barre chords

I'm a beginner. Can you help me with barre chords? They sounds really bad when I play them (kind of muted or something like that). I "press" them as strong as I can, and they still sound ugly. Why? Sorry for mu english...

I'd put money on the high action on your used accoustic guitar. Pick up a used electric guitar for $50 at the hock shop. It'll still sound like crap but will be easier to learn on.

Thx 4 the answer. Have you got any tips for barre chords on accoustic guitar, because I think I'm not ready to buy an electric guitar yet. Besides I'd never get an electric guitar (even an old one) in Poland for the price of 50$ - min. 100$ - sad but true :-(((((((((

Be sure that your barre finger is far enough back from the fret that it doesn't mute any strings.

Try slightly different finger positions. Some parts of your finger work better than others. For example, the part right at your knuckle may not have enough flesh on it to apply the same pressure to a string as the rest of your finger.

Keep at it. Eventually, it just seems to work, and you'll wonder why you thought it was so hard!

Keep in mind too that you don't necessarily have to play all the strings all the time. Usually with barre chords on an acoustic I tend to use them mostly as power chords and only fully barre the chord if it's absolutely necessary to hear the upper notes. There's alternate ways of doing barre chords too, like with A and B you can leave the top 1st and 2nd strings open or hold a chord in the shape of a barre chord with 4 fingers and just leave out the bottom note.
The basic answer though is that even if you've got years of experience, trying to hold down barre chords on a cheap acoustic guitar isn't worth the effort.
Either get a better guitar or transpose your tunes so you don't need em.

Back when I had trouble with barre chord... I sat with my accoustic or classical guitar and practiced pressing down the strings with my left hand only. The sole purpose was just to give my finger a workout.

And yes... keep at it, it will happen eventually (can't believe I said that, but its true :))

Sometimes what I do with barre chords is not play the lowest note, as far as I can tell this works pretty good. Some barring is still used on the high 2 strings but its a lot easier. Or you could use the thumb for low string.
Example using A.

Typical
E 5 1st...
B 5 1st...
G 6 2nd...
D 7 4th...
A 7 3rd...
E 5 1st...

Easier
E 5 1st
B 5 1st
G 6 2nd
D 7 4th
A 7 3rd
E x (or play 5th fret with thumb)


[Edited by Slasher on 10-28-2003 at 05:08 AM]

Keep in mine that it will come. Secondly, be patient and just keep doing it. When i learned chords, i would flip through three of them say, f, b, and a b minor while watching t.v. I wouldnt even stroke the strings and just continue to do it. Then when I was half way there it would stop hurting. All that was left was to become confident and fast enough to play songs.


BASICALLY JUST PUT YOUR TIME IN!

Exactly.

As my hockey coach says,

"If it was easy, everyone would do it."

Keep that in mind.

i fixed this problem by starting with only one finger.

put the index-finger across all strings on ANY given fret and pick each note to see if you finger is fretting every string perfectly. when you can do that immediately (fretting the chord whithout having to adjust the finger afterwards) do the same with the other fingers.

then advance to chords that involve more fingers like:


e--5 <--\
b--5 <--| pinky or ring finger
g--5 <--/
d--3 <--\
a--3 <--| index finger
E--3 <--/

for example...

now come up with fantasy chords if you like and practise those.

e--7 <--pinky
b--7 <--pinky
g--5 <--ring
d--4 <--middle
a--3 <--index
E--3 <--index
(for example)