Good God I'm pathetic!

QuattroDore · Unread post by **QuattroDore** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 1:23 am

Alright I've been playing for two and a half years now, and I've always had trouble with barre chords. Its such a simple concept. I'm beyond frustrated. I swear to god, I've spent about 100 hours just trying to find the right placement for my index, and no matter what I fucking do, I ALWAYS have one string buzzing or muted! I'm not shitting you when I say this is probably top 5 most frustrating things in my life I've ever tried to do. I can do blazing tap runs better than I can barre. The frustrating thing is that its such a beginner thing.

I've tried everything I can think of: raising my index finger higher up the fret board, rotating my finger so its on its side, pulling down on the strings instead of just pushing as hard as I can, trying to fret the strings toward the corners of the frets, using the bottom of the fretboard as a fulcrum, etc. etc.

I'm starting to think that I have mutant index fingers. Any help you guys can give me will be greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, Im predicting that I'll just have to swallow my pride and just start to play with lighter guage strings, although it pains me to take the beautiful tone out of my larrivee.

jsgksu · Unread post by **jsgksu** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 1:38 am

Are you trying to get all 6 strings ring out or are you having troubles on the low e and a string, where exactly is the problem?

taylordb · Unread post by **taylordb** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 5:14 am

Be patient with barre chords. Just keep practicing...and after a while, leave them alone and then go back to them. It is amazing how, when I 1st starting using barre chords, I had to press down so hard to make all the strings ring clean...and I could only do it about 20% of the time...now it seems like it takes very little pressure at all.

It sounds stupid (because it is such an overplayed song), but a good one to learn on is Stairway to Heaven...the intro part that is fingerpicked. You have to use good barre chord technique to make that sound good. And because you are slowly fingerpicking each string across the fretboard, you can see how your barre finger pressure changes across the fretboard. That is the song that finally made barre chords click for me.

It is frustrating...you are not alone. Good luck!!

borocks · Unread post by **borocks** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 6:32 am

I had big probs with that kinda stuff a while ago, but I had fucking hard string, so I bought the Martin SP light and I gradually managed to do them well.
Keep trying man, it's gonna work..

Leibundgut17 · Unread post by **Leibundgut17** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 7:19 am

borocks wrote:I had big probs with that kinda stuff a while ago, but I had fucking hard string, so I bought the Martin SP light and I gradually managed to do them well.
Keep trying man, it's gonna work..

dont mean to hijack the post but borcks change your avatar...du bisch yo breiter aus zäut...

Matty Boom · Unread post by **Matty Boom** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 7:23 am

word on the stairway to heaven, that helped me too...another few that helped me were 'let the good times roll', 'touch of grey', and 'sugar magnolia'...just use barred chords in them and when you switch it should help...but definitely do stairway

borocks · Unread post by **borocks** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 7:23 am

ändere dine du penner du bisch jesch wie sibä

(change yours, you bloody stoner look like ass!)

EnFuego · Unread post by **EnFuego** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 12:58 pm

Hey Quattro, what kind of larrivee do you play...I'm thinking about getting a D-09. Beautiful guitar and sounds great, I would put it up against a Taylor or Martin anyday.

NoNotThat · Unread post by **NoNotThat** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 2:53 pm

i like the topic of this, cause it's true

but yeah I actually have that same problem a lot of the time...

gcom007 · Unread post by **gcom007** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 3:29 pm

barre chords suck

QuattroDore · Unread post by **QuattroDore** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 3:50 pm

I can play Stairway, primarily because you can "cheat" by switching the pressure of the necessary parts of the barre chord since it is played one string at a time. What I can't do is play, say, any Jack Johnson song, where all strings are played.

I think the biggest reason for my problem is that I play with D'addario Medium Gauge cables instead of a more reasonable string. Its time to just admit I don't have the balls of SRV, and tone it down to Medium Lights. Sigh.

Hardy Har, Sarah.

EnFuego, I play an OM-3. I'm beyond happy with it. Its doesn't have the tone of a Martin OM-28, or a Taylor 814, but I think its more balanced. Larrivees are very very very underrated.

phatnev · Unread post by **phatnev** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 3:54 pm

Jack Johnson songs are freaking awesome, so simple but so fun, and you HAVE to have your Barre chords down so practice his stuff

fatjack · Unread post by **fatjack** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 5:17 pm

start using a gripmaster and get some strength

QuattroDore · Unread post by **QuattroDore** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 6:12 pm

honestly, strength cannot possibly be the issue

borocks · Unread post by **borocks** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 6:13 pm

phatnev wrote:Jack Johnson songs are freaking awesome, so simple but so fun, and you HAVE to have your Barre chords down so practice his stuff

indeed. I took up Flake some days ago. It's all barred but once you play it for a while one gets used to it very easily

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Good God I'm pathetic!

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