Barre Chord Learning Tips For Beginner Guitar Players

By Tom Fontana

Learning how to play barre chords (bar chords) is one of the most difficult tasks any beginner guitarist will encounter. Since lots of songs require the use of barre chords, it holds many people back from fulfilling their desire to learn the guitar properly, or even quit altogether.

The good news is that with enough practice and dedication, playing barre chords will become easy. All professional guitarists learned to play them, you can too. Next time you feel like these chords are holding you back, remember these tips.

* Check your thumb: You need to literally pinch the neck of the guitar between your thumb and index finger, which means your thumb needs to be smack in the middle of the back of the neck of the guitar exerting just enough pressure, to pinch the strings.
* Check your index finger: You need to place your index finger parallel with the fret wire, as close to it as possible. Also, make sure your finger is not just laying flat, but slightly rolled onto its side. A straight and rigid finger will not work.
* Check your wrist: The best way to hold bar chords is by moving your wrist forward, which allows your index finger to become flatter on the neck. Experiment with different wrist positions.
* Check your elbow: Your elbow needs to be closer to your body while you are holding bar chords, since this allows your index finger to be rolled onto its side.
* Check which strings you need to be holding: Your finger usually doesn't have to hold down every string for a bar chord. For example, an E shaped bar chord only requires you to hold down strings 1, 2 and 6 (the high E, B, and low E strings). Concentrating your index finger on holding only these strings, while your other fingers hold down the rest of the strings, will make this bar chord easier.
* Your hand will get tired, but it shouldn't get numb tired. If it does, you are holding down too hard, and not concentrating enough on the correct technique.
* Practice bar chords for 5 minutes every day: As you know, practice makes perfect. If you practice holding down bar chords for just a couple of minutes a day for 2 weeks straight, you will get 300% better.
* Watch famous guitarists: Looking at videos of pros will motivate you, and watching their hands will even give you pointers on how they are fretting the chords.

Remember that anybody can learn the guitar, it's just a bit difficult at first. Believe me when I tell you that all professionals struggled with bar chords as well, but they kept at it, and learned it. You can too!

If you want to read more on the correct technique and types of bar chords, or watch a video guitar lesson on bar chords, head on over to TheGuitarLesson.com, where your find dozens of quality beginner guitar lessons, useful guitar tools, and more.

Tom Fontana is a guitar teacher and musician. His passion for the guitar spanned relatively late, during high school, but has never stopped growing since. ... ...
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