[Loraine]

Hey Barbara I feel for you barre chords are extremely difficult at the beginning and even tenured musicians don’t like them and avoid them whenever possible I’m in a jam club that has some very very talented musicians that have been playing probably 40 years or more they outwardly cringe and comment about God no not barre chords. I’ve heard professional musicians from bands that say that they can’t stand barre chords. I on the other hand am a freak and love barre chords, and I have small hands.

Small hands may feel like a detriment, but as moose pointed out many young children a play barre chords, and they have extremely small hands. It takes practice, building strength, expanding your finger flexibility and span.I have smaller hands and I too thought I would not be able to play a lot of things because my hands were so small and the spread of my fingers wasn’t great, but what I found was that I’m now able to do things that I could not do when I was a beginner and it’s because through playing and doing skills and practicing hammer and pull off and all the other skills that Tony teaches your building strength and your fingers your building dexterity and your finger spread loosen up and is easier to fret certain chords. I have arthritis, and there are days that are more difficult than other days I found them buying fingerless compression gloves helped I found them on Amazon. It is extremely important that you do stretches before and after playing especially when you have arthritis Tony has a course stretching if you haven’t looked at it please do so but also keep the arm warm Will add to the flexibility and this is through not only warming up by stretching you can manually warm it up by putting some warm towels compresses on your hands to help too if they’re swollen try alternating between ice and heat. I often put my hands under warm water to try to make them feel better to loosen up.

Make sure you have a good set up on your guitar maybe yours isn’t low enough and you need to have a Luther do a good set up. Is your guitar small enough for you often people have to get a guitar that has a smaller scale on it with a smaller neck I’m not sure what you’re playing.

The trick to barre chords, in my opinion, is finger strength, finger placement, and finding the sweet spot where each string when played separately Will play clearly and strumming the chord rings out clearly. It takes a lot of practice and is not something that you will get overnight but there may be a moment where all of a sudden it just falls into place. That happened for me with barre chords, but in so many areas of playing guitar. And it’s a very cool experience when it does happen. You don’t wanna miss it.

So the goal is to simply continue trying, knowing that it will take time and focusing on what you have control over which is your finger placement your building finger strength and practice. When you’re able to find that sweet spot to play the barre chords, and each note rings out clearly, take note of where and how your fingers are placed. Then play the chord, take hand off neck, then place fingers again and strum, and do this 10 times in a row without error, and you will have mastered it.

Moose had a great suggestion about going to another lesson. I was going to suggest going to the skills courses maybe taking a break and just focusing on something fun. If you haven’t taken the jumpstart courses yet I suggest you take them. You actually learn and play a song in the jumpstart to strumming and jumpstart to Flatpicking courses. Sometimes you just need a break. You have to do something that brought you pleasure in the past go back to it. You might be able to relive that enjoyment. You can go back to 30 days to play course that was always fun.

You’re doing great Barbara. It’s all baby steps. You waddle unsteadily, One foot in front of the other. You fall down a few times, but you get back up, dust yourself off, and keep trying.

[Loraine]

I agree the C chord was extremely hard to nail down without deadening a string when I first started. Mine was more I was deadening the D string. I had to move my finger on the A string up and deadened the low E, which luckily was not part of the C chord.

There are several different reasons why you might be muting the high E.

The first thing is to make sure you’re first placing your fingers correctly. Put your fingers in place and strum each string individually to see if they ring out clearly. If they are then the issue is when you go to strum, because you’re moving your fretting fingers from their original position. This is a common issue with many chords, so your goal would be to make sure you have the Individual strings ringing out clearly . Then keeping the hand in that same position, strum. But you have to be conscious about it at a micro level when you first start guitar. Visualize placing your fingers and strumming a clear chord. Take your hands off the neck, replace them and strum a clear chord. Do this 10x without error, and you’ll be set. you’re placing your fingers and strumming and then strum.

If your fingers are not in the right position when you do each string individually, there are a few things to try.

Make sure your fingers are as close to the fret and as curved as possible you will always get a more clear note when your fingers are by the fret. Strum each individual string again and see if they come out clearly. If not,

Then you need to focus on making sure your fingers are curved enough and that you’re placing the fingertip directly onto the string. To make your fingers curve more you pull your palm down and push the palm out a little bit towards the neck of the guitar, and this will automatically make your fingers curl more. Again from each string individually.

You may have to play around with some of these to eventually find your sweet spot so that the strings do ring out clearly. Once you are able Play the C chord clearly, make note of your hand position, finger placement, etc. Play the chord, then take your hand off the neck, then again place your fingers on the neck and strum. When you can do this 10 times in a row and strum a clear chord each time, you will be good.

Yeah the C chord is a difficult one to get all the strings to play correctly , but you’ll eventually get it.

Ss a reminder to everyone the low E can be muted because that’s not part of the C but the high E is part of the chord, so you do want that one to bring out clearly.

Keep on plunking!

[Loraine]

@Fletch @stevep I was searching for something and came across this from August 2021. I don’t remember this or Brian playing it at a VOM, but I really like this one. I can’t believe I’ve known you, Steve & Brian all this time. Peace buddy.

[Loraine]

Hey John, I too welcome you to the TAC community. What a great goal, and it would be so cool if you are able to reach it.

Guitar is much more difficult than most people realize. I too always wanted to play the guitar and I thought that I would just pick it up and start to play, but it took me a long time and I’m still not the greatest player. I could play some songs about the same time that you want to, but the real pivotal point for me was at the and my second year beginning of my third year, where I was able to pick up and play a lot of songs. Much more easily then I could at the beginning.

A lot of it had to do with I didn’t know how to start or where to start. I think often part of the issue is we don’t know how to take what we learned here in the foundational skills and make it work or how to play an actual song. There are many, many sites that you can visit. Lots of youtube, videos and everything else, but I have a different suggestion.

My suggestion is to get a guitar teacher to supplement what you learn here. I did that at the end of my first year and it elevated me much faster then I would have just trying to go and find court sheets or tab sheets and try to put it together myself. That’s a possiblity, and a lot of people do that. Find a teacher that is willing to simply help you learn these songs. A great teacher will listen to you and do what you ask them, because it is your goals, not theirs, that you should be working towards. I can give you a reference if you like to a good teacher. He does online lessons, and i’ve been taking online lessons with him since I started. I think I’ve met him 3 times

And it wasn’t necessary to go in to meet him. I just did it on my own and I went to see his band play. He has the best ear for music that I’ve ever seen. And he can easily simplify song and help you to play them. I’ll message You His’ contact info. No obligation on your part.I’m just giving you the information.

I hope you are able to reach your goals. It would be so cool and you would gain so much confidence and build your skills, so I say, at least pursue it to see if it’s a possibility. Good luck with it all

[Loraine]

Hey Hop, I have to agree with the others that if your fingers are placed properly, you don’t need to use much pressure at all and it does get easier over time, a lot of the foundational skills teach you speed and strength with the fingers too. By strength I don’t mean how hard to hold a note or chord, but more, the skills you need for playing. In developing your ability to place your fingers correctly on the fret board through muscle memory and the ability to hammer on and pull off and other techniques that require a little bit more strength in the fingers, especially with a pinky, which is our weakest digit on our hand. All this just comes with time, and the guitar does take time to learn. However, if you keep at it, you will get it and it will come much, much easier, than things do in the beginning. Good luck with it.

[Loraine]

Each guitar matched with strings is unique and it really depends you. I have an entire closet full of strings from all different manufacturers and, and I experiment with them, which is a lot of fun. Actually, it’s amazing to hear how different they all sound.

D’Addario are very popular. I usPhosphor Bronze 80/20. But again each guitar sounds different with the strings, I use D’Addario Phosphor Bronze 80/20. What do I have? A guitar that sounds best with Taylor, another sounds best with Santa Cruz, I have 3 that I use Ernie Ball Earthwood strings. Try different ones to find the best voice for your guitar.

[Loraine]

Thanks let’s hope so ❤

[Loraine]

Thanks Tommy I did breathe as I relief when I heard him say that and I’m just hoping it continues and I’ll be back to playing by the end of the year hopefully depending on the outcome on my neck surgery which is 4 to 5 weeks out

[Loraine]

Thanks Booker I really appreciate that and it is looking better than what I thought but I’ve also been really really doing all the therapy at home my friend said that wanting to get back to playing guitar is going to be my saving grace and biggest healer. Hoping to get back to playing by the end of the year maybe I have another surgery in four or five weeks, depends on the recovery from that but it won’t be as extensive as it surgeries I had already.

[Loraine]

Tommy thank you so much!! It helps having all the support from the tech community TAC community, and trust me, I’ve utilize the forums quite a bit over the years.

Got the stitches and staples out today. Surgeon thinks I’ll get most of the range of motion back because of how far I can turn my wrist back-and-forth. And uh, move my fingers different ways. I still have a ways to go, but yeah, looks pretty good and the physical.Therapists thought the same thing that she thought I was doing great.

[Loraine]

This was a perfect song to keep me moving forward and to have faith in hope. It was extremely well done too I was very impressed.How long have you been playing guitar

Very much appreciate you posting this? And i’m going to save a copy of my youtube account so I can listen to it again as I need it.Have a great day!!

[Loraine]

You and I must meet someday!!<div>I think you’re a great friend and support. I appreciate you pointing out that others might be watching this. Maybe I will be able to influence some that are going through something similar too. Who knows?? </div>

Anyway, you enjoy your afternoon. We’re having a beautiful one I love the days right now. Nights are kinda cool but I love the days Indian summer aspect of it is one of my favorite parts. Seeing all the leaves on the lawn and my grass get lonfno don’t and put me at ease, because I can’t mow the grass. So I need to try to find a neighbor that can help me out with that and I have bags and bags of leaves and my trees haven’t even dropped yet. They drop in November. So and I have a guy come out and clean them up.

[Loraine]

Hi, chuck. I appreciate your positive uplifting message. Today is one of those days I actually need that. So thank you, there’s nothing in particular that’s going wrong today. It’s more, I miss the guitar and um, um, and II know I have a lot ahead of me so I’m just going to have to buckle down and do what I can like you said. I need to get back to my artwork. I haven’t been doing much of it so that’s another thing I can focus on but I want to continue with the guitar even if I can’t play It with 2 hands. Thanks again. I’ll give everyone an update of something else. Happens or hit a milestone or about to go into that second surgery

[Loraine]

Carol. Thank you so much for the prayers and well wishes. Did I miss you this past weekend? Bunny is in my other jam club (they all are so talemtef)

She’s trained under Tommy Emmanuel. Richard Smith and so many others. Muriel has been very good to her.

Bunny is going to airdrop the video to me next time I see he.

Hope youre doing well.

[Loraine]

Please review this link

Hey Jeff I went to urgent care today and the doctor said that the blood flow and oxygen to some degree (my oxygen was 91 which is low but I have asthma I did : warm to the touch and the doctor thinks it’s just extremely deep bruising on my fingers and the palm of my hand and then also on the wrist from the surgeries. I did leave a message for the surgeon and the hand therapist to call me tomorrow they may want to get me in sooner than my appointments just to take a look at it but I felt so much better after talking to the doctor today and I kind of knew that was going to be the outcome just because the fingers were not purple and they weren’t Cold and painful like they were when I had that too tight cast on the doctor did say that it could take weeks to a year for the nerves to come back and sometimes they just don’t come back and I know that and yesy not going to Focus on that too much I’m just doing the exercises they told me to do the stretches and the hot and cold alternating therapies