Barre Chord + Acoustic Guitar = Haxx

Seriously guys, It's not possible. My finger is bruised worse than Rodney King and still I can't get the damn barre chords down. Maybe on an electric its easier, but on an acoustic its damn near impossible. Any tips on how to go about getting Barre Chords. For instance, how would one go about playing an F? Please be as descriptive as possible. Its really annoying me because I've hit this roadblock to my progress. I have my scales down, and my basic open chords down, and everything is pretty good. Got some songs going, but now I'm stuck because I can't pull off a barre chord. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

All that just went over my head...
But have you tried looking for some tutorials on YouTube?

Practice, young grasshopper.

Seriously, it just takes time. Don't fret.(guitar pun)

All that just went over my head...
But have you tried looking for some tutorials on YouTube?

JohnM1983

Looks easy to me...

How to play a Barre Chord

I have an Ovation Acoustic electric celbrity edition...amazing guitar man...

Looks easy to me...

How to play a Barre Chord

I have an Ovation Acoustic electric celbrity edition...amazing guitar man...

kingman03

Well, when I first started learning them, I know the problem I had was I was always trying to play it with my finger tip pressing down on top string, which made my other fingers bend weird and I ended up failing holding down the strings on the fret my index finger was on. I figured out if I move my index finger so the bottom of it is around the bottom string, it was easier to hold down the strings and it worked a lot better.soldier-dark

I've been playing guitar for over 3 years and I still can't do an F barre chord on the fly. My index finger just is just too boney to do it; the G and B strings are just bum notes. :xAirGuitarist87

The way I sometimes do it is to put my thumb over the top of the neck onto the bottom string, use my index finger to play the B string, and just don't bother with the top E (mute it with the edge of my index finger). I don't do it all the time, I usually only do it when my wrist starts hurting.

I wouldn't recommend using it all the time, since you really still need to learn how to do it the correct way.... but if you're desperate and need a stop-gap until you can pull it off properly, perhaps give that a go.

Barre chords aren't really that hard. In fact I enjoy playing them.

Barre chords aren't really that hard. In fact I enjoy playing them.

Proobie44

I had that problem before, I just couldn't do it. It seemed I was muting the whole thing and my fingers literaly started bleeding. I gave up.Then one randomday I decided to give it another try andcould do it perfectly fine. So, can't help you there.

I can't hold barre chords because my joints are fat from popping them all the time. I can't lay my whole finger flat down across all the strings.

I was going through the same problem with you not too long ago. The trick is to roll your finger and press on the side rather than pressing it down flat. It'll come by eventually trust me.

It takes practice. Just practice going from chord to chord back and forth until making the F chord becomes a natural position/ movement for your fingers.

I had trouble playing barre chords when I first started. Now they just come naturally. :P