This is the difference between a master of their craft and a teacher. A master can show you how easily they can do it. A teacher makes you do it. I’ve been just average with my barre cords for 17 years now and just a couple of tips of advice has made me do them perfect! Thanks so much Lauren!
After years of trying I finally learned F and Bm. The key for me was learning songs that I really wanted to learn, that contained them. For me it was “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” (F)and “Friday I’m In Love” (Bm). I guess before that I didn’t care enough to learn them. Still working on it, but much, much easier now.
Yeah, the more you practice, the better it gets. And doing songs where maybe they show up once in the chorus is encouraging. When they are all over the song it can be frustrating for sure.
I created an exercise called Climbing the Mountain. You start on the thinnest string and work your way up to the thickest string. Once you reach the peak or the top of the mountain you start working your way down and do about 12 reps of 3 sets a day up and down all strings in the fifth fret. 🙏🏼🎸🎵🎶
Used to do barre chords all the time without even thinking. That was over 20 years ago. Started playing again 2 years ago. I “can” do them, but find I avoid. If I turn to the bony side, if affects the stretch of my other fingers and still not clean. More satisfaction to play open chords. But, I think your tip of starting higher on the fret board and work your way down to the effing F Chord is the best practice. Repetition to build strength makes perfect sense.
Everyone's hand is different and why I like to give options. That's why I said, some people can do it flat finger so problem. I have trouble with it, so for me, the angle helps. Repetition is key.
Thanks for the tips. I’m just started trying to make a barre cord. I think you’re right on guitars. My new Taylor should arrive tomorrow. Can’t wait the play it.
always enjoy playing barre chords, I feel like the band Muse has helped me a ton with chordal playing and I feel quite free around the fretboard. Still learning new chords, triads, and inversions of those. It has definitely been fun to play along with songs that use barre chords. Thanks for the tips very helpful!
Barre chords were difficult to learn but worth it. Thinking of working each open chord shape up the neck, with finger one like a capo, really helped. The open G and open C shapes are tricky.
100% worth it. But I understand for some, it is physically impossible. I had a student with very bad arthritis. She couldn't do it, so we created different 3 and 4 string versions for her to use in songs. Worked out great and she didn't have to barre.
@@LaurenBateman Great that you find the options. I think everyone should learn an instrument. It helps learn in so many ways. Connecting mental and physical was what hooked me. Multitasking. Shortly after Barre chords, I could time lyrics with chord changes. We each walk our own musical path.
Good stuff as always Lauren. For those that are are struggling, give it time and practice them regularly. And get an electric guitar as Lauren suggests. I have been playing for 3.5 years and it has taken me the last year to get reasonably OK with Barre chords. Still not great, but improving. Patience and practice are virtues with guitar!
Wonderful. I've used all of those tips and I remember those days so well. Ironically, I found the D open chord harder to master at first - for some reason. Either way, don't forget the most important tip - lots and lots and lots of practice. It soon becomes so automatic you don't even think about it! The E-shaped barre chord is so handy. You can do the minor, the 7th, the 9th and combined with the A-shaped barre chord and you own the fret board - until you get the jazz :) Great job. You are an excellent guitar teacher.
I can play e-shape bar chords but not in time. The tip of extending the index finger beyond the edge of the fretboard is new to me and helpful. Thank you.
Good tips. Never thought of rolling the barre finger or moving it up higher. Thanks. When I was just starting out it was pointed out to me that I was letting my thumb slip up too high around the back of the neck. Once I made sure the meat of my thumb was in the middle of the neck it gave me more strength to pinch the neck.
You’ve helped me so much. I’ve been playing guitar for 1.5 yrs and I still couldn’t get the barre chords right. Now I can do them without any pressure, tysm❤
Holy Smokes L the finger roll and the little push was ALL I needed!?! That’s what I’ve been missing for almost 3 years!?!! I’m SOOOO stoked!!! I can’t believe that’s all it took. ❤❤❤ Dude Again, Thank you for your help!! 🙏🤘😁
Okay. I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!!! I've been playing for a million years and still struggled. I've got small hands and I thought I'd seen all the tips and don't know why I checked you out. But that Tip 2 ---- OMG. Sure I'd moved it a little up, a little down, twisted that way, this way but going for it completely??? Just sticking that sucker way up?? - Game change. Thank you so much!!!
Dear Lauren, what can I say: You helped me to bring my skills to another level! Especially the advice with the bony side of the finger is very helpful. Thank you very much! 😊
Thankyou so much Lauren for another informative yet very important lesson. To be honest l didn't know anything about a guitar then l came across your guitar tutorials on TH-cam. Can you imagine all the way out in Zimbabwe Africa. It's my 2nd year now and thanks to your brilliant and professional teaching l have learnt alot. To be honest you are one of my best tutors on TH-cam channel .. Thankyou so much for an amazing job❤❤🎉🎉
A coworker is trying to learn guitar. I'm no expert, In fact I have 35 years of mediocre to good abilities lol. But I recommended the finger roll to him. I learned barre cords early on but I found I struggled higher up the neck due to the smaller fret spacing. I fixed that by laying my barre cord down and rolling my finger so they can fit in the tighter space. It helped him be able to do barre cords overall.
If you notice when you rolled your finger back your elbow also pulled in to the side of your torso at that point you can easily pull back on the guitar with your arm strength against your pointy finger and as long as the guitar is not too big for you you're right elbow is holding the body of the guitar to prevent it from pivoting and you can do bar chords without your thumb even being on the back of the neck I think that's one of the things that gets missed The other thing that gets missed is very often when playing bar chords they're more rhythmic than open chords tend to be so sometimes you need the base side of the cord and sometimes you need the trouble side of the cord and you can pivot your finger to get the strength where needed and the rest for the other part of the finger so it is not just brute force to get a barcode done. I think bar chords are the guitarist's dream compared to open chords if you learn to bar chords you can play every major chord if you learn two more then you've got every minor chord two more and you've got every minor 7 chord so with six shapes you can play every major minor and minor seventh chord I think that's pretty awesome versus learning piles of finger twisting open chords
After struggling with barre chirds for a while your video was what I needed to get the 💡moment. Inwas bending my finger so the 1, 2, 3, were muted a lot.
Hi Lauren, Like everyone else, the "F" barre chord is one of the most problematic, so I appreciate your tips. I have also found that pulling your left elbow in towards your body helps to change the angle of your hand, making it easier. Also, putting your guitar between your legs, classical style, makes it easier, too, although that makes it harder to watch your left hand (but should we be doing that anyway?). Lastly, regarding guitar action setup. Lowering the action is not the "be-all, end-all" of guitar setup. There are other factors which go into making a guitar playable, like the neck contour shape, and the radius of the fretboard. Playing before you buy is essential. Lowering the strings is a sore subject for me because I live in a small community with very few luthiers. The guy whom I mostly have to use always gets the strings too low, causing fret buzz. If the strings get too low, (on most guitars), it can't just be readjusted, it has to be re-done, which is more expense and more time. I'm just saying.
Lauren, thank you for this information. Do you know that I have never seen a video on this subject? This is so interesting and helpful. Why is it that no one touches on this subject if it is so common? I will use your techniques to correct these issues I’m facing. Thank you so much. I just subscribed to your channel and thank you once again for
Thanks for those tips, always useful. I'm fairly OK with major barr chords but when I lift my middle finger to create a minor chord I find I'm muting the G string with my first finger.
No more tension on the strings at the first fret than at the 6 fret, but it's easier to bend the stings in the center of the neck. Thanks for the tips.
Thanks for the great tips! I need all the help I can get with barre chords. For almost four years, I've tried to make the F barre chord every day when I practice, but, for whatever reason, my fingers don't want to cooperate. I will check out your course too!
I was so young when I learned guitar, I don't really remember struggling with bar chords. But, I played the open G cowboy chord with my index and middle finger my whole childhood, and then I started playing bluegrass and had to change how I played that chord. I have to use my middle and ring finger on the bass notes and my pinky on the high E, so I could use my index finger to embellish notes. That took me probably a year to get comfortable doing.
When playing a B chord using a bar type position I'll even lay both my ring finger and pinky over the D G B strings. The strength of both fingers helps a lot. My pinky mostly catches the G B strings, makes it easier to slip into an F# position as well. Works good when playing a song like Crimson and Clover where you want that B to be really clear sounding.
Great advice Lauren. I have been struggling with barre chords I will try your technique of slightly turning my index finger to see if that helps me. Thank you
May I add, that an excellent way to get your finger strength to be able to hit them easier is when you are a beginner and don't have "farmer" hands😂.....then lucky you!!! But for most of us, we don't when practicing open chords, make sure your thumb is always in behind the kneck and not wrapped around to mute that 6th string. This way the muscle you need will develope quicker and your accuracy will develop better. You really don't want to wrap the finger around until you can hit that Barre E shaped chord. Because, by all rights, once you have that sweet position for the Barre E shaped chord you should be able to play it without your strumming hand touching the guitar, but you can still hit that chord. Ultimate end goal! Also, I wouldn't use the guitar to help with the grip as much as pulling your elbow in a bit to apply more pressure. Using the guitar, you could and probably will bend your notes. Kneck bends and it will change the pitch. Having a bit of a curve for your first finger is not a bad thing. Actually beneficial in the end. You really only need to hit the bottom 2 strings and top string with the barre unless we go to minor E-shaped chord. But then we have our second finger to help with that. Not only that, you want to nail that major shape first. I would say having barring or first finger to high is a bad habit to get in to. Will make the change longer to get to other chords, like say G major E barre to C maj A shaped bar. More distance to travel, longer to hit chords. This is what I learned from my instructors. Yes, more than one has agreed. Rock in all!!!
Been loving your lessons. Hearing barre chords keeps reminding me of a trilogy by ren called the tale of jenny and screech. Feel like you would dig his guitar playing.
Very good lesson .. I have had surgery on both hands .. now my left fretting hand, my thumb is crooked and not exactly in place .. (crying loud) as someone indicated at an angle my other fingers have slight issues. I have figured out ways to compensate Like the tip with the strumming arm. Also try letting your fretting hand have some weight and slightly pull down via gravity. One of my best tips is to find alternatives to barre chords altogether .. now I’m being sarcastic .. lol Thank you Lauren
You don't really need them. There are many other ways to play chord on the guitar. They are cool to do percussive rhythms with but you can do so much without them too.
Same bud. Iv only been playing for a little over 7 months. Iv gotten really good at regular chords but for the love of music I cannot get a Barre chord. But if I'm going to learn any, Lauren is the person to teach me. Everything iv learned thus far is thanks to her and her videos
Been playing 15 years and still can’t do some. Some people the hand just isn’t the right shape. I probably could if I dedicated a few weeks to it, but with other ways to play them it’s a waste of time in my opinion
I don't have any problem with the F chord. The B flat, however is killing me :D Especially on my steel string acoustic guitar. I love playing a chord progression with mostly cowboy chords and then moving it up the fretboard using barchords - or the other way around - and also alternating between strumming and fingerpicking.
Great tips and advice Laura, I think your lessons are brilliant but on learning to play barre chords, the one thing that you never mentioned is where the thumb should positioned on the back of the neck, don’t know if it’s relevant or not? John
In defence of Crafter guitars. Mine is amazing and so is its string action height. So good that I have demo'd many Taylors. I love them. But I feel zero need to pay that much money. That said, my Crafter cost me $25. It was smashed and the neck split. It's Crafter labeled Fishman electronics were fine and work perfectly. I'm a hobbiest woodworker and it just needed gluing and clamping (carefully). It also needed a nut and a saddle which went missing upon its accident. I measured carefully and ordered Graphtec TUSKs and they fit without any slot filing. I have expensive nut slot files and I am happy to use them, but no need. ANY GUITAR CAN PLAY AS WELL AS AN EXPENSIVE GUITAR WITH THE RIGHT SET-UP SO LONG AS IT"S NECK STAYS TRUE...THAT ISN"T HARD.
Great video and awesome tips. I’ve got the barre down now, but dang, my pinkie doesn’t want to cooperate which makes chord switching so slow. Practice practice practice…I know. 😂
I can’t use a full bar chord because of arthritis so I’ve opted for using smaller fragment chords- easier to play and actually sound cleaner too. Where there’s a will… there’s a way🎸
I used to hate barre chords with a passion I had nightmares about it. I was like I know why they call it a F chord haha. I am working on exercises to help me play them with confidence. I also bought a lighter set of strings which helped a lot too.
Here's one for you . Broken my left thumb many years ago. So pressing my thumb on the fretboard gets painful! So have to learn alternate chords shapes.
I started playing guitar around 1966, shortly after I gave up five string banjo (dodged a bullet there!). I was self taught. I never learned barre chords. Some 40 years later I took some lessons. I'm nearly adequate now. HOWEVER. . . when I try to play barre chords I can hit the index finger pretty well most of the time but I can't get the rest of the fingers to cooperate. E.g. In Comfortably Numb I can set up the initial B minor ok but through the song when I get to that chord I can't manage to get the R-P fingers in place. This goes for any barre chord. As you might guess I've developed work-arounds, mostly by playing the chord without the barre, kinda like you'd do with an F chord. I also play exclusively 3 finger picking from the aforementioned banjo and can pick (pun intended) and choose which strings I'm going to play over a faked chord. It would be nice to just play the damned barre chord and be done with it. There are some increasingly worse arthritis issues, mostly in my wrists but the fingers will come to that party eventually.
Bought myself the harley benton nashville nylon nt .... great guitar for a beginner... its silent, it leans to an acoustic guitar, but its much easier to pratice open chords on.
The most important thing when it comes to barre chords is string setup. I slightly lower the B string so that the fleshy side of my finger comes across evenly on the G,B, and e strings. Remember, the strings do not have to match the radius of the fretboard exactly.
Hi Lauren, Greetings from the U.K. Thank you for these excellent tips! Your index finger stretch seems much longer than mine so maybe my guitar neck is wider ? I can make the barre sound clean but then it goes wrong when factoring in middle and ring fingers. Oh well, more practice is obviously needed.
Hi, Lauren. Like your videos a lot! Could you tell what's the best acoustic guitar to buy in the range of 300 to 500 USD? There are loads of videos about that on TH-cam, but I would love to hear your oppinion, specially about how confortable the guitar is to play, because I think this is the most important feature for a beginner. Thanks!
Honestly, you gotta find what is most comfortable for you. I really like Grand Auditorium style guitars. Not too big but still have a great sound. Ibanez makes decent guitars in the $300-$500 range. Seagull is also nice. Any of the good brands in that price range will do well. But honestly, it's about the comfort of playing.
Just watching your advice on the bar finger, i noticed that when you roll your finger on the side, your elbow moves closer to your body. I think this would also help people having trouble with bar chords.
![How To Easily Play Barre Chords Without Pain & Buzzing - [Complete Guide]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EcOF6mZYez0/mqdefault.jpg)
![How To Easily Play Barre Chords Without Pain & Buzzing - [Complete Guide]](/img/tr.png)
✅ Grab POWER & BARRE CHORD Mastery: www.laurenbatemanguitar.com/barrechords
This is the difference between a master of their craft and a teacher. A master can show you how easily they can do it. A teacher makes you do it.
I’ve been just average with my barre cords for 17 years now and just a couple of tips of advice has made me do them perfect!
Thanks so much Lauren!
She's far from being a master
@@quietstrings that’s what I meant: she’s a teacher
I've been playing for for over 40 years and I still enjoy your lessons. keep up the AWESOME work!
That knuckle bit was gold. I never thought to place my finger that high 👌🏾
You got it 😎
Title of your sex tape 😋
1 year later. Yes the kinckle!
After years of trying I finally learned F and Bm. The key for me was learning songs that I really wanted to learn, that contained them. For me it was “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” (F)and “Friday I’m In Love” (Bm). I guess before that I didn’t care enough to learn them. Still working on it, but much, much easier now.
Yeah, the more you practice, the better it gets. And doing songs where maybe they show up once in the chorus is encouraging. When they are all over the song it can be frustrating for sure.
The knuckle position tip and the leaning the guitar body to leverage it against the barre chord tip; Golden Stuff!
I created an exercise called Climbing the Mountain. You start on the thinnest string and work your way up to the thickest string. Once you reach the peak or the top of the mountain you start working your way down and do about 12 reps of 3 sets a day up and down all strings in the fifth fret. 🙏🏼🎸🎵🎶
Cool. Thanks for sharing.
No problem love your videos. 🎸🎵🎶
Used to do barre chords all the time without even thinking. That was over 20 years ago. Started playing again 2 years ago. I “can” do them, but find I avoid. If I turn to the bony side, if affects the stretch of my other fingers and still not clean. More satisfaction to play open chords. But, I think your tip of starting higher on the fret board and work your way down to the effing F Chord is the best practice. Repetition to build strength makes perfect sense.
Everyone's hand is different and why I like to give options. That's why I said, some people can do it flat finger so problem. I have trouble with it, so for me, the angle helps. Repetition is key.
Wow it's fortunate to find a real teacher. Thank you for sharing your guitar technique.
Thank you, I’m an older guy learning and Barre chords are driving me nuts!!!
Happy to help!
Thanks for the tips. I’m just started trying to make a barre cord. I think you’re right on guitars. My new Taylor should arrive tomorrow. Can’t wait the play it.
Rock on. Enjoy the Taylor!
always enjoy playing barre chords, I feel like the band Muse has helped me a ton with chordal playing and I feel quite free around the fretboard. Still learning new chords, triads, and inversions of those. It has definitely been fun to play along with songs that use barre chords. Thanks for the tips very helpful!
Omg. Thank you @Lauren. It's the first time I'm able to play a bar chord without buzzing. I used to dread bar chords. Now it's more approachable. 😊
You're so welcome!
Thank you ma'am the first tip helped me a lot😭😭 i was able to play at my first try
Barre chords were difficult to learn but worth it. Thinking of working each open chord shape up the neck, with finger one like a capo, really helped. The open G and open C shapes are tricky.
100% worth it. But I understand for some, it is physically impossible. I had a student with very bad arthritis. She couldn't do it, so we created different 3 and 4 string versions for her to use in songs. Worked out great and she didn't have to barre.
@@LaurenBateman Great that you find the options. I think everyone should learn an instrument. It helps learn in so many ways. Connecting mental and physical was what hooked me. Multitasking. Shortly after Barre chords, I could time lyrics with chord changes. We each walk our own musical path.
Good stuff as always Lauren. For those that are are struggling, give it time and practice them regularly. And get an electric guitar as Lauren suggests. I have been playing for 3.5 years and it has taken me the last year to get reasonably OK with Barre chords. Still not great, but improving. Patience and practice are virtues with guitar!
I learned Fmajor and all the major minor come along as we move down the neck in a month..i actually followed all those things.
That's great! Glad it was helpful :)
Wonderful. I've used all of those tips and I remember those days so well. Ironically, I found the D open chord harder to master at first - for some reason. Either way, don't forget the most important tip - lots and lots and lots of practice. It soon becomes so automatic you don't even think about it! The E-shaped barre chord is so handy. You can do the minor, the 7th, the 9th and combined with the A-shaped barre chord and you own the fret board - until you get the jazz :)
Great job. You are an excellent guitar teacher.
Thanks for sharing!
I can play e-shape bar chords but not in time. The tip of extending the index finger beyond the edge of the fretboard is new to me and helpful. Thank you.
Before learning guitar it is very important to learn what you teach, Thank You..
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Lauren. You are a great teacher ❤😊
Thank you! Thanks for watching!
Good tips. Never thought of rolling the barre finger or moving it up higher. Thanks. When I was just starting out it was pointed out to me that I was letting my thumb slip up too high around the back of the neck. Once I made sure the meat of my thumb was in the middle of the neck it gave me more strength to pinch the neck.
I agree 100%. I discovered this two years ago and it sounds clearer. Excellent advice.🤟🤟
Rock on! 😀
You’ve helped me so much. I’ve been playing guitar for 1.5 yrs and I still couldn’t get the barre chords right. Now I can do them without any pressure, tysm❤
Happy to help!
Interesting stuff that I already knew but didn't know I knew!
Definitely a thoughtful teacher and if I was starting out she'd be the one I choose.
Just wanted to say You Rock! Thanks for sharing your story! You are a true inspiration for me!
Aww you're welcome
Holy Smokes L the finger roll and the little push was ALL I needed!?! That’s what I’ve been missing for almost 3 years!?!! I’m SOOOO stoked!!! I can’t believe that’s all it took. ❤❤❤ Dude Again, Thank you for your help!! 🙏🤘😁
Glad I could help! Thanks so much for watching :)
@@LaurenBateman it’s my absolute pleasure! Fave guitar coach to watch! 💯🤘🥇
Fantastic. Littlte changes => big improvements
I had never thought of moving my finger higher on the low E string. This is going to help lots.
Thanks for watching!
Yet another brilliant lesson. Thanks, Lauren!
You are welcome!
Okay. I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!!! I've been playing for a million years and still struggled. I've got small hands and I thought I'd seen all the tips and don't know why I checked you out. But that Tip 2 ---- OMG. Sure I'd moved it a little up, a little down, twisted that way, this way but going for it completely??? Just sticking that sucker way up?? - Game change. Thank you so much!!!
Glad it helped!
Dear Lauren, what can I say: You helped me to bring my skills to another level! Especially the advice with the bony side of the finger is very helpful. Thank you very much! 😊
You're very welcome :D
Thankyou so much Lauren for another informative yet very important lesson. To be honest l didn't know anything about a guitar then l came across your guitar tutorials on TH-cam. Can you imagine all the way out in Zimbabwe Africa. It's my 2nd year now and thanks to your brilliant and professional teaching l have learnt alot. To be honest you are one of my best tutors on TH-cam channel .. Thankyou so much for an amazing job❤❤🎉🎉
So great to hear that :D I'm really glad that the videos were able to help you.
Took your advice on your presentation of F barre chord. It's true moved my index finger higher ....yes it works! Thanks
You're very welcome! Glad it helped 😄
A coworker is trying to learn guitar. I'm no expert, In fact I have 35 years of mediocre to good abilities lol. But I recommended the finger roll to him. I learned barre cords early on but I found I struggled higher up the neck due to the smaller fret spacing. I fixed that by laying my barre cord down and rolling my finger so they can fit in the tighter space. It helped him be able to do barre cords overall.
Rock on!
If you notice when you rolled your finger back your elbow also pulled in to the side of your torso at that point you can easily pull back on the guitar with your arm strength against your pointy finger and as long as the guitar is not too big for you you're right elbow is holding the body of the guitar to prevent it from pivoting and you can do bar chords without your thumb even being on the back of the neck I think that's one of the things that gets missed The other thing that gets missed is very often when playing bar chords they're more rhythmic than open chords tend to be so sometimes you need the base side of the cord and sometimes you need the trouble side of the cord and you can pivot your finger to get the strength where needed and the rest for the other part of the finger so it is not just brute force to get a barcode done. I think bar chords are the guitarist's dream compared to open chords if you learn to bar chords you can play every major chord if you learn two more then you've got every minor chord two more and you've got every minor 7 chord so with six shapes you can play every major minor and minor seventh chord I think that's pretty awesome versus learning piles of finger twisting open chords
They are amazing chords and so much fun to play rhythmically and percussively, but definitely not beginner friendly.
After struggling with barre chirds for a while your video was what I needed to get the 💡moment. Inwas bending my finger so the 1, 2, 3, were muted a lot.
LAUREN ...THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR GENEROSITY AND FOR SHARING YOUR EXPERTISE ...BEST WISHES
You are very welcome. Thank you so much for your support 😃
Hi Lauren, Like everyone else, the "F" barre chord is one of the most problematic, so I appreciate your tips. I have also found that pulling your left elbow in towards your body helps to change the angle of your hand, making it easier. Also, putting your guitar between your legs, classical style, makes it easier, too, although that makes it harder to watch your left hand (but should we be doing that anyway?). Lastly, regarding guitar action setup. Lowering the action is not the "be-all, end-all" of guitar setup. There are other factors which go into making a guitar playable, like the neck contour shape, and the radius of the fretboard. Playing before you buy is essential. Lowering the strings is a sore subject for me because I live in a small community with very few luthiers. The guy whom I mostly have to use always gets the strings too low, causing fret buzz. If the strings get too low, (on most guitars), it can't just be readjusted, it has to be re-done, which is more expense and more time. I'm just saying.
Lauren, thank you for this information. Do you know that I have never seen a video on this subject? This is so interesting and helpful. Why is it that no one touches on this subject if it is so common? I will use your techniques to correct these issues I’m facing. Thank you so much. I just subscribed to your channel and thank you once again for
Being a player in my 60's, I've been "ok" with Barre chords . This lesson has improved my playing tenfold. Thank you Lauren. 🙏
Wonderful!
I had difficulties in playing F and Bm ever since I started to play guitar. Thank you for the tips
Glad to help :)
Thanks for those tips, always useful. I'm fairly OK with major barr chords but when I lift my middle finger to create a minor chord I find I'm muting the G string with my first finger.
Ya I have the same issue
Exactly right on the money Lauren!!! All these tips work ! 😊😊😊
Rock on! Glad you agree!
Thanks Lauren, BIG help!
Thanks for watching!
I've played barre chords a long time, but learned some great tips from this. Thanks!
You're very welcome :D
Thanks for the video, I was able to play a couple of songs I'd been avoiding ❤️
Glad I could help!
No more tension on the strings at the first fret than at the 6 fret, but it's easier to bend the stings in the center of the neck. Thanks for the tips.
Thanks for watching!
I don’t have a problem with barre chords but holding on to the pick is another story!!❤
Thanks for watching! For holding pick, please watch th-cam.com/video/1XbzX6GyOU4/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for the great tips! I need all the help I can get with barre chords. For almost four years, I've tried to make the F barre chord every day when I practice, but, for whatever reason, my fingers don't want to cooperate. I will check out your course too!
Thanks for watching!
Excellent instructor
Thank you and Thanks for watching!
I was so young when I learned guitar, I don't really remember struggling with bar chords. But, I played the open G cowboy chord with my index and middle finger my whole childhood, and then I started playing bluegrass and had to change how I played that chord. I have to use my middle and ring finger on the bass notes and my pinky on the high E, so I could use my index finger to embellish notes. That took me probably a year to get comfortable doing.
Those cowboy chords are great.
When playing a B chord using a bar type position I'll even lay both my ring finger and pinky over the D G B strings. The strength of both fingers helps a lot. My pinky mostly catches the G B strings, makes it easier to slip into an F# position as well. Works good when playing a song like Crimson and Clover where you want that B to be really clear sounding.
Thanks for sharing!
Nice. I agree about the strings being close to the freet board.
Great advice Lauren. I have been struggling with barre chords I will try your technique of slightly turning my index finger to see if that helps me. Thank you
Glad it was helpful!
May I add, that an excellent way to get your finger strength to be able to hit them easier is when you are a beginner and don't have "farmer" hands😂.....then lucky you!!! But for most of us, we don't when practicing open chords, make sure your thumb is always in behind the kneck and not wrapped around to mute that 6th string. This way the muscle you need will develope quicker and your accuracy will develop better. You really don't want to wrap the finger around until you can hit that Barre E shaped chord. Because, by all rights, once you have that sweet position for the Barre E shaped chord you should be able to play it without your strumming hand touching the guitar, but you can still hit that chord. Ultimate end goal! Also, I wouldn't use the guitar to help with the grip as much as pulling your elbow in a bit to apply more pressure. Using the guitar, you could and probably will bend your notes. Kneck bends and it will change the pitch. Having a bit of a curve for your first finger is not a bad thing. Actually beneficial in the end. You really only need to hit the bottom 2 strings and top string with the barre unless we go to minor E-shaped chord. But then we have our second finger to help with that. Not only that, you want to nail that major shape first. I would say having barring or first finger to high is a bad habit to get in to. Will make the change longer to get to other chords, like say G major E barre to C maj A shaped bar. More distance to travel, longer to hit chords. This is what I learned from my instructors. Yes, more than one has agreed.
Rock in all!!!
This makes me want to pick up my guitar again. Neat!
Been loving your lessons. Hearing barre chords keeps reminding me of a trilogy by ren called the tale of jenny and screech. Feel like you would dig his guitar playing.
Thanks for the suggestion. Will keep this in mind :D
Very good lesson .. I have had surgery on both hands .. now my left fretting hand, my thumb is crooked and not exactly in place .. (crying loud) as someone indicated at an angle my other fingers have slight issues.
I have figured out ways to compensate
Like the tip with the strumming arm. Also try letting your fretting hand have some weight and slightly pull down via gravity.
One of my best tips is to find alternatives to barre chords altogether .. now I’m being sarcastic .. lol
Thank you Lauren
Happy to hear that! I'm glad it was able to help you :D
I've been playing again for about three years now, still can't get barre chords right. I don't care any more.
You don't really need them. There are many other ways to play chord on the guitar. They are cool to do percussive rhythms with but you can do so much without them too.
@@LaurenBateman True. I just play them badly lol
Same bud. Iv only been playing for a little over 7 months. Iv gotten really good at regular chords but for the love of music I cannot get a Barre chord. But if I'm going to learn any, Lauren is the person to teach me. Everything iv learned thus far is thanks to her and her videos
Been playing 15 years and still can’t do some. Some people the hand just isn’t the right shape. I probably could if I dedicated a few weeks to it, but with other ways to play them it’s a waste of time in my opinion
Never give up...always care😊
Another tip with doing barre chords is you can pull your left shoulder/arm back to allow more pressure
Very helpful. Thank you man🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸
Happy to help!
Great as usual😊
Thanks for watching!
Great tips ! Thank you Lauren.
Glad you liked it!
Thanks for posting Lauren , This really helps . I'm one of your life time members .
You're so welcome!
Very helpful Lauren, thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Do you have any tips for someone struggling with barre chords with the root on the 5th string? Great vid by the way.
Same principles apply. Those tend to be easier due to a small barre. The key is the squeeze on the bottom of the finger.
Great tips. That Gretsch is THE BOMB!
Thanks for watching!
Thanks you made it simple
Thanks Lauren
You are welcome!
I don't have any problem with the F chord. The B flat, however is killing me :D Especially on my steel string acoustic guitar.
I love playing a chord progression with mostly cowboy chords and then moving it up the fretboard using barchords - or the other way around - and also alternating between strumming and fingerpicking.
Great tips and advice Laura, I think your lessons are brilliant but on learning to play barre chords, the one thing that you never mentioned is where the thumb should positioned on the back of the neck, don’t know if it’s relevant or not? John
Oh good point! Same as with regular chords, perpendicular to the neck . I do tend to place it behind the barre finger for a little extra leverage.
love your content lauren
WISH YOU WERE SUPER CLOSE, FOR A FRONT SEAT MUSIC LESSONS. I ENJOY YOUR DELIVERY. MUCH LUV ❤️
Aww thank you!
Nice technic, thank you!🎸
Glad you like it!
Great tips! Really appreciate it. Thanks so much! 🙏🎸
Anytime!
In defence of Crafter guitars. Mine is amazing and so is its string action height. So good that I have demo'd many Taylors. I love them. But I feel zero need to pay that much money. That said, my Crafter cost me $25. It was smashed and the neck split. It's Crafter labeled Fishman electronics were fine and work perfectly. I'm a hobbiest woodworker and it just needed gluing and clamping (carefully). It also needed a nut and a saddle which went missing upon its accident. I measured carefully and ordered Graphtec TUSKs and they fit without any slot filing. I have expensive nut slot files and I am happy to use them, but no need. ANY GUITAR CAN PLAY AS WELL AS AN EXPENSIVE GUITAR WITH THE RIGHT SET-UP SO LONG AS IT"S NECK STAYS TRUE...THAT ISN"T HARD.
Good tip, Lauren . Thanks .
You are welcome!
Great video and awesome tips. I’ve got the barre down now, but dang, my pinkie doesn’t want to cooperate which makes chord switching so slow. Practice practice practice…I know. 😂
You got this!
THANKS A MILLION MY DEAR
Thanks I’m gonna try it
Thanks for wathcing!
Thank You Lauren 💯
You're so welcome!
I can’t use a full bar chord because of arthritis so I’ve opted for using smaller fragment chords- easier to play and actually sound cleaner too. Where there’s a will… there’s a way🎸
I used to hate barre chords with a passion I had nightmares about it. I was like I know why they call it a F chord haha. I am working on exercises to help me play them with confidence. I also bought a lighter set of strings which helped a lot too.
Thanks for tip. My teacher never told me that tip. You don't need that much strength though for the classical guitar.😂
Here's one for you . Broken my left thumb many years ago. So pressing my thumb on the fretboard gets painful! So have to learn alternate chords shapes.
That's a good solution. The thumb isn't actually needed to play open chords. Try doing that to train your hand not to lean in on the thumb too much.
✅Support Lauren's Channel! Purchase her POWER & BARRE CHORD MASTERY Course: www.laurenbatemanguitar.com/barrechords
Thank you so much for these great lessons. Was wondering about the die cast 69 Camaro?
My favorite car :D
I started playing guitar around 1966, shortly after I gave up five string banjo (dodged a bullet there!). I was self taught. I never learned barre chords. Some 40 years later I took some lessons. I'm nearly adequate now. HOWEVER. . . when I try to play barre chords I can hit the index finger pretty well most of the time but I can't get the rest of the fingers to cooperate.
E.g. In Comfortably Numb I can set up the initial B minor ok but through the song when I get to that chord I can't manage to get the R-P fingers in place. This goes for any barre chord.
As you might guess I've developed work-arounds, mostly by playing the chord without the barre, kinda like you'd do with an F chord. I also play exclusively 3 finger picking from the aforementioned banjo and can pick (pun intended) and choose which strings I'm going to play over a faked chord.
It would be nice to just play the damned barre chord and be done with it. There are some increasingly worse arthritis issues, mostly in my wrists but the fingers will come to that party eventually.
Great tips thanks Lauren
You're so welcome! Glad it was helpful 😄
I am learning the F an B experimenting. “Tuesday’s Gone” is a good song for the “F” Bar Chord.
Thanks for sharing!
Bought myself the harley benton nashville nylon nt .... great guitar for a beginner... its silent, it leans to an acoustic guitar, but its much easier to pratice open chords on.
Sounds great! Thanks for sharing!
The most important thing when it comes to barre chords is string setup. I slightly lower the B string so that the fleshy side of my finger comes across evenly on the G,B, and e strings. Remember, the strings do not have to match the radius of the fretboard exactly.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Lauren,
Greetings from the U.K.
Thank you for these excellent tips!
Your index finger stretch seems much longer than mine so maybe my guitar neck is wider ?
I can make the barre sound clean but then it goes wrong when factoring in middle and ring fingers. Oh well, more practice is obviously needed.
Glad it was helpful!
First chord played was Bm I think, and the reason I'm here... third chord of Just Like Heaven!
One tip I found helpful is to pull your elbow towards your body. It naturally rolls your finger. You actually do that at 1:19 🙂
Great lesson 👌
Glad you liked it
Hi, Lauren. Like your videos a lot! Could you tell what's the best acoustic guitar to buy in the range of 300 to 500 USD? There are loads of videos about that on TH-cam, but I would love to hear your oppinion, specially about how confortable the guitar is to play, because I think this is the most important feature for a beginner. Thanks!
Honestly, you gotta find what is most comfortable for you. I really like Grand Auditorium style guitars. Not too big but still have a great sound.
Ibanez makes decent guitars in the $300-$500 range. Seagull is also nice. Any of the good brands in that price range will do well.
But honestly, it's about the comfort of playing.
@@LaurenBateman Got it! Thanks!
Thank you!
You're welcome!
Just watching your advice on the bar finger, i noticed that when you roll your finger on the side, your elbow moves closer to your body. I think this would also help people having trouble with bar chords.