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Defontaine

New Player hits Wall!

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HI everyone,

So, i decided for once in my life i would actually stick something out for a change, I've been playing electric guitar for about 5 months now, and I'm really enjoying it, So far, I have however, hit a wall over something it don't really understand and I'm hoping to get the answer from some people with more experience that myself, i have a chordify subscription and play along with the rolling notes that appear, i play with a capo, the problem I'm having is understanding certain notes displayed, i don't have a problem with the normal notes and if the song isn't simple enough i simply move the capo until it's playable again, but in some songs a note appears that i don't understand, i will insert a picture of what i mean and hopefully someone with more experience can explain it. It's the one's with the bar that i don't understand.

capo.jpg

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In the figure for F major, the index finger bars across all the strings whilst the other three fingers make a E shape chord. This is the same as putting your capo on the first fret and fingering an E. The barred F chord is probably the hardest to master when starting out, although the barred Bb isn’t much easier TBH (index bar at the first fret and the remaining fingers making an A shape. The Bb often omits the barre to make the things easier, with the 6th & 5th strings not being played).

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Good morning, @Defontaine, and ...

 

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Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share. rWNVV2D.gif

 

This is a common enough issue with those learning the guitar on their own, and is easy enough to answer, but it's maybe not an answer you're going to like.  Those chord diagrammes are a fairly simple means of getting beginners started, and are very useful. They are, however, a bit like 'painting by numbers' as far as Music is concerned. No, that's not snobbery (I was a Learner, too, some decades ago, and went down a similar route...). You've already worked out, I suspect, that the figures represent the neck of the guitar, seen from above the finger board, looking down. The double line at the top represents the nut of the guitar (where the string's sounding length ends and they go on to the tuning pegs...). The vertical lines are the strings; the horizontal ones the first frets of the guitar. The number outside of the diagramme indicates at what fret the diagramme is placed (in all three here, it's the first fret, hence the double line for the nut...). The black dots, and the black bar, are the fingers of the Player, '1' for the index, '2' the middle, '3' for the ring, and the '4' is the pinky...). Above each picture, the 'O' shows a string to be played 'open', that's to say with no finger on any fret, but is to be heard, the 'X' shows a string that is not to be played, either by simply not plucking or strumming it, or by 'damping' its sound by some means (using the palm of the other hand, or lightly touching the string with an adjacent finger...). The letters below the diagramme tell us the name of the chord (C major, D minor and F major respectively...).

All of that is perhaps easy enough to explain, but the difficulty, for a beginner, is the clean execution of these chords, most especially the 'bar' chord, 'F'. It's played by laying one's index flat over all six strings, then placing the other fingers on the strings at the frets indicated. That's quite a job when starting out, and many folk struggle with it if there's no-one to show how that is to be done, comfortably and quickly.
What to do, then..? First recommendation: understand that it's not essential, especially as a beginner, to play every string, every time. If you're strumming these chords, it's very common to only play either the bottom half or the top half; the song won't suffer. If it's hard to play, play what you can and move on. It'll come, but not if you persist in a technique too early.
How to acquire this technique..? the short answer is: good guitar tuition, with a tutor. OK, OK, that's not possible for everyone, but it's the best route just the same. 
Meanwhile, here's what to do. Use that same fingering pattern, but further up the neck, at the seventh fret, for instance. Placing the fingers higher up is easier. Do this as an exercise, not when playing a song, as the resulting chord won't be the right one for the song. Just get used to getting the fingers in place, slowly, methodically, ensuring as best as possible to get all the six strings sounding correctly. Move the whole position up a fret and do it again, then back down a fret; continue doing this, placing the fingers, playing the chord slowly, adjust the position until it sounds right, then back up a fret, then back down... Once this becomes a bit more natural (a couple of weeks, doing this for a few minutes every day...), move down to the sixth fret and do the same exercise. After a while, gradually moving down the neck, you'll find the 'F' chord easier to play, cleanly. Take your time; I often say that the fastest way to play is to do it very, very slowly. That's the secret to rapid results.
There, that's enough for now; I hope this helps a little. Well done, and carry on; meanwhile...

 

Keep well, stay safe.

 

Douglas

Edited by Dad3353
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Thanks Dad for taking the time to explain all that, i shall be referring back to your comment regularly as i progress, maybe i should have learnt how to play bar chords! I did start to, but my fingers simply wouldn't go where they should and it effected my enthusiasm. Your comment pretty much answered all the questions i had and i'm grateful.

 

Much Appreciated👍

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33 minutes ago, ezbass said:

In the figure for F major, the index finger bars across all the strings whilst the other three fingers make a E shape chord. This is the same as putting your capo on the first fret and fingering an E. The barred F chord is probably the hardest to master when starting out, although the barred Bb isn’t much easier TBH (index bar at the first fret and the remaining fingers making an A shape. The Bb often omits the barre to make the things easier, with the 6th & 5th strings not being played).

Thank You Ez

I'm getting there...Slowly

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37 minutes ago, Defontaine said:

Thanks Dad for taking the time to explain all that, i shall be referring back to your comment regularly as i progress, maybe i should have learnt how to play bar chords! I did start to, but my fingers simply wouldn't go where they should and it effected my enthusiasm. Your comment pretty much answered all the questions i had and i'm grateful.

 

Much Appreciated👍

Bar chords are the bane of every new guitar player’s progression. Understandably so too, what other activity requires you to have that kind of strength in a straight index finger?  As Dad says, practise bar chords further up the neck and work down to the lower positions as your finger strength progresses, that first position F bar chords will come along eventually.  In the meantime, use a simpler fingering using all four fingers or a 2 string ‘mini barre’ on the first 2 strings (I prefer all 4).

 

image.png.0d3367b5308369b6e1595505f5aba2f5.png

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14 minutes ago, ezbass said:

Bar chords are the bane of every new guitar player’s progression. Understandably so too, what other activity requires you to have that kind of strength in a straight index finger?  As Dad says, practise bar chords further up the neck and work down to the lower positions as your finger strength progresses, that first position F bar chords will come along eventually.  In the meantime, use a simpler fingering using all four fingers or a 2 string ‘mini barre’ on the first 2 strings (I prefer all 4).

 

image.png.0d3367b5308369b6e1595505f5aba2f5.png

Yeah that's some sound advise, another thing when learning bar chords that i found really difficult was the way you position your hand to make the bar, it totally changes the position of your thumb on the neck , and i kept finding myself reverting back to the old way out of habit, bar chords are important aspect of guitar playing so i guess i'll just have to knuckle down.

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On 07/01/2022 at 10:16, Defontaine said:

Thanks Dad for taking the time to explain all that, i shall be referring back to your comment regularly as i progress...

 

Two further comments, if you would; take what you will from them...

Firstly, some encouragement. There are moments (there always are; no exceptions...) where one 'hits a wall'. We've all been there; some are still stuck there..! One thing I use, to test one's progress, is to reverse the guitar (righty, play lefty and vice versa...). This simulates to some extent the way it felt when you first picked up a guitar, and illustrates the progress that has been made. Try playing whatever you're good at in this 'reversed' manner. Tough, eh..? Now turn it back to your normal fashion, and smile at how relatively easy it seems, and carry on building. ;)
Another 'top tip', for which the benefit is a little less immediate, but worth solid gold, in my humble opinion and experience, is the 'investment' in the most useful guitar method I have (and I have a stack of 'em...). An 'oldie but goldie', it's the ludicrously-priced...

 

Mickey Baker's Complete Course in Jazz Guitar: Book 1 Paperback – 30 Dec. 2004 ... 1WrWgCOm.jpg

 

I first bought this, in total innocence and ignorance together with my first guitar, a Russian-made cheese-wire-strung acoustic, with a flat 'classical' fingerboard, and a bolt to hold the neck to the body. I knew nothing (late sixties...), and have spent the many decades since working through the stuff in there. The very first pages are daunting, but, by perseverance and stubbornness, I unwittingly laid the foundations for what I can now play (and understand what I play...). Disclaimer, for those that don't know me... I'm a drummer, and play guitar and bass solely for fun; I'm still working on 'Misty', a favourite of mine. I've worn out several copies of this book, and it's the one method I've gone back to, every time I feel I've 'hit a wall'. At the price asked, it's mad to not give it a shot.

 

Two comments, did I say..? OK, here's the third one, for even further encouragement, and meditation...

It's the first forty years that are the hardest, after which things sometimes tend to get slightly easier. B|

 

Keep well, stay safe.

 

Douglas

 

 

 

 

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