[Bill_Brown]

👍😎👍 @Allan123

[Bill_Brown]

Sweet🤩 @Mayr 👏👏👏 Can’t wait to hear more👍

[Bill_Brown]

👍👏👍 @stevieblues 😎

[Bill_Brown]

Nice stuff Layton ( @Lange22 )👍 Starting at around 44 seconds into the video, I started to like what I was hearing – the strumming with the bass runs between chord changes was cool. I also liked the idea that you had💡 to get some of the higher strings involved – like a melody between chord changes, that’s worth a little more noodling with, I think😎

[Bill_Brown]

Hi Ursula ( @campfire ), CAGED is all about barre chords, so yes there’s going to be a lot of barring going on. Do you recall your post a few months ago where you asked something about the C chord, and I responded talking about using an A shaped barre chord to play a C chord? Well this is where you’re going to learn about that.

The most important thing to take away from this lesson is that these chord shapes have a root string – and as you move these shapes up the neck (toward the guitar body), they become different chords, and it’s the note on the root string (that your index finger is barring) which dictates what the name of that chord shape becomes. For example, lets use the E shaped chord. The root string is the lo E string for the E shape. So if I place my index finger across all 6 strings at the 3rd fret, and make the E chord shape with my other 3 fingers, then I’ve made a G chord. Why is it a G chord? Because I fretted the lo E string at the 3rd fret, which is a G note, thus a G chord! So it is important to know what string is the root string for each of the CAGED chord shapes.

Now as far as barre chord shapes go, the E shape and the A shape are the most common shapes used – so those shapes would be the ones that I’d suggest you practice fretting. The C shape barre chord is makable, but very rarely used and the D and G shaped barre chords are almost impossible to fret. However, that being said, the C, D and G chord shapes are used up and down the neck as open shapes (not barred) but the same rules apply about the root string and root note to dictate which chords they’ll become.

Good luck Ursula – I hope what I’ve said here makes sense to you and most importantly, that it helps you understand a little more about the CAGED system

Bill Brown

[Bill_Brown]

Hi @MikeGaurnier , Happy 2nd TACiversary🎂🤩 🎂

The story of your journey (to this point), and the different aspects that you touch on within your journey, are thought provoking😱 and inspirational🤔 I wish you many more TACiversaries 🎂and a pleasant continued journey😎 with many more easily “noticeable”(lol) improvements💡🤩💡

[Bill_Brown]

Ahhh, 40 says you😱, NGBD present says I🤩🎸🤩

Happy birthday Tony🎂 says-a-me👍

[Bill_Brown]

Very nice @Niels 👍👍 Great sound effects too – is that echo or something else?🤔

[Bill_Brown]

That’s a very nice (and catchy) tune @Daniel_Morin 🤩 Your “Hellcat” sounds great too, how do you like it?🤔

[Bill_Brown]

Hi Susan ( @susanchinchillo@gmail.com ), Welcome to TAC. Hope you have a great guitar journey here🤩

Try taking those barre chord shapes (index) up to the 5th or 7th frets🤔. There’s a lot less string tension along that area of the neck😱 and that should make it easier to practice the chord shapes, and perhaps get some quicker gratification😃

Some other pointers, 1) make sure your thumb is lined up with the index finger and you’re squeezing (gently) from both sides of the neck. 2) make sure you’re using all of your index finger – what I mean by that is that you should lay your entire index finger across the fret such that the edge of your palm is against the edge of the neck – hope that makes sense

• This reply was modified 5 years, 1 month ago by  Bill_Brown.

[Bill_Brown]

Great pickin’ @Lange22 🤩 Nice improv 👍

[Bill_Brown]

Very nice pickin’ @Beats 🤩 And the “no look” is coming together for you👍👍

[Bill_Brown]

That is wonderful @campfire 👍 What a great way to make memories🤩

[Bill_Brown]

Nice Improv @Jonathandavid 👏👏 I liked how you got the lo E and A strings involved in your melody😎

[Bill_Brown]

When you’re ready @SherryH , try using that technique on some other chords – with the same picking pattern – that was a lot of fun for me this morning too😎