So I was trying barre chords today and suddenly realized that my thumb was hurting like Hell. Apparently, I have the neck in a death grip. Is therer a cure for this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q0nlQoT0Mg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2R7M6whKYY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njexU3H3zjA
It is difficult to answer when one does not understand the question.
MrEworm whenyou practice your barre chords you need to be aware of the pressure you are exerting and your finger, hand and arm positions.
You need to adjust to make sure that you don't have any tension when you are playing if you do it will only compound itself and effect you later on. Try using as light a pressure as you can without muting any strings.
Your goal should be to eliminate any tension while playing.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
MrEworm whenyou practice your barre chords you need to be aware of the pressure you are exerting and your finger, hand and arm positions.
Try putting an E shaped barre at the fifth fret...577655. Barre across the fifth fret with your index finger, first finger on the 6th fret of the G string, middle finger on the 7th fret of the A string, and pinky (ring finger) on the 7th fret of the D string. Take your thumb OFF the back of the neck and press the whole barre chord down - see how much pressure you have to exert? Now put your thumb - loosely - on the back of the neck. Play the chord again. If it doesn't ring clearly, try and increase both the downward presure - from your fingers - and the upward pressure - from your thumb - slightly. The trick is finding a balance between the two pressures - your thumb is stronger than your fingers, but not as strong as all of them pressing downwards at once!
You have to experiment - trial and error, if you like - till you find the best grip for YOU. I'd be willing to bet, with all the damage I've inflicted on my hands over the years (broken fingers, a severed tendon) that my thumb's stronger pro rata than most people's. You have to find the lightest grip that'll work for you - and remember, the lighter the grip you use, the faster & easier it'll be to move those barres around.
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
I've been fine since Christmas with barre chords up through around the 8-9th fret. I am playing/learning something that pops up to the 10th and 11th fret (10 12 11 11 10 10 and 11 13 12 12 11, whatever chords those are) for just a few strums and can't for the life of me figure out how to fit a barre and 3 fingers in that amount of space.
I tend to use just two fingers for "A" shape barre chords, 1 to make the bar(though i actually only need to fret the A string) , and my ring finger to fret the notes on the D,G and B strings, the high E is muted.
that high E ocassionally comes in useful, tho.
unless i'm using it in a melody line, don't really miss, we all like different things i guess.
