Guitar players of the world unite.

Been playing since christmas last year. Still finding those barred A chords (Root 5 Barre Chords) a bit of a pain. I just hate B's I think.

I play a Yamaha acoustic, erm, LL6SB, it says.

I keep getting tiny invisible cuts on the ends of my fingers which sting. Kinda like microscopic splinters from the steel strings. They're bloody annoying. Anyone else get them?

I've played since February 2006 now and I don't get those problems with my fingers stinging any more, the finger tips on my left hands are just calluses now and fretting is (relatively) painless. Helps that I play a Yamaha APX7 / Squier Strat that both have relatively low actions. I have a Fender Resonator which has quite a high action (high action is useful for slide guitar playing) and I've just got used to it, I've owned it since Christmas.

What problem do you have with barre chords? The Root 5 A is easier than say a root 1 F as the tension over the 5th fret is relatively lower. It should be harder to play a perfectly clean root 5 A minor than A. Do you use your thumb on the back of the neck to "push" up? I find it helps to get a much cleaner sound, but it takes a while for your thumb to get strong enough to keep it going for a long time.

The other set of barre chords (Root 5 D - x57775 etc) are best played by using the index finger to make the barre and then the ring finger to cover all three strings, assuming you're playing a major chord.

Of course if you're on electric, just cheat and use power chords to eliminate the whole barre problem :p

I've been playing acoustic for a few years, not very good by any means but I can play a few songs and I sort of know my way around the guitar. I just enjoy sitting with my ibanez playing and singing songs I like...

I've played since February 2006 now and I don't get those problems with my fingers stinging any more, the finger tips on my left hands are just calluses now and fretting is (relatively) painless. Helps that I play a Yamaha APX7 / Squier Strat that both have relatively low actions. I have a Fender Resonator which has quite a high action (high action is useful for slide guitar playing) and I've just got used to it, I've owned it since Christmas.

What problem do you have with barre chords? The Root 5 A is easier than say a root 1 F as the tension over the 5th fret is relatively lower. It should be harder to play a perfectly clean root 5 A minor than A. Do you use your thumb on the back of the neck to "push" up? I find it helps to get a much cleaner sound, but it takes a while for your thumb to get strong enough to keep it going for a long time.

The other set of barre chords (Root 5 D - x57775 etc) are best played by using the index finger to make the barre and then the ring finger to cover all three strings, assuming you're playing a major chord.

Of course if you're on electric, just cheat and use power chords to eliminate the whole barre problem :p

Think I explained myself poorly. I'm talking about the movable chords where fingers 2 3 and 4 are in the shape of an A and your index finger barres all but the low E string. Like when you play a B, with your index finger barring the second fret. I just find them awkward.

As for those cuts; they're nothing to do with my fingertips still being tender, cos mine are calloused now aswell so the strings don't hurt at all really. They're like papercuts, totally invisible but cause an annoying sharp pain whenever something comes in contact with them.

EDIT: Oops. Just noticed your third paragraph. How on earth do you hold down just those three strings without pushing down on the high E at the same time? I find that nigh on impossible.

I started a couple of years ago, but don't practice nearly enough. I just play for fun, although my brother keeps trying to convince me to go down to an open mic with him...

EDIT: Oops. Just noticed your third paragraph. How on earth do you hold down just those three strings without pushing down on the high E at the same time? I find that nigh on impossible.

Practise :) It's easier to do higher up the neck of the guitar but it's a good technique to have nailed as it makes transitions from one barre type to another (e.g. A -> D on the 5th fret) very easy. Also, songs like Tsunami (Manic Street Preachers) need the technique so the other fingers are "freed up" to put on the add9, 7ths etc.

The best way of describing it is fret an A minor, 5th fret barre chord. Now, you should be using your ring finger to fret the second (A) string. Just angle it down and you should now cover the D, G and B strings without fretting the A or top E string.

Thought I'd bring this up, started learning yesterday. (H)

Obviously I'm still at the stage where everytime I play a chord, I mute the strings so I don't get a clean sound - I imagine it'll be a few weeks...perhaps months before I sort that out. I never realised how tough it is on the fingers at first.

Obviously I'm still at the stage where everytime I play a chord, I mute the strings so I don't get a clean sound - I imagine it'll be a few weeks...perhaps months before I sort that out. I never realised how tough it is on the fingers at first.

Key is to press down hard. It'll build up the calluses quicker!

When it gets painful, stop. Pushing the fingers too far means you'll take longer to recover. Getting a cut on your fretting hand is a bitch too - when I was learning, I cut straight through two of my fingertips whilst scraping stuff off a window. That was a pain.

Yeah I bet, man.

How long did it take you until you could play chords clearly?

Doesn't take that long. It's a steep learning curve, you'll notice huge improvement relatively quickly and then as time goes on the improvements are harder to notice, but still ongoing.

All it requires is at least 15 minutes daily practicing the chords you've learned.

As above! Bar chords are harder to get clean sounding on a regular basis.

I never sat down just practising chords by themselves; I just played along to songs with chords. That way you also get used to transitioning between chords which I think helps your muscle memory a lot better.

My tips are: play often, play to a metronome (or songs), and the trick is, as I've learned over time, to develop your musical ear, don't rely on tabs, figure out a song using your own ears once you know basic chords and progressions.

I play Guitar Hero... Does that count? :(

I play Guitar Hero... Does that count? :(

. . . no.

:(

Thanks for the tips guys. (Y) I've noticed quite an improvement in my finger speed. Although in my third day of playing, I snapped a string. Was quite inconvenient. :p

Does playing Guitar Hero count? :$

Damn, barre chords are so hard..I just seem to mute all the strings, no matter how hard I press (:/)

Does playing Guitar Hero count? :$

Read further up (H)

I have no intention of playing any instrument.

Read further up (H)

I have no intention of playing any instrument.


Don't you already play the skin flute?








:(

Thanks for the tips guys. (Y) I've noticed quite an improvement in my finger speed. Although in my third day of playing, I snapped a string. Was quite inconvenient. :p

I snapped my G string on the first day of playing.

Snapped the G string on the guitar, as well.

I snap the skinny E a lot. It happens when you get into it too much.

Learning lots at the minute, got a few new cds that I'm figuring out.

I snapped my G string on the first day of playing.

Snapped the G string on the guitar, as well.

I once snapped a G string trying to finger A minor.

...

I think a '':('' is appropriate here. :(

I once snapped a G string trying to finger A minor.

...

I think a '':('' is appropriate here. :(

Oh what a beauty :D

I got some new guitar goodies today - a new (proper) capo to replace my older one which has been knackered, (the screw that holds in the bit that clips onto the neck is bent so it doesn't hold tension well now) some more strings and an M-Audio Black Box pre-amp with foot pedal controller. I'm messing about with the preamp at the mo and it's absolutely fantastic - it's got 40 amp models built in (Marshall, Fender, Mesa Boogie . . .) and something daft like 120 effects. (flanger, delay, chorus, distortion, octave . . . everything you could think of) And then it's got presets like jazz tone, funk, rock, metal. It's a fantastic little piece of kit, and you can plug straight into a PC/Mac by USB and record off it with no fuss, or use a S/PDIF out to a mixing desk.

I'll take some pics when I've messed around more with it, I'm finding all the range of tones at the minute!

Awesome man, how much did it cost?

I got them for about £120 combined, bargain when the RRP of the black box alone is $329!

There's more on it on the m-audio website here (http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MAudioBlackBox-main.html), I'd recommend the pre-amp to anyone, it's versatile and easy to use. :)

Wish I had an electric :(

I started out on an electric and wished I had an acoustic! Now I have my Squier Strat, (which sounds great actually - you get some good ones and some bad ones) a Yamaha electroacoustic and a Fender resonator.

I was going to buy a new "proper" Fender electric guitar this summer but I thought I'd get a preamp instead as I'm playing my Squier through a pretty bog standard Fender amp at the moment, so I figured the sound wasn't the "full potential" of the cheapo strat. Thankfully I was right, as it's saved me about £500 which I can now waste/spend on a new LCD TV :D

I have a Fender Squire too. Little beauty. Eventually I'll buy a proper Stratocaster or something. No matter how much I play on all my guitars (4) the Squire has something special about it to me.

Haha yeah same! I played an American Strat in the shop in Nice when I bought my Squier, and there's very little discernable difference when they're played through the same amp. The American one was slightly "cleaner" but that's not necessarily a better thing.

With a good amp the Squier absolutely sings :)

Haha yeah same! I played an American Strat in the shop in Nice when I bought my Squier, and there's very little discernable difference when they're played through the same amp. The American one was slightly "cleaner" but that's not necessarily a better thing.

With a good amp the Squier absolutely sings :)

I play mine through a Line 6 Spider. It's a dream!

I'm better at guitar than you.