Understanding Guitar

One Beginners’ Efforts

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.)