech the action my be high requiring you to press harder to get your barre down. You can check it yourself with instructions from the web. Another thing I have seen is putting a capo up the neck at the 4th or 5th fret. that makes it easier because the frets are closer so not so much of a stretch. I also play tuned down 1/2 a step to fit with a lot of the songs I sing.
As far as fretting random chords and then figuring them out seems like a good idea, you might pick up some theory that way.
Remember those three terrible words. Practice, practice, practice.
Best of luck
Jack
Thanks for the reply. I think my guitar is set up as well as it could be. The gap between my low E string and the body fret (fret 16) is about 3 mm. And I have done that check where you put capo on first fret and press the low 3 string at the body fret.....and the gap at fret7 is about one mililitre. Reading stuff on the net suggests this is ok. I might try lighter strings. Might just stick a light top e string (the thinnest one) as this is the hardest to press on the first fret.
Ok. So have put a lighter top e string on guitar. It does seem to play better/ easier to press string. But something has happened with tuning. The fretted notes on the first 2 frets on e string play sharp. As a 'trade off' I have to tune the string a little flat . So D major chord played on the second fret seems ok.....but open e string sounds a little flat when I play E Maj or A Maj.
