Acustic to Electric

Having a hard time with Barre cords on my Martin D -shoud I change Strings
I am using Phosphor Bronze .012-.054.
In relation to the course program when would be a good time to start playing a Electric Guitar. As I understand it is best to learn the Basics on the Acustic first including Barre Cords.
Or how about may be going with a pick-up and amp for the Acustic first, will the playing be easer than a non -amp not amped Acustic.

Barre chords are usually hard in the beginning, so give your muscles a chance to work up to the task.

Using a pick up on your acoustic, with an amp will not make barre chords any easier but you'll be louder. Electric guitars are generally easier to finger as the strings are lighter and the neck more narrow but acoustic is a great place to begin.

There is no good or bad time to start playing electric verses acoustic, in my opinion.

If, after practice, you still have trouble fingering barre chords on the acoustic, using lighter gauge strings can make it easier.

Barre chords are just tough to learn until your hand is strong enough and fingers coordinated enough. I tried them and failed several times before it finally stuck.

It's harder to do them on an acoustic, but you will also gain hand strength faster playing the acoustic so I'd stick with it.

Originally Posted by: Bruce JBarre chords are just tough to learn until your hand is strong enough and fingers coordinated enough. I tried them and failed several times before it finally stuck.

It's harder to do them on an acoustic, but you will also gain hand strength faster playing the acoustic so I'd stick with it.

Barres are not about the strength but about the techniques. Experience players can apply good sounding barres with very little preassure.

Originally Posted by: DaewBarres are not about the strength but about the techniques. Experience players can apply good sounding barres with very little preassure.

Experienced players already have stronger and more flexible and coordinated hands so it is easier for them to play barre chords. What seems like "very little pressure" to them is still tough for a pure beginner.

Ah the barre's, I remember this from being a beginner. My friend who taught me built me up to them by having me play the chord without the index finger to begin with and then introducing it later. Let me see if I can draw this to make it easier....my head's in f minor from what I've been playing tonight so let's use that chord:

E-1------
B-1------
G-1------
D-----3--
A-----3--
E-1------

What I used to do to begin with was:

E--------
B--------
G-1------
D-----3--
A-----3--
E--------

and then

E--------
B-1------
G-1------
D-----3--
A-----3--
E--------

using the index finger on the G and B strings and then later I built up to the first chord I gave.

Move that shape up and down and you'll find there are cetain frets that make it easier to finger because the stretch isn't so big. Try playing d minor on the 10th fret with that shape and you'll see what I mean. Practice that shape all the way up to 12 and beyond if you find your bear-paws aren't too big to go beyond that. I've got quite thin fingers so I can and I've made a few friends jealous that way.

I started on a beat up old acoustic I borrowed from school and when i made the switch to electric when I could afford one I found it paid off because barre chords were automatically easier. I've been reading Keith Richards's autobiog lately and he advocates this approach too, but if you've already got an electric then use it, it's the same in theory but just feels different. You'll find practising on an acoustic will give you firmer and more certain fingering when you play electric. I still find myself having to adjust technique slightly, especially when picking a barre chord - if I've been playing my acoustic and then go electric and strike a big chord like that I find it sounds horrid to start with (especially if I'm playing with a pick) but it just takes a minute of warm-up to adjust how I strike the strings.

Don't change your string gauges on your acoustic, 12-54's pretty much the standard set.

If your hands are big enough there's another trick you can try (again this comes from my friend, he loved this and never used the index finger to barre himself, but I don't really find I do it unless my hands are tired): Try using your thumb to finger the note on the low E string - this is often called the 'baseball bat' technique. When I play chords like that I often leave out the top note on the high E altogether although you can play it by covering B and E with the index finger - I just don't out of personal preference. I do this a lot more on electrics than my acoustic although I had to wait a couple of years for my hands to be big enough when I first started.