Help This Newcomer!!!!!!

Hi every body,
well the thing is that i'm a newbie & have a problem playing bar chords,
i'm trying them 4 last at least a month.
suddenly i thought of taking my IGT friends' help

I have a givson acoustic guitar,my guitar teacher who is next to useless,
(but i have to go to him coz there's no other here)
so he says that my guitar is a bit tough/hard whatever u say.
can somebdy help me or suggest me an idea how to make my guitar softer?????

awaiting replies!!!!!

ur friend

 

Hi Somendra,

Its actually good that your guitar is harder, your fingers will develop and when you shift to a proper guitar it would be really easy to play all those barre chords

Anyways, to master the barre chords, first concentrate only on F and G and improve your index finger's strength.

Also the important thing while playing a barre chord can be the position of your thumb on the neck. Make sure that your thump in a position where rest of the fingers get enough space and you can stretch them.

Last but not the least, keep pratising. I played guitar almost for a year but was never able to play the barre chords. But after practising it for couple of weeks, I was able to manage most of the major/minor barre chords.


:rockon:

 

i'm a bit ok with the Gmaj (coz i'm praticing it 4 last 1 month)
but the Fmaj
& the others
i can't explain
for G also i'm not as perfect as in open G
but i can practice every chord for 1 month

also tell me why barre chords are necessary
what makes them better than open ones
& what if i ignore them & practice only open style of each chord

 

Hi Soumendra,
Those are strange questions. What if you dont play guitar at all, then you wont have problems with barre chords at all. Just kidding .
One thing I just dont understand. You could play a G Major Barre chord but not a F Major Barre chord. Just beats me. It's only two frets away.

Barre Chords are interesting topics. First learn to play a semi-barre where you bar only two strings or three strings. Dont look at barre chords by chord names. Look at it as moveable shapes. I will write an article about it sometime later. Now to begin with, take up some simple exercises.

E-Form Barre Chords:
----------------------------

E +--1--+----+----+--
B +--1--+----+----+--
G +--1--+-2-+----+--
D +--1--+----+-4-+--
A +--1--+----+-3-+--
E +--1--+----+----+-

This is called a E-Form Barre Chord becase it looks like the E Major chord in it's open position when the 2nd finger is in the first fret and 3rd and 4th finger are in the second fret and your index finger dont fret anything because it's all open strings. Now as you move this shape up on the neck, it becomes F, F#, G, G#, A, etc... Now just consider this shape for our exercise.
Play the F Major chord which means the first finger will be on the first fret. But Bar only the E and B string and arpeggiate the chord which means play the chord string by string slowly and check if all the strings are ringing clearly. If not find out the fault and fix it. Once you are done, barre three string with the first finger and repeat the arpeggiation. Then slowly graduate yourself till you do a full barre or barre all the six strings. For vairations keep moving this shape up and down. And one be bothered by the chord. Consider it as a shape or rather remember it as E-Form. Do remember to move the shape up and down the neck 'cos it get tougher as you go higher. To begin with start on with this shape. Meanwhile if I find time, I will post something on all moveable shapes and the basic CAGED theory for chord formation.

Now to answer you question. Barre chords have a tighter and a more puncy feel. Open chords sound loose. Open chords are great for playing arpeggios. Barre chords are good for Rhythm work. If you play with an overdrive, open chords will suck big time. Barre chords really shine when played on overdrive. Open chords are not moveable shapes (Actually, they can be made to by barring them ) If you dont want to play anything beyond your fourth fret, forget barre chords and be happy with the open chords, else Sad But True, you will have to do it.

 

tune your guitar a step down ... that will ease the the string tension a bit ..then practice ... once you gain strength ... go back to the ebgdae again. ( it may take 2 or even 3 months to perfectly fret the barre chords.)

 

thanks
it seems to be helping me a lot.I'm in a mood to just go & try what u said right now.
so till the next time bye!!!!!

 

^hi dude
weel barre r the toughest part of guitar plaing i had to face (well together with maintaing rhythm)
but i think gradually by practicing ur fingers will adapt
consider the hammering styles at first it hurt but now i can hammer easily n dont feel anything
b4 playing barre do some finger exercises posted b4 in the forums........

i think practice n only practice will help to better ur playing with barre
(by the way i can play n strum n play barre easily now!!!!!!!!) though i suck with some new chords.......lolz

 

hey,

One more thing that you can do is to bar higher up on the fret board, for example 5th fret onwards..they are much easier to bar...once you master them and develop strength in your index finger, slowly move it down towards the 1st fret..

-S

 

i give this advice to every1 struggling with barre chords...

1st thing to do is to hold the shape and pick each string seperately - see which string is not sounding fully - keep adjusting the fingers until all strings sound right - then ull get the feel necessary to aply those chords

 

can somebdy tell me how to soften my guitar??
:nw: :nw: :nw:

 

Soak it in water for 2 days. It will become really soft. :dance:

Just Kidding. Dont try this. What do you mean by softening a guitar.

 

@ronnie anand
I have a givson acoustic guitar,my guitar teacher who is next to useless,
(but i have to go to him coz there's no other here)
so he says that my guitar is a bit tough/hard whatever u say.
can u help me or suggest me an idea how to make my guitar softer?????

actually my guitar is a bit tougher to play than the guitars available at my teacher's place,the are easier to play & my guitar needs extra effort 4 plaing chords & my fingers pain a lot on my guitar but not on his guitars!!

the bridge of my guitar is as low as possible help me!!!!!!

 

raise the action a bit - dont paly on an acoustic with a very low action...

now take ur guitar and clean the strings with a cloth...

clean the fretboard.. now practise with the advice i psoted slightly further below... stop worriyng about ur guitar...

improve ur own playing...

clean the strings and fretboard approx once a week... if its dirty itll hurt ur fingers...

else its u not practisign enough - its hard but stick to it - ull get it in the end and love the results!

 

Okay, I got your point.
Your action either is too high or you are using very thick strings. Very low action on Acoustic Guitar will be miserable to play. So get it to a Luthier and ask him to set your guitar to a decent action. Change to thinner strings. To begin with, you might even go with Electric Guitar strings. They wont be really good on Acoustic guitar but at least it wont hurt you. Next thing is tune your guitar to 1/2 step or 1 step down. My Acoustic guitar is always 1/2 step tuned down and it helps a lot. You might even consider buying yourself a good guitar. A good instrument and a good sound will encourage you to practice and play more. When you enjoy your own sound and playing, there's no better encouragement in the world.
If you are going to be serious on guitar learning, you could even quit. Take some nice guitar book and start with it. Every now and then, when you have doubts, catch hold of a guitar guy to help you out. Learning curve is pretty smooth and fast when you are learning on your own. That's my experience.
Another of my experience. Never attend the class of a bad teacher or a bad musician. It wont help you much. If you are in Bangalore, I can help you or at least direct you to some good teacher who can help you.

 

would u please guide me 4 how do i tune my guitar a step down???????? :nw: :nw: :nw: :nw: :nw: :nw: :nw:

 

Standard Tuning is E B G D A E

Get a decent tuner and tune it to

Eb Bb Gb Db Ab Eb for tuning it half step down

and

D A F C G D for getting it to one full step down.

You could randomly reduce the tension on the string by tuning it slightly loose if you dont have a tuner. I suggest you do with the tuner always 'cos it helps a bit it ear training too.

 

Hey Soumendra,
Are you from Bangalore.

 

no i'm not from banglore
i'm from jaipur
where can i get a decent tuner ??
how does it work??
what brand should i get??
i can get things from delhi if the r not available in jaipur!!

 

almskt any tuner isdecent- sometimes theyre digital ones - they tell u the note ur palying..

else u can get pitch tuners... basically its a collection of notes... if ur used to tunnig ur guitar - then this might make more sense -it helps more in listneing skills plsu is a lot cheaper...

 

what brand tuner should i buy & from where??
i'm more intrested in digital tuners!!