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| playing barre chords pretty well. I tried doing them with my Walden, but basically gave up in frustration. The ones I'm working on are Cm, Gm and D7.
The Ovation neck is making it a bit easier for me to play barre chords than the Walden for some reason.
I can't wait to do Jim Croce's tunes at an open mike night. (Yes, playAdamas, I will be working on Lover's Cross).
Michelle |
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Location: Bluffton, SC | Gotta admire the persistence, Michelle. Nice work. Keep it up! |
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| The only way to get better is to keep playing, and that's why we have these guitars, right? Great work, and keep it up. It took me a lot longer than you to get the courage up to perform in public; good for you. |
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| Originally posted by G8r:
The only way to get better is to keep playing, and that's why we have these guitars, right? Great work, and keep it up. It took me a lot longer than you to get the courage up to perform in public; good for you. Thanks G8r and Weaser!
I did an open mike night last year. Completely fell on my face on that one.
The open mike night I go to has a five song limit. So far, I'm working on "Rhymes and Reasons". The reason I'm working on barre chords is because I want to to "A Change Is Gonna Come". I think it is slow enough that I could manage the barre chords.
The version I like is the one by Three Dog Night (the original was Sam Cooke). It's not much of a guitar tune, so I'm gonna have to really work on the vocals.
Right now, I have the guitar in eadgbe tuning. However, I love the 02 Collectors in the dcgfad tuning. It helps bring out a nice and full bass sound in the Collectors guitar. I'm gonna try that tuning with this song and see how it goes.
Michelle |
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Location: Yucaipa, California | Michelle, try playing the D7 as a regular C7 chord (first position) moved up two frets..... easier to play and sounds great as well.... |
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Location: Pennsylvania | Good for you, Michelle.
I still give up periodically, and then get back to them again.
Best wishes with your progress. |
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Location: Boise, Idaho | I should probably learn the names of those chords sometime. I might know how to play them, but I just don't know what they're called. |
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Location: Hanau, Hessen, Germany | Have no fear of barre chords... Just keep practicing and one day (probably over night) you will manage them without any problems and a whole new world will appear on your fretboard ;)
btw there is a german beer called Barre... It might help :D |
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| I can play bar chords all day and riff round the neck with no effort but these days I'll use a capo for vocal to get the drone going in whatever key it needs to work. I'd say get your hands working good in open chords and transitions then move the capo around as needed. I been playing all my life but only started to use a capo in the last 8 years or so as I got into vocal - seems to me it allows way more sound for laying down the background most times whether it's palming, muting, working the drone or whatever although lots of times you'll still have to bar or partial bar something here and there.
Emmylou Harris once said that she only knows about 3 or 4 chords.
Best thing is to forget about imitating big shots and do something in your own well practiced style like you really mean it and its yer last words on earth..lol |
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Location: Budd Lake, NJ | Emmylou Harris only knows 4 chords? I wonder if she had the same teacher that Moody did. ;)
Back to the topic.
Michelle, playing the barres is so much easier on a neck that cooperates with you. I couldn't play them until I met Gertrude.
I have really small hands, and when I play the minor ones like Fm, Gm, etc., I put my middle finger overtop of my pointer finger to get some extra pressure to hold down the strings. (It's probably not correct form, but at least it sounds clean that way.)
Keep at it, because you'll get there; and remember, we're cheering for you from all over the place.
--Karen |
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Location: Utah | Michelle, is the setup proper on your guitars? If the nut is too high it can make it difficult to bar in the first few frets.
Try pressing down on a string between the 2nd and 3rd frets, and see how high the string is over the 1st fret. Try tapping on the string to see how far the gap "feels". It should be as close as possible to zero, but not negative, though from a practical standpoint it is tough to get it less than a couple of thousandths of an inch without cutting the nut too deep.
If there is a big gap there, it is too much.
Also, try using a more flexible string. Some brands are a bit stiffer, such as Markley. You could tune down a half step and/or go to a lighter gauge for a while. You could even install electric guitar strings on your acoustic to get a more flexible feel.
That, and cheat whenever possible! |
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Location: Whitecourt, Ab | Michelle, I don't know for sure if this will help or not, but I remember when I was learning barre chords my Dad told me to move my thumb so that it points towards the head of the guitar ( parallel with the neck)as opposed to perpendicular when you play open chords. This allows your pointer finger to move further on to the fret and apply more pressure |
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| Originally posted by Joe Rotax:
I can play bar chords all day and riff round the neck with no effort but these days I'll use a capo for vocal to get the drone going in whatever key it needs to work. I'd say get your hands working good in open chords and transitions then move the capo around as needed. I been playing all my life but only started to use a capo in the last 8 years or so as I got into vocal - seems to me it allows way more sound for laying down the background most times whether it's palming, muting, working the drone or whatever although lots of times you'll still have to bar or partial bar something here and there.
Emmylou Harris once said that she only knows about 3 or 4 chords.
Best thing is to forget about imitating big shots and do something in your own well practiced style like you really mean it and its yer last words on earth..lol Joe, for the D7 in "A Change is Gonna Come", I'm using the capo at the first fret, and then using a barre chord at the fifth fret, with the third finger on the 4th string and the fourth finger on the second string.
My teacher wants me to do barre chords so that I can build up my strength. He says that once I'm able to master barre chords, I'll be able to master almost anything on guitar.
Michelle |
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| FlySig, yes the guitar is set up properly. I got my guitar from Patch ;) . Actually, this guitar is much more comfortable to do barre chords with than the Walden.
I'm trying to cheat where possible, but I think that if I don't learn to master barre chords, I might be cheating myself.
Karen , there is a lot to be said about sticking an electric neck on an acoustic body. I'm so glad that Ovation thinks outside the box on that one!
Rededdie, I'm gonna check my thumb position the next time I do a barre chord. Your advice is good to know!
Thanks again, everyone, for your support and encouragement.
Michelle |
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Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | Originally posted by rededdie:
my Dad told me to move my thumb so that it points towards the head of the guitar ( parallel with the neck)as opposed to perpendicular when you play open chords red et al,
That's the way I used my thumb when forming barre chords up until early this year. At Matt Smith's clinic at Amelia, he suggested to place the thumb as close as possible/comfortably to the center of the other four digits.
Now I must admit that at first, that position was not comfortable, but it did give extra leverage to the fingers, enabling 'cleaner' notes on the barre chords.
It did cause some thumb muscle fatigue, but not unlike any new hand position on the neck. As time passes, I find that his suggestion does improve my barre attempts.
The most difficult aspect is to remember to break the old habit.
If I remember correctly, G8r (Serge) was also impressed with Matt's hint.
Barres can be a bear. Just keep at it... The rewards are worth the efforts!  |
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| Originally posted by Guitarzannie:
...My teacher wants me to do barre chords so that I can build up my strength. He says that once I'm able to master barre chords, I'll be able to master almost anything on guitar.
Michelle Yeah, I wasn't suggesting that you totally avoid them or anything.
Bar chords can be frustrating so I was thinking that if you got some stuff happening good with open chords and maybe run some notes in between chord changes etc. it might ease up the frustration with bar chords a bit - sorta like how hitting a good shot in golf every now and then keeps you coming back..lol
You can get a lot of great sound from the instrument with just open chords and technique like muting certain strings, palming with your right hand to add overtones etc but looking back on it I probably didn't start doing that until after I'd learned the basics which was generations ago. |
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Location: Utah | Michelle, give DR Sunbeam strings a try. They are noticeably lower tension than other brands, and they sound nice. Don't cut them to length before installation or the windings can come undone. Install, tune, then trim.
As to cheating, I only advocate it when necessary. ;) |
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I'm one step closer
