A lot of people are able to play bar chords but how should we incorporate them in our own playing, so you use them more and become better at them. Are there some basic guidelines?
When is it better to use bar chords? fast changes?
When approaching fingerstyle, are there techniques that are used a lot between those chords?
Anyone can give a start to sharp my knowledge of using them in a good way.
When shoud I rather use open chords?
I go to a concert and I see guitar players constantly changing bar chords. But I don't have a clue how I can use them myself in such a way...
I'm certainly no expert here but for me using bar chords allows me to:
1) Memorize a few shapes and then have access to every chord independant of the key. Need a minor-7th - got it (whether it be Cm7 or Em7 - same shape different fret). Major/minor/7th/sus just memorize a couple shapes and you've got them all.
2) Better control / ability to mute strings / play staccato. Using a bar I can more easily mute the strings or stop the ringing instantly with just my left hand.
and 3) for me the biggest is easily switching between chords. Especially same types (G to A) just slide up 2 frets. vs the open chords and moving all the fingers around to get the proper string / fret down quickly / cleanly.
One thing is that there are many times in my playing where the open chords just sound better (especially for me playing very clean or on the acoustic). There are times when those open strings ringing just fit better than a bar chord.
Hope this helps at least a little....enjoy.
Selecting chord voicings is one of those skills that seperates the real musicians from the wanna-be's.
There are entire books on the subject, but when you get right down to it, this is the "art" part of Music.
Some good guidelines are that your chord shapes should map out baselines that make sense for the type of music you're playing, no note should be too far away from a note in a previous voicing, and unless you're doing it on purpose because you know what you're doing, avoid creating intervals that are highly dissonant (like flat 9ths and augmented fourths).
Once you've gotten bar chords under your belt, you'll realize that htey are just another chord shape and there's nothing particularly special about them. There are plenty of harder chord shapes to master out there . ..
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
They're good for:
arpeggiating
strumming
they're full chords so they last longer if you were to rake them and another benefit of their fullness is they're loudness when you strum them vigorously,etc
they're very moveable shapes
you can easily break them up into smaller chords and chord partials and double stops,etc
they're good for fingerpicking or hybrid picking
you should easily be able to harmonize a scale with them:C barre chord,Dm barre chord,Em barre chord,F barre chord,G barre chord,Am barre chord,Bm7b5(this one doesn't barre too well so you kind of have to adjust for this one.But there's an example of moving the basic barre shapes through the scale diatonically.Or like I said before this is simply harmonizing the scale with barre chords.
they seem to go well with pentatonics too
Oh and they seem to go beautifully with acoustic guitar playing due to their fullness and percussiveness!
8)
Oh and they seem to go beautifully with acoustic guitar playing due to their fullness and percussiveness!
I agree with everything above, except this one.
In my experience, acoustic guitar players tend to avoid barre chords much more than electric players.
They very often use a capo and then play everything in G (Em) or C (Am) in order to be able to use open chords only.
--
Helgi Briem
hbriem AT gmail DOT com
Oh and they seem to go beautifully with acoustic guitar playing due to their fullness and percussiveness!
I agree with everything above, except this one.
In my experience, acoustic guitar players tend to avoid barre chords much more than electric players.
They very often use a capo and then play everything in G (Em) or C (Am) in order to be able to use open chords only.
Would you say that's if they are using a pick as opposed to their fingers?
Both actually. I have no inside knowledge, I just report what I see.
--
Helgi Briem
hbriem AT gmail DOT com
Thanks for the reply's
I'm an acoustic player. I do think most acoustic players (amateurs) do not use bar chords very often.
I'm going to spit out the voicings subject. My understanding became better now.
Much appreciated
have fun playing, struggling, practicing, practicing, practicing and kicking ass
Both actually. I have no inside knowledge, I just report what I see.
:D haha,alright. 8)
What about like flamenco techniques though?
It sure sounds like some of them are hitting barre chords and using all of their fingerpicking/rasgeuado(sp?) techniques to get the jangly percussive sound.
New guy perspective: I definatley find the open chords sound a better on the acoustic than the barre chords. But in depends on the song. Different voicings is kind of elusive to me now. If I look up a song and try to play the chords the just don't sound right and trying to find a different voicing for them where I can play all the chords within a short distance of one another is difficult. Also tyring to hear what voice the chord has is difficult. I'm sure it is a time and experience thing.
Old guy perspective -- as a player of accoustic gypsy jazz, I use very very few barre chords.
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." -- HST
bar chords don't necessarily sound bad on an acoustic, sometimes theres no way to get away without a bar chord, and after playing them to the point of being able to ring out all 6 notes they don't really sound any worse, the only downside is its harder to sustain fretted notes than open notes between chord changes
