Understanding Guitar

One Beginners’ Efforts

Most of my practice time has been spent on learning how to read sheet music while playing — not something that is coming easy for me. Thus far, I’ve worked my way up to the D string (from high E). It has taken me about four weeks to get to there. In retrospect, I think that is terrible… I wish I had gotten further faster…

Anyway, tonight after I finished going over about 45 minutes worth of note reading practice and some finger work [this exercise] I spent time looking at barred chords. Right now, as I write this my left hand is hurting me… I really worked the barred chord. I spent about 10 minutes playing a Bm, A, G, Em progression.

After which I started playing a A, G and then a D, C progression. I was playing these using the following chords.

I believe that this is good barred chord practice. Using the A, G progress as an example I was playing:

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4/4 A / / / | / / / / | G / / / | / / / /|
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Repeat that 4 times and then play the same rhythm for D, C progression.

The Music Room, Universal Language Spoken Here

My guitar lesson last Saturday went well. Nothing too fantastic; we went over what I was suppose to learn [See here] and then Gary (Guitar Teacher) showed me a new pattern to learn. I believe he called it 3rd skips. My intention is to throw it in TuxGuitar and post it here at a later date, but no promises on that. I’ve been trying to spend my free time with a guitar in my hand…

The aforementioned 3rd skips I should be playing in quarter notes, half notes and 8th notes.

As for the practice itself, I’ve not done nearly as much as I’ve wanted to. Between my pending vacation [Mexico!] and the election I’ve been a little distracted. I’m trying to focus for at least one hour a day but that has been hit or miss. Sometimes I get a half hour in other times the entire hour. I will be trying to improve that…

Also, I’ve been continuing to practice my Bm and other barred chords. They are getting better but nothing significant yet. I’m hoping that it takes time and my improvement since the first post about this has been vast.

Hopefully I’ll have time to post more about this last lesson at a later date.  Until then (and beyond) thanks for reading! Regards!

I noticed in the history of search terms that some one attempted to search for “barre chords straining fretting hand” on this site.

If you are straining you fretting hand while playing a barred chord (in my experience) your hand is probably not positioned correctly.

All of your fingers, from the finger doing the barre to the fingers doing the standard-single notes, should be just above the fret wire. (Above is relative to the guitar being stood up.) If you position your hand like this, you will need some pressure to hold down all the strings but not too much.

Experiment with a different amount of pressure. You should then be able to figure out how much pressure you actually need to produce a clean strum [using as little pressure as possible].

Do a google search and you’ll find plently of articles discussing this topic with a similar solution. (So this just isn’t my thing.)

A reader, Staci, is trying to learn to play Bm and had requested pictures.  Below are the pictures I quickly took. I hope these can help Staci and others…

Tip Related to These Photos: Notice how close my finger is to the fret wire. It is pretty much on top of it. Putting your barreing finger just behind (not on, but behind) the fret-wire will help to get a clean sound from the guitar.

These were taken quickly with a iPhone.

I recently decided to subscribe to Acoustic Guitar magazine. And yesterday, I received my very first issue.

I was incredibility pleased with the issue as they had a wonderful article titled: “Tackling Difficult Chords.” I quickly read the article and I felt that it had some very wonderful tips on how to learn to imprint difficult barre chords in to your memory and fretting hand.

The article uses the F chord and the Bm chord as their example chords. Which is perfect because I’ve been working on the Bm chord. (I recently blogged about it.)

After I read the article I immediately began to apply what it had suggested. I worked with the F chord, the Bm chord and for good measure I threw in the (open) C chord. I’ve been having difficultly with that chord because it is awkward to my hand.

I drilled, and drilled the chords and have done the same thing since I read the article. That was about two days ago. It is probably too early to tell, but I do believe that it has improved my ability to play all three chords. As well as I want? Not quite yet, but it is a work in progress and I’m getting closer.

It is possible that the article just gave me the fuel to drill the chords again… I’m not sure. To any account, I loved the article and it would be worth a read to any one who is still working on memorizing barred chords.

What does the article suggest? I don’t want to give away too much (because I don’t want to plagiarize), but for those who might be interested…

The article starts out by telling you to fret the problem chord.  Play the chord arpeggiated – that is one string at a time. Play the chord twice (I suggest using alternate picking) once going down; from low E to high E then going up, from high E to the low E string.

Once you get to the low E string, release the strings but don’t remove your hand from the current position. Reapply pressure with your fretting hand with the same chord shape and do the arpeggiation again. Repeat until your hand can’t take it (actually, just repeat it a lot). You should pay special attention to whether the strings are ringing clearly or not. Don’t proceed until the strings all ring clearly – consistently.

The article then suggests you strum the chord, doing the same fretting hand pressure release as before. Repeat this a lot.

The article then suggests that you do a two-chord chord progression. One chord is the one you are learning, the other chord being a chord that you are very comfortable with. Repeat that progression. (yes, a lot.)

You may not get to this last step on your first or second day. I think that is fine. Take your time and be patient.

Buy the magazine and read the article. It has a lot more important information than what I’ve just given you.

You may also be able to read the article here: http://www.acousticguitar.com/article/default.aspx?articleid=22034

Yep, Still around. Got back from Atlanta just fine. I’ve just been busy with things.

Anyway, I have a post. I’ve been trying to study Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb. The song is in the key of Bm (from what I understand, I’m still not sure what that actually means) and because it is in Bm, the first chord is the Bm chord (Again, this is just what I’ve been told).

If you are unfamiliar with the chord, it is one of though dreaded barred chords. And it has literally been hurting my hand every time I try to play (usually it takes 15 to 20 minutes before notice). Below is a Chord Chart I threw together in case you are unfamiliar with the chord.

I still have a lot of trouble forming the chord quickly. (This is basically the first time I had a reason to play it so much. Needless to say, I should have practiced it more than I did…. But that is another post). In addition to having trouble forming the chord, it doesn’t always come out cleanly. I’d like to improve both aspects of this and I’ve been attempting to do that by following the advice I’ve been given on my previous post: “Call for Public Opinion – Mistakes”

I am trying to take it slow and I’m trying to get used to it. I’ve come to the conclusion that part of the problem that I’m having with the chord is not one that I can correct right away. I believe that the strength of my hand simply needs to be built up. Over time, after playing this chord (and other barred chords) it will become easier and will overall take less effort. I just need to be patient.

If any experienced players have advice for novice players on chords like this, please share. As I’m sure you remember from your early years, barred chords are a real pain for beginners.

Update: [5/1/2008]: Acoustic Guitar Magazine published a great article on playing difficult chords — it specificity includes the Bm chord! Check it out!