Challenge 22 of 25
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Try this guitar challenge

STEP 1: Watch the video to learn the bite-sized piece of music
STEP 2: Click the "PLAY" tab below the video to play along with Tony until you can do it on your own.


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Responses

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  1. One of the things I found helped w/barre chords is to find a song that uses one (or two) and learn it. There are many that use an F and a G chord. Same barre shape, 2 fret different locations. Gave me practice, some fun, and confidence. I still don’t get all strings clear but can now transition (relatively) smoothly between some open and the E shaped barre chords. F,G, and A for example AND play a song or 2.

  2. Tony you’re right about that B string!! Same thing this time around, that fuzzy buzzy B!! LOL!! E shaped F chord this time around is getting better just need to clean up that fuzzy B! My own fought because a few songs I have been working on has the F# and the B# I have neglected the E shaped F chord! LOL!

  3. Wow! This is tough! My index finger has an unfortunate counterclockwise twist on it that prevents me from pressing the side against the B and high E strings while doing the E shape. Is there an exercise that will result in my index finger twisting? The result of this problem is that I cannot get the B and high E strings to perform. The other four strings are fine. I guess that’s a small win…

  4. I am another member of the B (string) Team. I plan to strengthen that part of my finger by opening a beer can šŸ˜‰
    Good luck everyone!

  5. Ah, the infamous ā€œBā€ string! I can consistently get clear tones from the other five strings, but I really have to force the finger down to get a clear B string.

  6. I have used this shape and barre chords for over 50 years (E F#m, G#m, A B7) for a church song. It’s the C shape that has issues.

  7. It’s a bit inconsistent but at least it’s tiresome…that killer Bee, yikes.
    Well sometimes the magic works and sometimes…
    The other hurdle to face is transitioning from open to barre chords and barre chord to different barre chord. Oh well, one battle at a time

  8. Fun to watch out for: while focusing on getting a clean fretting hand, I have to remember to watch the angle of my pick so that I only pick one string at a time and not two.

  9. I’m very familiar with Barre Chords, but they are always quite difficult to play on the first two Frets. Still,… practice makes Perfect!

  10. Always a bunch of “fun”. šŸ™‚
    “Best of luck to you”. What a nice way of saying just do it and stop whining. šŸ˜€ Love to kid ya, Tony.

    I am doing better little by little. MOST of the time I can barre OK, but speed in chord transition is like learning to walk all over again. Doing good, doing good, doing good. Oh! Barre chord! Hang on while I get it fretted.
    Thanks for the exercises.
    Have a great day!!

  11. Playing session #101 and a small win for me. I discovered that by flattening out my index finger over the B I can make it sound clean. Just like Tony, the B string has been my problem child when playing barre chords. Tony wasn’t kidding when he said that your fretting hand tires out quickly when playing barre chords. My Martin (“Naomi”) is still hard to make barre chords on because the action is higher than my Recording King (“Abigail”) but I am getting better on both of them. Not perfect but better which is a small win.

  12. Another big win for showing up!….& the finger pain on that dreaded F barre chord!! Lots of practice endurance on this challenge!!! Thank you

  13. That muscle in my hand between my index finger and thumb feels like it has a charlie horse!Firt string, B String and High E string go in and out of fuzzy, I am going to switch guitars to my Nylon String LaPatrie Etude to see if this is better!

  14. I could do the individual notes eventually yesterday by using my other fingers to assist the index. Today, since those other fingers are involved fretting the E shape, my index is on its own, and can’t seem to get the leverage to press on the B string effectively. Any tips?
    Also yesterday, I found rolling my index finger forward gave me better effectiveness on the 5th and 6th frets. Instead of rolling it back like Tony shows.

  15. As I’m attempting this after yesterday’s barring exercise I realize that the muting is often not the fault of the index finger forming the barre. The culprit can be one of the other 3 fingers either not fretting the A, D or G string correctly or interfering with an adjacent string. The fingers all have to do more than meets the eye here, F chord is mighty complicated.
    I notice that Tony’s index finger is rather curved, when I try to mimic this all my fingers have to lay down and they mute incessantly.
    Conclusion: I have to learn to rotate my #1 finger in it’s socket independently while applying consistent pressure and then just fret the remaining 3 fingers as if #1 were completely idle.

  16. Fun learning something new about guitar playing. Found this lesson very interesting. Quite a challenge to get that B string to ring clearly, but getting it.

  17. I think this is a great exercise and plan on doing it daily as a warmup. I was surprised how quickly my wrist and fingers tired out. I also tried moving the e shaped barre chord up and down the fret board playing what I think would be the g, a, b and c chords. That’s going to need some practice also as even though I’m just sliding the shape sometimes the fingers didn’t wind up in the right positions. Haha

  18. These are tough but working on this a few minutes at a time, several times throughout the day seems to work pretty well for me. It keeps the finger/arm cramping to a minimum.

  19. Good overall review. It got me to thinking that E shaped chords are 1-5-1-3-5-1 (or Do-So-Do-Me-So-Do) all the way up and down the neck. I haven’t really thought about it before in that way.

  20. Fun playing the E shaped F chord which is made up of the Root-3-5 notes (F-A- C) of the F scale. Another name for playing the notes in sequence like this is an Arpeggio . Have fun…

  21. Barre chords are tricky, but it just takes time! A little each day! It’s taken me many years to be happy with them! I still don’t get them right every time! It’s good to go back to the basics, when ever you need too! Enjoy the the Journey!!!

  22. @motoradrider, I wonder that too! A mean person! šŸ™‚ I had more problem with the D even though it had a dedicated finger… lazy dedicated finger…wouldn’t stay in place…. Good workout!

  23. Yep,hand got tired quickly,and the b string was difficult.Tony seems to arch his index finger almost looking like he is only fretting the low e,the b and the high e.

  24. This is a great lesson and technique approach. It’s difficult but enjoyable. I hope everyone is doing well, and I can’t wait to read the comments.

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Day 2 – ‘E’ Shape Familiarity

Responses

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. One of the things I found helped w/barre chords is to find a song that uses one (or two) and learn it. There are many that use an F and a G chord. Same barre shape, 2 fret different locations. Gave me practice, some fun, and confidence. I still don’t get all strings clear but can now transition (relatively) smoothly between some open and the E shaped barre chords. F,G, and A for example AND play a song or 2.

  2. Tony you’re right about that B string!! Same thing this time around, that fuzzy buzzy B!! LOL!! E shaped F chord this time around is getting better just need to clean up that fuzzy B! My own fought because a few songs I have been working on has the F# and the B# I have neglected the E shaped F chord! LOL!

  3. Wow! This is tough! My index finger has an unfortunate counterclockwise twist on it that prevents me from pressing the side against the B and high E strings while doing the E shape. Is there an exercise that will result in my index finger twisting? The result of this problem is that I cannot get the B and high E strings to perform. The other four strings are fine. I guess that’s a small win…

  4. I am another member of the B (string) Team. I plan to strengthen that part of my finger by opening a beer can šŸ˜‰
    Good luck everyone!

  5. Ah, the infamous ā€œBā€ string! I can consistently get clear tones from the other five strings, but I really have to force the finger down to get a clear B string.

  6. I have used this shape and barre chords for over 50 years (E F#m, G#m, A B7) for a church song. It’s the C shape that has issues.

  7. It’s a bit inconsistent but at least it’s tiresome…that killer Bee, yikes.
    Well sometimes the magic works and sometimes…
    The other hurdle to face is transitioning from open to barre chords and barre chord to different barre chord. Oh well, one battle at a time

  8. Fun to watch out for: while focusing on getting a clean fretting hand, I have to remember to watch the angle of my pick so that I only pick one string at a time and not two.

  9. I’m very familiar with Barre Chords, but they are always quite difficult to play on the first two Frets. Still,… practice makes Perfect!

  10. Always a bunch of “fun”. šŸ™‚
    “Best of luck to you”. What a nice way of saying just do it and stop whining. šŸ˜€ Love to kid ya, Tony.

    I am doing better little by little. MOST of the time I can barre OK, but speed in chord transition is like learning to walk all over again. Doing good, doing good, doing good. Oh! Barre chord! Hang on while I get it fretted.
    Thanks for the exercises.
    Have a great day!!

  11. Playing session #101 and a small win for me. I discovered that by flattening out my index finger over the B I can make it sound clean. Just like Tony, the B string has been my problem child when playing barre chords. Tony wasn’t kidding when he said that your fretting hand tires out quickly when playing barre chords. My Martin (“Naomi”) is still hard to make barre chords on because the action is higher than my Recording King (“Abigail”) but I am getting better on both of them. Not perfect but better which is a small win.

  12. Another big win for showing up!….& the finger pain on that dreaded F barre chord!! Lots of practice endurance on this challenge!!! Thank you

  13. That muscle in my hand between my index finger and thumb feels like it has a charlie horse!Firt string, B String and High E string go in and out of fuzzy, I am going to switch guitars to my Nylon String LaPatrie Etude to see if this is better!

  14. I could do the individual notes eventually yesterday by using my other fingers to assist the index. Today, since those other fingers are involved fretting the E shape, my index is on its own, and can’t seem to get the leverage to press on the B string effectively. Any tips?
    Also yesterday, I found rolling my index finger forward gave me better effectiveness on the 5th and 6th frets. Instead of rolling it back like Tony shows.

  15. As I’m attempting this after yesterday’s barring exercise I realize that the muting is often not the fault of the index finger forming the barre. The culprit can be one of the other 3 fingers either not fretting the A, D or G string correctly or interfering with an adjacent string. The fingers all have to do more than meets the eye here, F chord is mighty complicated.
    I notice that Tony’s index finger is rather curved, when I try to mimic this all my fingers have to lay down and they mute incessantly.
    Conclusion: I have to learn to rotate my #1 finger in it’s socket independently while applying consistent pressure and then just fret the remaining 3 fingers as if #1 were completely idle.

  16. Fun learning something new about guitar playing. Found this lesson very interesting. Quite a challenge to get that B string to ring clearly, but getting it.

  17. I think this is a great exercise and plan on doing it daily as a warmup. I was surprised how quickly my wrist and fingers tired out. I also tried moving the e shaped barre chord up and down the fret board playing what I think would be the g, a, b and c chords. That’s going to need some practice also as even though I’m just sliding the shape sometimes the fingers didn’t wind up in the right positions. Haha

  18. These are tough but working on this a few minutes at a time, several times throughout the day seems to work pretty well for me. It keeps the finger/arm cramping to a minimum.

  19. Good overall review. It got me to thinking that E shaped chords are 1-5-1-3-5-1 (or Do-So-Do-Me-So-Do) all the way up and down the neck. I haven’t really thought about it before in that way.

  20. Fun playing the E shaped F chord which is made up of the Root-3-5 notes (F-A- C) of the F scale. Another name for playing the notes in sequence like this is an Arpeggio . Have fun…

  21. Barre chords are tricky, but it just takes time! A little each day! It’s taken me many years to be happy with them! I still don’t get them right every time! It’s good to go back to the basics, when ever you need too! Enjoy the the Journey!!!

  22. @motoradrider, I wonder that too! A mean person! šŸ™‚ I had more problem with the D even though it had a dedicated finger… lazy dedicated finger…wouldn’t stay in place…. Good workout!

  23. Yep,hand got tired quickly,and the b string was difficult.Tony seems to arch his index finger almost looking like he is only fretting the low e,the b and the high e.

  24. This is a great lesson and technique approach. It’s difficult but enjoyable. I hope everyone is doing well, and I can’t wait to read the comments.

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