Barre Chords vs Open Chords

Howdy. I'm relatively new to the guitar and I'm wondering if someone can tell me if I should put most of my energy into learning barre chords and their associated positions up and down the neck as opposed to memorizing open chords and their positions? It just seems that in the long run, learning barre chords and their positions would serve a person better.
Any feedback would be appreciated.
Pat

I would start with the open chords, and then learn the barre chords. Reason being that most of the barre chords are made up from the open cords. The F chord which is considered an open chord, because it is at the top of the neck is a barre chord.

It is usually the last one I teach a student because of the level of difficulty, and it leads to the other E formation barre chords. The reason I call it an E formation barre chord is because, with the exception of the barre it is an E chord formation.

You can try to learn the barre chords first, but usually the open chords will help get your fingers in shape for the barre chords. It seems as though you are under the impression that barre chords are very easy to do. I know guys that have been playing for years, and they still cant play them right. It's really up to you, but it's my suggestion that you learn the open chords first. If I can be of any more help, let me know.

JD

I'd get into doing barre chords as soon as possible once you have the open chords pretty much figured out.
Open chords are great for beginners, but once you start moving into different keys you have no choice.

Think of it as the next progression in your steps as a guitar player.

I use open chords as much as possible because they cause less strain on my hand than the barre chords. As Kevin said though, sometimes you have no choice and going from a barre to an open chord may not always be optimal for the song you are playing. I generally prefer the sound of an open chord for most things but tend to get less intonation issues (chords sound out of tune) with barre chords.

When my hand starts to hurt, I look for ways to incorporate an open chord or two into what I am playing to give my hand a rest.. just because my hand is hurting doesn't mean I can stop playing halfway through a song when I am playing live... it's not a good idea to play when your hand hurts because you can cause damage to your muscles but it's just one of those things. So if you can minimise the strain by using open chords, all the better.