Barring and grips

Hey there, I had a one year membership here at guitar tricks. And I was quite satisfied with the service of the site, and how you guys learn us noobs and "pros" to play guitar. Then I came over a huge obstacle which in the end made me quit playing. But now I really, REALLY want to learn how to overcome it.
What made me quit playing in the first place was that I had/have a big problem with barring combined with finger grips. I just seem to not have long enough or loosen fingers to do it! I was wondering if you guys one time had these issues, and how did you learn to do these grips. Some of the grips I struggle hard with are for example. The C majors and minors. It really makes my finger cramp up, and it takes a while to get it right. But its hard, really hard.

If theres tricks or exercises that can let me overcome these obstacles, I am going to pay for 1 more year here at guitar tricks, if not its pointless. As I want to master the guitar, not just play some easy songs like twinkle twinkle or I wish you were here by pink floyd.. heh.

I have been playing for 16 years and still struggle with it. Like you mentioned, my fingers just aren't long enough. You can do all the stretches and exercises you want, but if your fingers/hands aren't big enough, none of it matters.

I can't play a lot of things or grip the guitar the way I should mainly because of my pinky. Not long enough and angles inward towards the neck. Reaching up or out to certain frets is physically just impossible for me to do. Bar chords just won't happen since my index finger doesn't sit properly on the strings. There will always be a muted string for me unless I press down extremely hard (which is NOT what you want to do since it fatigues you). Bar chords is just a matter of rolling your finger around to find that sweet spot. Mine unfortunately falls in an uncomfortable position. (note that my bar chord issues happen with my classical guitar which has a much wider neck than an electric. On an electric it is a lot easier and I have less problems).

So.....2 things:

1) Just keep practicing and doing stretch exercises (as in stretching your finger across the fretboard to reach further) until you can reach your max distance and feel more comfortable. Same goes for bar chords. Practice until you know it's the best you can do.

2) If you know your hands aren't capable of doing something, don't get discouraged. Just find another way to play the same thing, or adjust your hand (maybe you don't need to play ALL the notes in the chord) to make it easier to play. All part of developing your own unique style.

Like I said, I have been playing 16 years, so I know what I am NOT capable of, but still love playing and find workarounds to continue.

Ken
What kind of guitar are you playing? What strings are you using? There may be a problem with the way the guitar is set up...you don't want to work any harder than you have to....you may have to switch to light or ultra light strings and gradually work up to heavier strings...check your guitar out...it shouldn't be this difficult

I know this is an old thread, but i had a similar experience years ago. Barre chords are like a right of passage and a significant milestone. I can remember bragging that i could do barre chords back high school. It was realy hard at first. I made the mistake of putting steel strings on my beginner acoustic guitar. Talk about setting yourself up for failure. I didn't realize my mistake until i got an electric and found it so much easier. You might try lighter guage strings, or maybe a different guitar. I've seen people whose index finger would curl down the neck starting out, but eventually was able to work it out and play barre chords. Guitarists also cheat all of the time :-). I can remember not being able to hit an open b7 chord fast enough for a song. So i cheated - i played an open d7 and only hit the d, g, b, and e strings. This was close enough and it worked (look at the chord shapes and you will see what i mean).

so, for a barre f (e on first fret), try not barring the entire fret, but just the b and e strings along with the e shape. For a Cm, try not barring the whole third fret, but fust fret the e string along with the Am shape. in both cases, only strum the strings you are fretting. These may not be full barre chords but most of the time will be good enough.

And remember the obvious; practice, practice, practice.

I'm not sure many have chords/progressions as a routine part of their practice sessions but it's helped me a lot. Chord practice [EDIT: always with a metronome] is at the end of my day's practice and follows the stretching drills and scale work. By now that which comes out of the electric guitar sounds really nice, that from the acoustic still needs some work. ;)

The daily chord change practice has made learning songs much quicker.

WOW I just happend to click on this Email an came up with what I needed.I have just mastered,almost, the Bm barre chord.My first ever an I'm happy about it.I have been following Lisa's lessons an the song I'm working on calls for the Bm .It's slow, takes me time to get there but with more practice it's going to be as easy as a G chord or any other I've mastered.Love this site an the instructors.Thanks GT.