If Barre Chords Are Unplayable For You Right Now, But You Are Committed To Tackle Them, Then You’ll Discover A Method Here That Will Help You With That Challenge A Lot.
Barre Chords Are Quite Difficult.
But Most Guitar Beginners Struggle Way Too Long With Them.
Although It Takes Time To Outgrow That Hurdle, It Is Possible To Do It Faster Than It Takes Most Beginner Guitarists.
Here You Will Discover The Two Root Causes Of Why Barre Chords Are That Difficult And How You Can Avoid The Widespread But Tedious Common Approach In Learning Them.
Barre Chords: Two Technical Obstacles
There Are Two Main Obstacles Which Hinder You To Play Barre Chords Very Well. Your Fingers Are Lacking Two Major Qualities:
Strength & Flexibility.
To Perform A Clean Sounding Barre Chord You Definitely Need Strength. You Probably Know That Already, I Assume.
You A Need A Great Amount Of Finger Strength, Mostly In Your Index Finger And Your Thumb, To Fret A Clean Barre Chord. If Your Lacking Strength There, Then You’re Not Able To Fret Six Strings Simultaneously And Produce A Clean Sounding Chord. And You Can’t Hold That Chord For Long Enough.
The Not So Obvious Quality Is Flexibility.
Guitar Playing Is Hard For Beginners Because Their Fingers Aren’t Flexible Enough To Stretch & Spread The Right Amount Effortlessly.
Therefore, They Try To Force Their Way From Fret To Fret Through The Resistance Of Their Inflexible Tendons.
This Drains Your Muscles Additionally. Therefore, You’re Losing Some Energy That Is Needed To Fret The Barre.
So You Need To Develop These Qualities. I Show You How In A Minute.
Why Most Guitarists Struggle Way Too Long With Barre Chords: The Common Practice Approach
So What Is The Common Approach With Barre Chords?
The 1st Approach Is This: They Tend To Be Avoided!
Let Me Tell You Something: No One Likes To Play A Barre Chord.
If You Can, Then Just Avoid Them. It’s Ok To Substitute Them With An Easier Version. But Naturally, This Doesn’t Solve The Problem.
If Barre Chords Aren’t Avoided, Then How Are They Commonly Approached?
Most Guitarist Are Using The 2nd Approach:
The Good Old “Just Try It Over And Over Again Until You Can Play It” Approach.
It Will Take You Some Time But This Is Probably The Most Common Way. Almost Every Guitarist Has Learned To Play Barre Chords This Way (I Did It This Way!)
And You Can Too. It’s Almost Guaranteed That This Method Will Work For You Someday.
But I Hope That You See Why It Can Take You A Long Way Round If You Are Using Only The 1st Approach.
And You If You Are Using Only The Second One, Then It All Depends On How Regularly You Play & Practice.
A Lot Of “Ifs” Here…
From My Experience As A Guitar Teacher I Can Tell You That Learning Barre Chords Isn’t That Big Of A Deal For Students Who Practice & Play Regularly 2-3 Times Per Week.
It’s Hard To Give You A Time Frame For How Long It Can Or Should Take You To Play Barre Chords Effortlessly, But It’s Definitely Not A Longterm Goal For A Year Or So.
If You Practice And Play Regularly For 2-3 Times A Week Then It Probably Shouldn’t Take You More Than 2 Months Or So.
But What I Can Tell You Also From Experience Is That The Following Approach Is Working Significantly Better Than The Preceding Ones.
The Sophisticated Approach To Learning Barre Chords.
The 3rd Approach: Combine The 2nd Method With A Dedicated Finger Exercise Routine.
The Ideal Solution To Learn Barre Chords Faster Is This: You Add A Short Finger Workout Routine In Addition To The I’m “Still Trying To Play That Barre Chord” Approach.
It Doesn’t Have To Be A Long & Exhausting Workout. It’s Quite The Opposite.
But The Important Thing Is That You Have A Technique Exercise Routine.
I The Following I Show You Two Exercises. But Be Aware That These Exercises Are Relatively “Unpleasant” To Play Because They Are Quite Challenging And Exhausting. Especially For Your Muscles And Tendons. So Be Cautious And Don’t Overdo Them.
And Know That There Is No Magic In These Exercises. You Have To Do Them Continuously Over An Extended Period Of Days And Weeks For Them To Work. But If You Do Them, Then You Will Wonder How Effective They Are.
Finger Exercises To Master The Barre Chord
Strength Exercise:
The Main Goal Here Is To Build Strength. Do It Slowly. Try To Minimize Fret Buzz. A Little Fret Buzz Is Ok, But The Goal Here Is To Produce As Many Clean Notes As Possible.
The Main Goal Here Is To Build Strength. Do It Slowly. Try To Minimize Fret Buzz. A Little Fret Buzz Is Ok, But The Goal Here Is To Produce As Many Clean Notes As Possible.
Your Hand And Fingers Will Exhaust. That’s On Purpose. But Don’t Over Do This Exercise. This Exercise Is Unpleasant. But You Shouldn’t Feel Any Pain. Stop It, If That’s The Case.
See How Far You Can Go And Try To Increase The Time You Spend On This Exercise Slowly.
Flexibility Exercise:
This Is A Hard One. But It’s Worth The Effort. I Suggest That You Do This Exercise Even Slower As I Show You Here In The Video. The Reason For This Is That It Is A Stretching Exercise. The Longer You Feel The Stretch The Better. But The Same Is True Here As For The Previous Exercise: It’s Unpleasant But It Shouldn’t Feel Pain. Stop It, As Soon You Feel Pain.
Again, The Benefits Of These Two Exercises Will Come Over Time. So Do Them Consistently And Regularly. It’s Ok, If Do Them Just For A Minute Each Day. And Again, Don’t Over Do Them.
Conclusion
Now You Are Aware Of The Technical Hurdles With Barre Chords. But You Know How You Can Overcome These Hurdles.
But There Is Also A Mental Component To This.
The Fact That Barre Chords Are Unpleasant To Play.
They Can Be Physically Exhausting And Maybe Mentally. And My Solution Here Is Also Unpleasant Or Maybe Even More Unpleasant Than Playing The Barre Chords Alone.
But Is There An Easy Way And Pleasant Solution?
My Take On This Is That You Should Never Sacrifice The Joy Of Playing & Practicing Guitar For Technical Exercises Like I Showed You Here.
If You Think That They Drain The Joy Out Of Your Guitar Playing Than Stop Doing Them. You Don’t Have To.
And It’s Ok If This Barre Chord Thing Is Taking A Long Time For You To Learn.
Everyone Should Make Progress On His/ Her Own Pace. Period.
But Maybe You Can Find A Sense Of Joy In These Exercises.
Give ‘Em A Try And Embrace The Difficulty Of Them.
You Probably Will Fall In Love With Technical Finger Exercises Or At Least Have A Positive Attitude Towards Them Once You’ve Experienced Their Effectiveness And The New Finger Feeling That You Can Gain From Doing Them. Everything You Play Will Then Come From A State Of Ease And Effortlessness.
I Hope You Will Experience This.
If You Wanna Learn More About The Most Important Exercises For Guitar Beginners Then Check Out This Lesson Here. If You Do These Exercises Then You Will Definitely Enhance That Feeling Of Effortless Guitar Playing Big Time.
And Also Make Sure You Go Through My Ultimate Guide On How To Play Guitar Chords Right. There You’ll Discover Many Awesome Tips And Tricks For Guitar Beginners Who Wanna Start With Playing Chords.
In This Sense, Have Fun, Make Great Progress & Be Your Own Teacher
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