007
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,601
My main instrument is: 1965 Hagstrom H45E
|
Post by 007 on Jan 17, 2014 21:13:14 GMT
Loads of tutorials on the net
I liked this one for not being to whizzy or some 12 year old wonderkind whizzing up and down the neck making me feel inadequate
|
|
leoroberts
C.O.G.
Posts: 24,546
My main instrument is: probably needing new strings
|
Post by leoroberts on Jan 17, 2014 22:30:58 GMT
That's not as good a resolution as "playing more chords in bars" though, is it?
|
|
missclarktree
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,423
My main instrument is: It varies
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"","color":"1979e6"}
Mini-Profile Name Color: 100605
Mini-Profile Text Color: 020a12
|
Post by missclarktree on Jan 18, 2014 15:17:01 GMT
Don't get me started - I could rant for England on this subject.
I like the bloke in the tutorial, though. His manner is so reassuring, he makes you believe you can do it, until you actually pick up the guitar and realise you've forgotten everything he said.
|
|
|
Post by fatfingerjohn on Jan 18, 2014 18:40:49 GMT
I know they say try, try, try again but my fingers/wrists just ain't made right for these. I've tried most ways other than standing on my head and just can't do the dam**d things cleanly. So my New Year's Resolution is not to watch any more lessons on how to do them! (But agree this was a good one).
FFJ
|
|
007
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,601
My main instrument is: 1965 Hagstrom H45E
|
Post by 007 on Jan 19, 2014 0:16:29 GMT
Try playing easy Barre chords going up the frets one by one first F Fm G to A if you then drop everything down 1 string and do the same thing you have played 10 chords.
Then practice putting 1 barre chord in a tune. Suzanne by Leonard Cohen is easy and you can play just one Barre chord Bm or 2 Bm and G if you are feeling confident.
or Fm if played in the key of E
G Suzanne takes you down To her place by the river, Am You can hear the boats go by, You can spend the night beside her, G And you know that she's half crazy, And that's why you want to be there; Bm And she feeds you tea and oranges C That come all the way from China; G And just when you mean to tell her That you have no love to give her, Am She gets you on her wave-length And lets the river answer G That you've always been her lover.
Chorus: Bm And you want to travel with her, C And you want to travel blind, G And you know that you can trust her, Am For you've touched her perfect body G With your mind.
|
|
missclarktree
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,423
My main instrument is: It varies
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"","color":"1979e6"}
Mini-Profile Name Color: 100605
Mini-Profile Text Color: 020a12
|
Post by missclarktree on Jan 19, 2014 20:09:34 GMT
I haven't got enough flesh on my wizened, witch-like fingers, so there's lots of space between the bony bits. I have been known to cheat by wrapping a narrow sticking plaster around my finger between the first and second joints. It works a treat, but you can't live with plasters on your fingers. I was wondering if the local cosmetic surgery shop would do collagen implants in fingers.
|
|
Phil Taylor
C.O.G.
Posts: 4,409
Mini-Profile Name Color: 680908
Mini-Profile Text Color: 121311
|
Post by Phil Taylor on Jan 25, 2014 12:56:37 GMT
I think going through and learning barre chords is necessary in the guitar learning process and they will become easier as you practice. It will definitely help you to learn the chord positions up they neck - they just repeat. Having said that don't think that you have to use full barre chords all the time since you can very often manage by using only 'half barres' and in many cases only certain notes out of the barre chord. I have a left wrist problem now so struggle with barre chords at the bottom end of the fretboard. As a result the first thing I say when learning a new piece is right, can I remove or reduce the number of barre chords and play the notes another way such as bending my thumb over the fretboard etc. Hope this helps in a small way Cheers Phil
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2014 9:38:03 GMT
Hello,first time on this forum.its interesting reading this!I spent 15 years playing electric in a band so the staple diet was bar chords and fast Lead work.during that time I lost touch with finger picking and using "proper" chords,so I have really strong fingers (helped by climbing and mountain biking)so I can play clean bar chords on guitars with very high action. My problem is that I have had to work really hard over the years to get back the flexibility and using my right hand correctly to play finger picking. on balance I think it was easier learning to go back to finger picking from playing bar(barre) chords on the electric to the other way round,it definitely gives the fingers and wrists a good work out don't it !.all the best.
|
|
ocarolan
Global Moderator
CURMUDGEONLY OLD GIT (leader - to join, just ask!)
Posts: 33,971
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"","color":"c0cfe1"}
Mini-Profile Name Color: 182a3f
Mini-Profile Text Color: 733a1c
|
Post by ocarolan on Feb 21, 2014 10:33:25 GMT
Hi kaydee and welcome to the Forum! Hope you'll have fun! Keith
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2014 16:28:03 GMT
Have you ever seen Eric Idle (Python) play guitar? I don't know what it is but he plays all the same notes you'd get in full barres but with his thumb over the top, and without it looking like any effort whatsoever is involved. I do my F chord like that, but with three different widths of neck to move between among my guitars A and Am type chords with the thumb seems not a good idea to try mastering.
For the first few years of having guitars I would go from a period of wanting to barre everything to a period of wanting to use the thumb for every chord that could use it. It didn't sink in that it'd be better to use both, depending on what facilitated the smoothest change. So if I play Bm to F#m now (not that I'd use chords that plain and morbid) I'd barre all six strings and just move the others, where if I was playing F#m to G I'd use the thumb for F#m and the 'cowboy' G chord. It would have been good to think this through at 15 because I wouldn't then have spent months at a time experiencing cramp from barres and a different cramp from thumbed chords - instead a mix of the two would let the moving between barres and thumbed chords relieve each other's cramp.
But now I'd rather bluff my way with open tunings and two- or three-finger chords anyway...
Are there classical guitarists who have escaped learning to keep their thumb round the back of the neck? It seems like the idea of not doing so being a bad habit is something that at best only applies to classical guitar, if it's even justified there, as if you're mostly doing rhythm guitar in a band or you're an accompanist, rather than playing melodies and chords interspersed, the bad habit is on your side.
Weirdly I've found sitting in front of a big mirror has helped with accuracy in standard tuning involving barres. It's not quite a conscious thing - I think the mirror is un-disorienting me somehow. Can't explain it well but I've seen it's working.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2014 18:24:29 GMT
Thank you Keith,tpprynn,I get the impression that using the thumb is frowned upon by some species of guitarist,but it's definitely easier when you are bobbing around on stage like a bit of a plonker like we used to do, but since selling the electrics and going acoustic I think I have mutated at least part of the way into a serious musician,as I use the thumb about half the time and the full index finger the rest. Sometimes it's just easier to wrap the thumb over the top and I do like the stability it gives when I do fast finger work,but it makes me a bit lazy so I force myself to include all the strings .
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 21, 2014 18:29:48 GMT
I used to play in the dark to improve my accuracy,it's a bit of a pain at first but it does lead to a very good relationship with the fretboard,I have only owned one guitar at a time ,doing this if you own different guitars with longer or wider fretboards isn't such a good way to learn ,I could play my Vantage perfectly in the dark but if I did the same with my mates Gibson I regularly fluffed notes.
|
|