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  • A-chord barre

    Posted by FredO_STL on September 11, 2021 at 9:58 am

    In KC9 in Bm Major on Friday, TP describes an A-chord D-G-B barre that requires a muting of the high-E. Could someone describe how this is physically done? A finger that is is essentially flat on the fret still allows the high-E to ring.

    Bill_Brown replied 3 years, 4 months ago 5 Members · 7 Replies
  • 7 Replies
  • OwenGL

    Member
    September 11, 2021 at 2:24 pm

    Use the last segment of your index finger to bar strings 2, 3, 4. Above string 1 your index finger is slightly raised (bend your finger at the joint) so it mutes the string rather than fretting it.

    It is also possible to have your finger raised enough above string 1 to have it ring out open, but that is more difficult and tends to result in the string buzzing, so better to just mute it when first attempting this barre.

    • OwenGL

      Member
      September 11, 2021 at 2:26 pm

      A picture probably helps.

  • N-lightMike

    Member
    September 11, 2021 at 2:56 pm

    Hello @FredO_STL . Some people are able to bend their ring finger up so much at the first joint that they can have the high E string ring out from their index finger barre. However, most of us, especially those of us who started playing guitar as adults can not do that. However, we can easily get the high E to be muted. It takes effort to get the high E string to ring out from the ring finger barre. But if you put that effort into raising the ring finger it turns out it is quite easy to get the high E string muted.

    I hope this helps. Don’t hesitate to ask further questions.

    MG 😀

  • FredO_STL

    Member
    September 11, 2021 at 9:15 pm

    Thanks, guys. Owen, your photo was helpful. And my first thought was that surgical precision must be required to connect a bent joint just enough to mute the high E. But when I tried it, I was surprised how effective it was. Great tips and something new to practice.

    • N-lightMike

      Member
      September 15, 2021 at 1:48 pm

      Hi @FredO_STL ,

      I’m glad you have gotten this down. It really is simple and easy though at first it seemed on the impossible side and then the spoken explanations made it seem possible but difficult, as you said, needing precision.

      You will find this to be true over and over again during your guitar journey. Some things will take a very long time. Some things may never come. But don’t ever give up because most things will be in this category that just take a subtle but simple tweak to open the door to a skill or technique that seemed nearly impossible at first.

      The most important thing is to realize we can make pleasing music and have fun at any time during our guitar journey no matter how little skill we have.

      MG 😀

  • That_Guy

    Member
    September 12, 2021 at 7:12 am

    When you become more advanced you can just do it with pick control and simply not touch the high e which may not always be practical like when fast strumming. You can also use the next finger to very lightly touch that E string.

    Most the time I’m playing chords I’m really just trying to touch the three bass strings

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by  That_Guy.

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