[peterm]

or How I beat the barre chord in 4 easy steps (and 2 years ;D )

Step 1. practice on a nylon string guitar. It takes a while to build up the strength to keep the index finger flat and straight and the nylon string is gentler at the start

Step 2. Learn Hotel California
Verse Bmin F# A E G D Emin F#
Chorus G D F# Bmin G D Emin F#
Strum Dduudu

Bmin 224432 Barre at 2nd fret Amin shape
F# 244322 Keep the index finger barred and Just move middle, ring and pinky up a string
A x02225 Keep the index barred but just drop it 2 strings and plop the pinky on the 1st string fifth fret
E 022100 Normal E, no barre
G 320003 Normal G
D xx0232 Normal D
Emin 022000 Normal Emin but instead of using the middle and ring to hold the 4 and 5 strings down, use the ring and pinky, this will help prepare for the F# barre
F# 244322 Now without lifting the ring and pinky, slide them up two frets, roll the hand to the left (if you are righthanded ) and drop the index to barre the 2nd fret, drop the middle finger on to the 3 string and you've got it


The first part should be fairly easy, don't worry about a perfect barre to start with just get used to the feel of it by doing the chord changes really slowly

Mostly it takes lots of practice but after 2 years I think I've got it fairly well.



Step 3. Repeat step 2 until your loved ones are ready to make you a wooden necklace the next time they hear hotel california

Step 4. Once I got Hotel California down, I went hard on the classical piece 'Romance' (check out Forbidden Games (Jeux Interdits) >> Part 2 )
That has lot's of barre chords and is well worth persevering with if for no other reason than, as any spaniard will tell you... "Played perfectly it will make any woman's heart melt"
which can be handy if step 3 finishes badly


Hope this helps someone


Cheers

Peter

[allthumbs]

Thanks for the tips Peter. I have step 2 down pat already.

[Justapicker]

I went hard on the classical piece 'Romance' (check out http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/fo...read.php?t=706 )
That has lot's of barre chords and is well worth persevering with if for no other reason than, as any spaniard will tell you... "Played perfectly it will make any woman's heart melt"

Just a bit of trivia: the melody for that comes from an old Russian folk song.

[737blues]

Originally Posted by Justapicker

Just a bit of trivia: the melody for that comes from an old Russian folk song.

Romance huh? ... and I thought they used vodka for melting women's hearts ....

[blackcat]

Thanks for tip peterm, just starting with barre chords and i find them very difficult on my acoustic, but a bit easier on my strat.

[danbhoy67]

Great stuff Peter, Have always found Hotel Cal. nice to play with open chords so now I can try to leap into the dreaded Barre thingy. First I,m gonna have to start using my mid. ring and pinky on the open chords then I'll just jump in. After that I,m onto the heart melting scenario! Thanks for that!

[Stratrat]

Thanks for the info, Peter. I'd never even tried Hotel California before - showing the chords that way made it real easy to pick up! One more song to work on improving.......

[mickyboy100]

thanks peter looks like this could work for me

[peterm]

You're welcome guys

It really is a good tune to work on barre chords with.
You can use the same chords as the verse for a 'cheats' intro.

Just play one down strum and then arpeggiate the top 3 strings a couple of times on each chord.. that is,
Rest the index(I) middle(M) and ring (A) fingers on the 3rd, 2nd and 1st strings, strum down from the bass note with the thumb and then up with the fingers on the 1,2,3 strings starting with the ring (A) in this sequence
Bmin Strum A M I A M I A M I
F# Strum A M I A M I A (let the last note ring)
A Strum A M I A M I A M I
E Strum A M I A M I A (let ring)
G Strum A M I A M I A M I
D Strum A M I A M I A (let ring)
Emin Strum A M I A M I A M I (slide fingers up to F# while last note still ringing)
F # A M I A M I A (tap the guitar body twice then off you go in to the first verse )

With this the A sounds better played normally as x02220 instead of a barre, but the x02225 shape is a good one to practice, especially if you want to get in to blues


Cheers

Peter

[ironcloud]

Ive tried practicing first on the power chord version of the barre chord, after with so much practice, Ive never notice a I could use a barre chords with no problem

[marinoFret]

Originally Posted by peterm

Mostly it takes lots of practice but after 2 years I think I've got it fairly well.

What? I play a guitar for 7 months and I mastered barre chords.

I often play barre chords instead of open chords because it gives me a better rhythm control.

[marinoFret]

I often use power (barre chord with muted 3rd or b3rd) chords when I don't know whether the next chord is major or minor