CH-006 • Basic Barre Chords (incl. all four vid lessons)

[justinguitar]

how do you know when to use a barre chord when reading from tab? I mean, i know that when it says 755xxx or 'A5' i have to play an A
power chord. What will it say when it wants an A barre chord to be played?                                                                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
ps - oh and how do i know when to use a minor or a seventh or a minor seventh barre chord?
pps - and i hope my little tab thing is correct  :roll:

you can play barre chords whenever you like, you get to choose! it never says...

play minor when the chord is minor... experiment and see if a min 7 will sound good it it just says minor...

good luck

J

[ejdg9]

i dont think it is the guitar
there was a lot of fret buzz but i put bigger strings on it and it pulled the neck a bit

the action might just be a little high so you need super strong grip to hold it down... just a guess but i think you will get there with a little more work!

J

thanks for replying personally there
i appreciate it

my barre chords are getting better by the way
but i have this cyst in my wrist now which is stopping me playing
you think the guitar gods are trying to tell me something?

[justinguitar]

The guitar gods only do good things

Sometimes you just have to stop a while - me too sometimes...

Just get back when you can and it will all come back to you quickly enough!

J

[ejdg9]

The guitar gods only do good things

Sometimes you just have to stop a while - me too sometimes...

Just get back when you can and it will all come back to you quickly enough!

J

i dunno man
i think those guitar gods are pissed at me because i dont like the stones or led zeppelin


i have been taking a good long break and i feel i am kinda ready to come back to it
that f chord wont know what hit it i can tell ya
anyway, take it easy

[justinguitar]

yep - not liking the stones or zeppelin is bound to enrage the guitar gods... how could you???

lol

J

[Hell_Capitan]

I started playing on a god awful $99 Epi....then I screwed with it and made it even worse.  The "action" was through the roof.  I kept trying, and it kept buzzing, so I figured it was just the guitar.  It partially was...I bought a new guitar because I felt I had earned it, with the 1/2" thick calluses I had built up (maybe a slight exageration) and after a week or two I was playing them fine on the new guitar...still a little slow, but no buzzing.  After another week or two, I could play them on the old guitar too....it just takes time to build up those muscles.

And the guitar gods are mad at you.

[PetefromFinland]

Oh man, this is what you get when you´re learning by yourslef.. I´ve been doing the "kink" thing like always. It seems just so natural to twist the wrist like that.. well, trying to get away from that. Doesn´t seem to be a that big change to watch it. Maby recuires bit more strength...

I´m also having the problem especially with the 1th fret with the bar finger. How do you guys keep your other fingers from going sideways too. I mean many times I go like "hey, I got it perfect!", but then notice that the other fingers, especially the secon,d are also sideways. It´s just natural that it curves sideways as the bar finger does.. weird.

[san26v]

even i m unable 2 get tat "kink" out of my barre...i hav been playin it tat way 4 months now...n its hard 2 change...wen i try n do it...i lose grip of de 6th string...n al of a sudden i feel i hav 4 stumpy fingers....
may b i can hold the guitar tilted such tat the left side is much higher than the right..cant imagine hw justin plays it so easily without a major tilt.....pls help...
--sant

[PetefromFinland]

Well, I´ve noticed I´m getting better, but the F is still the hardest one for sure, and I believe you really can´t hold your wrist all straight on that one.(not that I´d hold it completely straight on let´s say an A) I notice it´s better to do like Justin on the video, lock your grip and let your forearm be loose. (at first I tried to get the wrist straight by lifting the forearm from the shoulder. looks stupid.)

just concentrate your energy in the middle  It´s cool to notice that it actually doesn´t seem to require that much strength when you´re doing it right. I remember back when I really had to squeeze my fingers so they´d go all flat on the side.. wrongly.

It´s more difficult to change fast between for example the F and open chords so that it doesn´t start to raddle. Practise, practise..

[DaSilvaRenegade]

guessing that im not the only one who has a muffled b string when playing string barres, how do u guys deal with it. also how is ur thumb positioned on the back of the neck

Duo

[dick 51]

Hi all,

I think this question has been answered before but I am confused as to which is correct to mute or not to mute the High E string when finguring the A shaped barre chord. I have read previous posts but they do not seem to clarify what is the correct way to learn it.

In the video showing the A shape finguring the High E string is muted.

If you barre the high E string as well you get a 5th degree of the chord
as far as I can work out. To my ear it sounds OK.

Is this a voicing thing or have I missed somethng I am a beginner so please be gentle with me. Perhaps someone can clarify this for me.

Dick.

[justinguitar]

guessing that im not the only one who has a muffled b string when playing string barres, how do u guys deal with it. also how is ur thumb positioned on the back of the neck

Duo

everyone has some hassle with barre chords, one note or another is not clear... it is just playing about until you figure it out i'm afraid

thumb position can effect it, but it is mostly down to strength = practice!

good luck



TO DICK 51 - just mute the outside two e strings when playing an a shape barre. you can do other things if you like - but just mute them is the best and most common way!

J

[lamkoekje]

Hi,

Ive got a question,
Sometimes when i see people play the A shape bar chords they use their pinky somewhere a fret higher.
When, where and how could you use this?

P.

[elewis33]

guessing that im not the only one who has a muffled b string when playing string barres, how do u guys deal with it. also how is ur thumb positioned on the back of the neck

Duo

everyone has some hassle with barre chords, one note or another is not clear... it is just playing about until you figure it out i'm afraid

thumb position can effect it, but it is mostly down to strength = practice!

good luck



TO DICK 51 - just mute the outside two e strings when playing an a shape barre. you can do other things if you like - but just mute them is the best and most common way!

J

OK, I've been toying with barre chords for some time and have some seemingly insurmountable problems. First one seems to be that I have a lot of interference between strings and fingers. In other words, my fretting fingers are constantly getting in the way of adjacent strings, causing muting or buzz.

Conversely, when I get my fretting fingers in a place where the strings ring nicely my barre will break down and I'll get muting from the barre finger. I know this takes time, patience and practice, and I'm really trying to be patient, but this is getting pretty frustrating.

I actually have the most success with the full E-shaped barre, going across all 6 strings with the barre. When the barre is only supposed to be across 3, 4 or 5 strings I seem to lose more control.

For example, I've been trying to follow along with Justin's Stairway to Heaven lesson and all the barre's in the first video segment give me varying levels of problems. Especially the D/F# when you move down the neck. I'm having a really hard time finding just the right part of the index finger to use for the 3 string barre to make it all ring clean whilst holding the second and third fingers on 2 and 4. 


There must be some practice techniques out there that one can use to help build the strength *and* fine motor control required to do barre's successfully. Anyone got any suggestions? Or am I just trying to go too far too fast? Any help or encouragement to get me through this would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

[moonlight]

Hey Justin.  Not only have I learned a lot from you as a guitarist, I've learned from your example as a teacher (I teach English).  Your patience and pleasant demeanor make you a natural.  I'm a Blues lover, so I'm always on the lookout for new Blues vids from you.

My question has to do with the A barre chord, though.  I pulled my right hand ring finger out of joint when I was little, and it's not as flexible as it was before.  Consequently, I tend to use my fourth finger for the A barre.  Is this at all acceptable, or am I just being lazy or unwilling to do what it takes and re-break my finger to get it right?

Thanks,
ml

[justinguitar]

moonlight - lots of people use the 4th finger - including me sometimes. it's no problem. But 3rd has some other advantages (use the 4th for a sus chord and stuff).

elewis - that sounds like hand strength to me - just keep working it - and make sure you don't use your finger too flat - should be at an angle like shown on the vid.

lamko - sometimes the 4th goes on a sus like Dsus4 : x 5 7 7 8 x - the 8 being the little finger making the chord a sus4.

Cheers dudes, J

[EVH Fan]

I prefer to use my 3rd finger other than my 4th because like Justin said you can use the sus chords then.

I play alot of Van Halen so i need to use the A shape and use my 4th finger for the sus chords a lot in his rhythm (intro to panama is a good example).

[flyhead]

To anyone struggling with barre chords:
1) Check your guitar's action.
2) Try placing your thumb at or inside your barring-hand's reach, and see if that helps. You might be ineffectively applying strength at the wrong place, throwing your hand out of balance. I found that doing this allowed me to use far less perceived pressure than otherwise.

[elewis33]

To anyone struggling with barre chords:
1) Check your guitar's action.
2) Try placing your thumb at or inside your barring-hand's reach, and see if that helps. You might be ineffectively applying strength at the wrong place, throwing your hand out of balance. I found that doing this allowed me to use far less perceived pressure than otherwise.

Hey flyhead,

I was just looking at my action last night wondering if that was getting in my way of progressing. I'm playing acoustic most of the time. Haven't tried barre chords on my electric for a long while. Maybe I should, to see how I do on that compared to the acoustic.

Anyway, I do have a little adjustment down on the bridge that I lowered as much as I can, without getting buzz. It seems like it might be a little easier. Should I also look into different, i.e. lighter weight, strings?

I have also tried messing around with placement of the left thumb while fretting the barre and seemed to get a little more consistency and ring out of that. So thanks for confirming that I'm looking at the right things.

Earl

[EVH Fan]

try not to go below 12 gauge acoustic strings. as they or 13 i think sound the best. 11 may sound decent but won't give you the full tone that the 12 or 13 will.

barre chords aren't that hard to do you will probably have more trouble switching between them than getting the chords down. at least i did.

Practice makes perfect.

[wonderfulsnow]

I don't get it how I am supposed to play A-shaped Major barre chords. As I understand, I should put the 2-nd, 3-rd and 4-th fingers on three adjacent frets. It feels clumsy and difficult and usually sounds bad.
Are there any different ways to play these chords? Usually B, H and C#.

[mike42]

Wonderful- Have you watched Justin's barre chords videos?

http://www.justinguitar.com/en/CH-006-BasicBarres.php

Try barring your third finger across those 3 strings, instead of using all 3 fingers. You can also mute the high string and it will still sound fine.

[cazmaestro]

Yh, i am learning the barre chords and i am stuggling to get the 2nd string to play clearly, I am pushing hard and have rolled my finger and am in the correct arm position but i cant get the 2nd string to play clearly, this is worst when i am barring the first fret where i can hardly get any notes clear except the ones that are played with other fingers. PLZ HELP.

[flyhead]

my guess would be that your ring finger is too far away from the fretwire; i had some bother with this too. the only cure is to repeat, repeat and repeat, concentrating on getting your fingers spread. things will resolve slowly, slowly, slowly.
  also, try to place your thumb vertically just inside your barring finger. it takes time to develop strength and technique.
 you'll get more replies on this.

[cazmaestro]

my guess would be that your ring finger is too far away from the fretwire; i had some bother with this too. the only cure is to repeat, repeat and repeat, concentrating on getting your fingers spread. things will resolve slowly, slowly, slowly.
  also, try to place your thumb vertically just inside your barring finger. it takes time to develop strength and technique.
 you'll get more replies on this.

I meant the 2ND STRING, you know, second smallest one.