I am playing and learning bar chords. A problem I have come across is that my index finger has, how shall I put it? A lot of chubbiness to it. As I play a bar chord all my strings sound great except for the D string and it sounds dull and muted. I have tried to move my finger up and down but that hasn't helped. Anybody have any thoughts on how I can correct this? Thanks, Daniel

I started making the open E chord using fingers 3,4,5 not 2,3,4. It is the same shape they make, making bar chords. Once you can make the open E start trying to make bar chords. Just move the shape up the neck and add finger 1 for the bar.

When you say up and down I assume you mean vertical to the strings..
try a little curl in your index finger or roll it..

Originally Posted by: dandy4911I am playing and learning bar chords. A problem I have come across is that my index finger has, how shall I put it? A lot of chubbiness to it. As I play a bar chord all my strings sound great except for the D string and it sounds dull and muted. I have tried to move my finger up and down but that hasn't helped. Anybody have any thoughts on how I can correct this? Thanks, Daniel

If you're trying to do a full barre, you could practice just the barring of all six strings on one fret.

Something like this:

E|--3--
B|--3--
G|--3--
D|--3--
A|--3--
E|--3--

You could also try taking it in segments, so barre the first three strings and then the last three strings.

Also note that you don't have to play all the strings for a barre chord. You could just play these shapes:

E|-----------
B|-----------
G|--4--------
D|--5-----5--
A|--5--5--5--
E|--3--3--3--

Does this help? Hopefully I haven't misunderstood your question.

If so, feel free to clarify.

I can bar with no problem with the E shape bar chord as the d string is played with my pinky. If I play say an E7m shape where my index finger covers the D string, then I get the dull muting of the string as I can't press the strings hard enough because of the second knuckle bone prevents any more pressure. I hope that makes sense

What GT staff says makes a lot of sense.

You can even start out on just the two bass strings E and A and/or A and D and hop around on those first before moving to 3 strings and more..

Thanks everyone for the great responses. I will be giving these different techniques a try. Sometimes, I am in too big a hurry.