My first successful Friday daily challenge with a Barre Chord.

[N-lightMike]

You are absolutely correct, @Moonhare when you treat this like a special small win, because it is. The Friday lesson is one of the things that makes Tony’s method help people who have played for years see improvement and helps those who are new to guitar make unusually quick progress. The transitions are really critical to playing a song, but also to getting the shapes down cleanly.

Now here’s the thing about the E shaped minor barre chord, it’s not necessarily easier. Without that middle finger, your index barre has one more string to fret. The knuckles are fatter than the spaces between them, so that one string can be a real challenge for some of us. That’s why it’s so important to use that middle finger as a lever to help the index barre. But also, you are learning to lead with the ring/pinky pair, which is very useful.

And speed is nothing in itself. Learning to make a clean barre is the biggest step you can take in chord shapes. Without a clean barre, none of the different shapes and positions are going to work. Once you can make that barre, you can move forward to learning all the different barre chords and using the whole neck of the guitar.

Great win. Thanks for sharing your success with us.

MG 😀

[Moonhare]

thanks Mike – always a pleasure to hear from you and just illustrate that what seems impossible one month will be a possibility the next. I believe the phrase is – it’ll be alright in the end. If it’s not alright, it’s not the end.

[Bill_Brown]

That’s awesome @Moonhare 👏👏👏 I knew you could do it🤩🎸🤩 Like @MikeGaurnier said “speed is nothing in itself”. That will come with time (and practice)👍 Very nice #smallwin🍺 Cheers😎

[Moonhare]

Thanks @Bill_Brown . I am feeling my way into the daily challenges month by month. The licks are probably the ones I have the best success with (not all but most) but the Fridays have been fallow ground for me so far. Glad I’ve broken in!

• This reply was modified 2 years, 11 months ago by  Moonhare. Reason: My spelling is rubbish!

[MarkoRussell]

This was too my first Friday challenge, and as well my first day challenge . Im on a roll DAY 1 LOL but Im going to do it… these chords were not too hard, and I used the Bar chord for both the Gm and Am just to practice Bar chords since I have a hard time with them. Congrats on finishing this Fridays challenge!

[Moonhare]

Day 1. Well a big welcome to TAC then! Glad you had this down. I’ve been struggling with barre chords as everyone on the forum knows. But hey, if I knew how to do all this stuff I wouldn’t be here! I hope you have a great time and perhaps see you at the January 90 Day TAC party online.

[stevieblues]

Congratulations on your small win, especially your Gm Barre chord! Barre chords have been a real challenge for me. Enjoy your celebration Moonhare!

[Moonhare]

Thanks @stevieblues . I promise you I’m still struggling with barres but that one did bring a wee smile to my face.

[Ddtediejm]

Congrats Moonhare. As most have said, they start to get easier the more you play them. Keep at it!

[Moonhare]

Will do. I think most TACers have had to climb this particular summit in the past or are still at the foothills with me!

[Loraine]

That’s a fantastic win @Moonhare !! I love Friday’s, and the barre chords are much easier now than they were a year ago. Keep at em, and you’ll find they come much easier over time and with practice.

[Moonhare]

Hey @Loraine – that is really good to know. At the moment it feels like a genuine challenge to get anywhere with them but I will keep going and who knows in a year….🤔

[Cherie]

Congratulations @Moonhare!

An important win!

The barre chords are a big challenge for me. You sharing about your win gives me hope! Thank you for sharing.

Happy playing,

Cherie

[Moonhare]

Thanks @Cherie . One day we’ll both wonder what all the fuss was about! Darren

[Cherie]

Hi, Darren @Moonhare

Yes, one day . . . 😀

Thank you. You inspired me. . . and I revisited Tony’s Jack Skellington lesson and am enjoying experimenting with some variations. Good news! I was able to do the simpler Barre chord with the B and E strings. Yay!

Happy playing, Cherie

[BecerraP]

That’s awesome!

I have yet to be able to play a barre chord cleanly. The struggle is real! 😆

[Moonhare]

Fight the good fight and we’ll get there one day!

[albert_d]

I have to really work on the C and can’t hardly do the G barre shapes. But the E and A are coming along nicely. Ad celebrating with a local beverage is a great idea.

[Moonhare]

I feel your pain but the beer takes the edge off.

[N-lightMike]

Pretty much no one actually plays the C shaped and G shaped barre chords @albert_d . Many people will play a partial chord taken from those shapes. And those shapes are the roadmap to the fretboard that allow people to improvise a solo all over the fretboard. But if you can get them, more power to you. There are a small number of people who do play those impossible barre chords. And what about the D shaped barre chord. I find it easier than either the C or G shape.

I hope this helps.

MG 😀

[Guy_H]

Cheers @Moonhare 🍻 For my first couple years I thought barres were something I would probably never be able to play. But a funny thing happened by just applying tips from Tony & others a practicing it happened! It was almost sudden that I could play a Bm then expand from there. It really is satisfying to achieve those objectives!!

[Moonhare]

Thanks so much @Guy_H . You have hit the nail on the head here. None of us should expect to be able to do everything straight away and to be honest I think I’d rather that it was that way so you feel that sense of achievement when you finally get it. I’m really encouraged by your experience. A good friend and singer/guitarist came round the other evening and showed me some chords and she made the point that my hands are larger and stronger than hers so there is nothing impossible here, it’s just practice.