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(@dylanbarrett)
Posts: 628
Prominent Member
 

Hey guys and gals

I go away for a few days on business, and come back to a thread awash with videos, comments and speculation... :shock: I thought you'd all retired or gone into hibernation...While I was away I saw a strange phenomenon - I think you call it ...rain! :lol:

Hey Jenny - you certainly have come back to us with a bang eh - I did laugh as I've done exactly the same thing on numerous occasions, but breaking strings instead of picks (as I don't use one very well) - it's a tricky business this guitar playing lark... :roll: I won't mentions anything about having hair like wild Irish brambles and bogweed or wishing to be the violinist from Kansas that has a beard so large you could hide some badgers and a couple of weasels within, not knowing they were there until the mating season...beware the Dungeon...

Hope everyone has checked out Stella original song on youtube - Song of the Sycamore - I wonder when people will start to cover it and her lawyers ask for them to remove it from the list... It's ggggggreat!

Nice to be back in the Mediterranean sunshine and close to the one I love - I had to give her a pluck as soon as I got home... :wink: and I've bought her lots of nice presents too. :D

See you all soon.

Rock on!

D 8)

I'm nowhere near Chicago. I've got six string, 8 fingers, two thumbs, it's dark 'cos I'm wearing sunglasses - Hit it!

 
Posted : 04/07/2008 11:16 am
(@isabelle)
Posts: 244
Reputable Member
Topic starter
 

:D Jenny I LOVED your last one - keep them coming :D

Right folks. What's a good (ie. easy) song to learn barres? I'm stuck down here in open chords land and I can't find the way out.

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!

 
Posted : 11/07/2008 1:57 pm
 Nuno
(@nuno)
Posts: 3995
Famed Member
 

Hi Isabelle,

Try Hotel California, it is a classic for learning barre chords. It is a great song, has enough open chords to keep practicing them and only adds two no so difficult barre chords. There is a good version in the Easy songs forum.

 
Posted : 11/07/2008 2:30 pm
(@rparker)
Posts: 5480
Illustrious Member
 

Isabelle, there's a song in the ESD by America called Sister Golden Hair. It uses the EM, Am and E shaped barre chords, and makes you switch from open-barre at times. That's 75% of what you'll need. (leaving only the A-shaped one to deal with.) Also in the ESD is Melissa by the Allman Brothers Band. It uses open and barre chords....which is hard to switch to and from sometimes. Melissa uses the A, Am and Em shaped barre chords and requires some quick switching. (The trade off, is that the barre chord strums are sweet and simple)

Hotel California, as Nuno mentioned, is nice too. I just learned and used the easy version with the capo, so I never bothered to go the barre chord route. It wasn't broke.....

Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin

 
Posted : 11/07/2008 2:52 pm
 KR2
(@kr2)
Posts: 2717
Famed Member
 

Hey, Izzy.
If you decide to do Hotel California, a link to a video that SimonSays posted was very helpful to me and made it very fun to play the chords to that song.
And it actually sounds like Hotel California :!:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/424297/guitar_lesson_the_eagles_hotel_california/
The two bar chords used in that lesson are F sharp and B minor.
The Bminor chord is similar to the F sharp chord (the fingering is just shifted when going from Bm to F#)
Good luck with your battle with barre chords.
KR2

It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.

 
Posted : 11/07/2008 5:11 pm
(@isabelle)
Posts: 244
Reputable Member
Topic starter
 

Hi Isabelle,

Try Hotel California, it is a classic for learning barre chords. It is a great song, has enough open chords to keep practicing them and only adds two no so difficult barre chords. There is a good version in the Easy songs forum.

Thanks. I clicked on the link. Scrolled up. And ended up trying Matt's easy open chords version.

I'm doomed.
Good luck with your battle with barre chords.

Sadly Ken, it looks like the war's over.

 
Posted : 12/07/2008 11:06 am
 KR2
(@kr2)
Posts: 2717
Famed Member
 

Sadly Ken, it looks like the war's over.
No!
Don't give up on it.
It's probably going to take a while to build up the finger strength (a year or two :shock: )
Just get that thumb behind the neck and squeeze hard. (Pretend it's your mother-in-law's neck)
Or if that doesn't work you can always use the index to fret the first two strings (instead of trying to bar all six) and just strum the first 4 or 5 strings.
I believe "they" call that cheating but I'm not going to suggest you cheat.
Well, I'm going to avoid phrasing it in that manner.

Because it is imperative that we all . . .

Rock on!

It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.

 
Posted : 12/07/2008 12:51 pm
 Nuno
(@nuno)
Posts: 3995
Famed Member
 

No! Don't give up on it.
+1

What's the problem?

 
Posted : 12/07/2008 1:07 pm
(@isabelle)
Posts: 244
Reputable Member
Topic starter
 

No! Don't give up on it.
+1

What's the problem?

It hurts :cry:

 
Posted : 12/07/2008 2:17 pm
(@rparker)
Posts: 5480
Illustrious Member
 

(he says at risk of being ignored again) where does it hurt? I'm fighting the same thing. I've got about 1/2 to 1 dozen songs that I play lots of barres on. Some songs I cannot finish.

Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin

 
Posted : 12/07/2008 2:25 pm
(@isabelle)
Posts: 244
Reputable Member
Topic starter
 

Sorry Roy - I didn't mean to ignore your post : :oops:

It hurts at the wrist - with the thumb at the back of the neck, I get my wrist bent backwards and up (if that makes sense) so I can try and barre the strings... An akward thing to do - it doesn't feel natural at all.

I must be going wrong somewhere, but where... and I don't have a lot of patience for these things at the moment...

 
Posted : 12/07/2008 2:37 pm
 Nuno
(@nuno)
Posts: 3995
Famed Member
 

Ok! Start slowly. Practice the barre in the middle of the neck (it is easier in that way). You can use only your index finger along the neck, go up and down, just doing downstrokes, and put your attention in the fret hand. You must get strength for that finger. If you hurt, rest sometime but it is important you practice everyday.

Sometimes it is easier if you don't use all your fingers (at least for me). So perhaps you can also try some blues progressions. They use 7th chords that you can play with three fingers: the barre and, sometimes, you will use the ring and the pinky, thus your middle finger can help to your index with the barre.

Try some progressions like A7 - D7 - A7 - A7 - D7 - D7 - A7 - A7 - E7 - D7 - A7 - A7

Add a shuffle rhythm! :wink:

 
Posted : 12/07/2008 2:39 pm
 Nuno
(@nuno)
Posts: 3995
Famed Member
 

Perhaps you (both) are not using the correct hand position. Here it is a video that explains the barre chords and propose some exercises similar to I said previously:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-mUQqryAb0

If the song has lots of barre chords, sometimes I alternate the barre fingering with a thumb fingering over the neck.

What is your string gauge? I had a .013 and you needed a Swatzeneger's hands to play.

 
Posted : 12/07/2008 2:50 pm
(@rparker)
Posts: 5480
Illustrious Member
 

No worries. Isabelle.

Nuno, my hand position is exactly of his. No problems there. Just ran through some chords. In about 2 minutes, the thumb started aching. Weird.

I did some search on Google and GN yesterday and will do some more. Chances are, either I'm still pressing too hard or my thumbs' too far up the neck on the back side. Or, both.

Isabelle, if I squeeze super-hard, I can feel it in my wrist, too. I don't squeeze that hard normally, though. Maybe too much pressure? I know, it comes with practice. I couldn't do a barre chord for the longest time. Now I can do whole songs of 'em. or. until it hurts too much.

I'm not gonna barre anything for a few days and start anew. Going to give the thumb a rest. ANYTHING I try right now hurts.

Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin

 
Posted : 12/07/2008 5:37 pm
(@isabelle)
Posts: 244
Reputable Member
Topic starter
 

Thanks.

With your advice and encouragements I gave it another go today, with capo on the 2nd fret and Bm and F# chords... My Bm is coming along nicely (well, nicely enough for me to carry on working on it without tearing all my hair out just yet)... I'm finding the F# more difficult, I keep muting some strings. It must be time to cut my fingernails again :roll:

In any case, my wrist doesn't hurt at all today. I'm not quite sure what I was doing wrong... I'll have to see what it's like when I try without the capo again.

Roy - I hope it gets better soon. Sounds painful :(

 
Posted : 13/07/2008 1:32 pm
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