Oh them barre chords

If you're not already doing it, push your wrist forward so you have a gap between the bottom of the neck and your palm; make sure your fingers touch the strings at a 90* angle; don't turn the neck towards you watching, the fretboard; pick each string separately and adjust your fingers to find the right positions to make the strings ring; try rolling your index finger towards the headstock. And just keep practicing them.

Aye, thanks for the reminder on the palm. I have developed a REALLY bad habit of griping the guitar like a baseball bat.. I'll add that into my practice of this song.. bad habits are HARD to break, no?

I read the bad habits are the worst in guitar (instruments in general) because you must forget them and learn the correct way.

Some I can play and some I cannot. The chords that are "A" shapped gives me fits. They sound like heck and lower my abillity to play a fully barred song in it's entirety. I can play the Am and E shaped ones much better both in sound and duration. So, the F chord is OK for me as long as I don't have to play it and other barre chords contantly for a 4 minute song. Never could to begin with, but some sleep issues this Spring lead to a sleep pressurepoint issue in my left thumb of all places.

I can't do a mini-barred F worth a hoot. Sometimes I'll play that little cheating F (X-X-3-2-1-X), but most cases the barred version sounds way much gooderficated to me. (I invented the word myself just now)

edited to correct spelling errors

Some I can play and some I cannot. The chords that are "A" shapped gives me fits. They sound like heck and lower my abikity to play a fukky barred song in it's entirety. I can play the Am and E shaped ones much better both in sound and duration.

My teacher said not to worry about sounding the high E string with your index finger, if you tend to sound it at your ring finger like I do. I just can't keep from sounding it.

He said just sound the 4 strings... the A, D, G, B at their respective frets for the particular chord and mute the high E. For example Bmaj... mute the high E and don't worry about the F# since there's an F# already.

That's pretty much how I do it now. Kind of bites when I'm moving right along in some song and then a B or Bb comes along. I can hit it in time, it just sounds wretched. It's OK If I'm doing Dire Straits' "Sultan Of Swing". all of those A-shaped barres are kind of power chord-like in sound anyhow. In that case, back to the case of being able to play about 1/2 the song before thumb issues force me to rest. Some other songs that have a lot of barres give me no problems. Songs like Melissa (B,Bm,C#,F#m,G#m) I can play all day long...with bad sounding B chords, of course.

I hear you. You Don't Mess Around With Jim has an A and B in the pre-chorus, but the verses are E and A shuffles. And then A, B, E, E shuffle, B7, then back to E and A shuffles for the next verse. Rinse and repeat.
A shuffle
Well he's big and dumb as a man can come
But he's stronger than a country hoss
B A
And when the bad folks all get together at night
B A E (shuffle)
You know they all call Big Jim "boss". Just because... They say...ooh don't know...

CHORUS:
A E A E
You don't tug on Superman's cape; you don't spit into the wind
A
You don't pull the mask of the old Lone Ranger
B E (shuffle) B7
And you don't mess around with Jim (Ba-doo-da-doo-doo doo-doo-doo-doo doot)

They can be played as "5" chords, but I like the sound of the major chords better.
A (shuffle)
Well he's big and dumb as a man can come
But he's stronger than a country hoss
B5 A5
And when the bad folks all get together at night
B5 A5 E (shuffle)
You know they all call Big Jim "boss". Just because... They say...ooh don't know...

CHORUS:
A5 E5 A5 E5
You don't tug on Superman's cape; you don't spit into the wind
A5
You don't pull the mask of the old Lone Ranger
B5 E (shuffle) B7
And you don't mess around with Jim (Ba-doo-da-doo-doo doo-doo-doo-doo doot)

Point being, they are fast changes between completely different formations. Kind of like changing between open and barre chords in Instant Karma. So I play it as barres as much as possible, even the G in the opening. It's almost impossible for me at this point to do an F#m and open A.
Intro: Emaj Gmaj 1 downstroke each, let ring

(Verse 1)
A F#m
Instant karma's gonna get you
A F#m
Gonna knock you right in the head
A F#m
You better get yourself together,
F G A
Pretty soon you're gonna be dead
D Bm
What in the world you thinking of?
D Bm
Laughing in the face of love
C Am
What on earth you tryin' to do?
D
It's up to you
E7
Yeah you

The chord's voicing and where I am right before and after it are what does it for me. Some things you just have to do barred to sound right. The opposite holds true too. I bet it's all pretty personal. I have to play a barred F on a Keith Richards' solo song called "Hate It When You Leave" to have it sound right. The barred Am right afterwards doesn't do it for me. I have to do it and the rest of the song open. "Sultans Of Swing" doesn't do it for me with open chords. Especially the F.

I was having problems doing an obscure one from the 70's called Lido Shuffle by Boz Skaggs. I found a video on You Tube last night. He's doing exactly what you're talking about. Power chords. He did have a very full band behind him though, so he didn't have to do the whole chord probably. Still, I'm going to try that out. (He had 1 drummer, 1 bass, 1 more guitarist, two on keys, two man-horn section and two back up singers.)

The chord's voicing and where I am right before and after it are what does it for me. Some things you just have to do barred to sound right. The opposite holds true too. I bet it's all pretty personal. ...

Sometimes I can't decide how I want to play something, and I get confused with what I like. :roll:
I was having problems doing an obscure one from the 70's called Lido Shuffle by Boz Skaggs. I found a video on You Tube last night. He's doing exactly what you're talking about. Power chords. He did have a very full band behind him though, so he didn't have to do the whole chord probably. Still, I'm going to try that out. (He had 1 drummer, 1 bass, 1 more guitarist, two on keys, two man-horn section and two back up singers.)

I remember the song well. Boz Scaggs and Steve Miller were school friends. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boz_Scaggs

I learned the barre chords first, and the open chords (cowboy chords as a good friend of mind and an excellent guitarist calls them) frustrate me. The barre chords are so much easier. Learn 3-5 hand shapes for the same chord in all the keys. (The F chord is exactly like the F#, G, G#, A, etc.)

I find that pressing the strings too hard is also a problem. When I started I really gripped the neck. Later I found that accurate finger positions and a lighter touch is much better. They ring out clear and your thumb muscle doesn't get a major cramp.

I'll play open chords if the song requires that, but if not, I'd rather play barre chords. I think once you get over the learning curve, and you get them "under your fingers" you will find them easy.

Insights and incites by Notes

the first fret F chord (barre E form) is one of the more difficult because it requires greater downward force due to proximity to the nut (it's geometry). moreover, this is even worse -- and sometimes nigh impossible -- if the nut is not properly slotted and the strings are too high. it may not be ALL your fault: maybe your guitar's nut needs some attention.

The F chord has been a thorn in my side for the last week ... a song I am working on uses it extensively.

Last night I tried tuning my guitar down a step and then capo'ing the first fret. It made a world of difference.

I don't think my guitar is set up bad at all... but the extra fraction of a millimeter his made forming the chord so much easier.

Is this an okay way to do it for now? Does it mean I need some setup on my guitar, or just more strength/practice forming the barre chord?

<...>Is this an okay way to do it for now? Does it mean I need some setup on my guitar, or just more strength/practice forming the barre chord?

There isn't a wrong way to play the guitar, and if you don't plan on playing with other musicians, this would be fine.

However, I don't advise it.

When I was very young and in my very first band, we covered a song that was done in F. The guitar and bass player had difficulty with the song so they tuned their guitars up a half step and played it in E. Later on that caused big problems with songs we covered in the key of E as they had to play them in Eb.

And it is true, the F barre chord is the trickiest. But with practice, patience and perseverance you will eventually get it. In the meantime if you get a "thuddy" instead of a clear note, don't worry about it, jut work on making it better next time.

At least that is my personal opinion - YMMV

Notes

Thanks for the recommendations!

Since I am capo'ing it on the first fret, I am still playing in E.

Most of the songs I am working on right now are in the first 5 frets, so I am not relying on the dot markers on the fretboard, so having it capoed shouldn't cause problems later in that way.

I can do a full F barre on my classical fairly easily... so I think I will try leaving the capo on the acoustic for a couple of weeks and once I get the position and quick changes down (and strength, etc) I will try pulling it off again.

Thanks