Chords for How to Get Better at Bar Chords

Okay, today we're talking about bar chords.
And notice, we're talking about bar chords, and not bar chords.
This isn't 19th century France.
[E] Let's call it like it is.
And while we're at it, why is this the 6th string, and this the 1st string?
Why do you go [A] down in string names [Em] 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, as you go higher in pitch and farther
away from your face?
Doesn't make any sense.
[A] I'm changing it.
This is [Em] officially the new 1st string.
But back to bar chords.
Bar chords suck, and they suck for a lot of reasons. _
And sometimes if you ask somebody, like you're having trouble with them, how do I get better at it?
They'll be like, oh you just gotta keep doing it, and then eventually you'll be good at it.
That's really helpful.
So, I'm gonna give a few tips on how to _ thoughtfully get better at your bar chords and make them easier.
So let's [A] start on the 5th fret.
_ _ I'm making an A major chord, right?
So, the first thing that you might [N] try when you're trying to smash all your fingers into
a chord is to maybe change the angle of your arm to like _ smush your fingers together.
It's really not the best way to do it.
And the main reason that you might want to try [E] that is because if you try to bar it naturally,
like if you see [A] somebody else do it, like this, you might end up getting this sound. _ _ _
_ [E] And that B string [N] is kind of like a big hangup.
And the reason for that, most of the time, is that no matter how big your fingers are,
one of the lines of the knuckles will always kind of fall within the string.
So there's a couple tips that you can do to help with that.
Tip number one is think about where your thumb is, okay?
So if you look at when I'm playing a bar chord, what I'm doing is right where I'm having the
problem on the fret that I'm going down, so the 5th fret, my thumb is directly behind
my pointer finger, pinching the neck in there.
So you can kind of pinch through the lines in your hands or whatever string is giving
you a problem.
So some people might have their thumb back here and try to leverage it.
That's really not the best way to do it.
You want to pinch between your first finger and your thumb and [Em] try to get rid of that.
_ Now another thing is using the part of your index finger to bar.
If you come straight on like this, it'll be hard to get a good angle at it, and you'll
get that buzziness again.
So what you want to do is push the pressure, like if you're a right-handed guitar player,
kind of use your wrist to get this part of your finger this way.
If you look at your finger, you shouldn't be getting marks straight down the center
of your finger.
They should be more off to the side, because the side is like a smoother edge of your finger
where the bone is.
So you want to straighten it out and kind of have all the [Abm] pressure.
Now don't go like this and try to get your fingers over it.
You want to have the pressure more towards, if I'm looking at my index finger, what would
be the left part of my finger.
So just scoot your hand [A] back that way, and that should help you _ _ _ _ _ [E] get a better, cleaner sound.
When you're applying that pressure to a straighter edge of your finger, through the fretboard,
into the pinched position of your thumb.
Now to a certain extent you still do, it'll still take some time to get the _ strength in
your hand and the right technique and kind of just for your fingers to get in the right position.
So don't be discouraged if there's a song that has a B minor [G] or an F chord.
[E] In the meantime, while you're practicing these things and while your hands are getting stronger,
just take a piece of it.
So what I mean by that, let's take a [Bm] B minor chord right here. _ _
And if you can't do it where you can hold down the high E string, just forget about it.
Just take the middle four strings.
_ The difference between [E] a five string [Bm] B minor _ and a four string B minor _ is _ _ _ [B] kind of nominal.
So even if it's just the first three strings, right, if it's like the A, D, and G string,
_ [E] make it more of a power [Bm] chord.
So you're technically losing the minor third.
It would [Ab] still work in the context of the song and it wouldn't be that noticeable.
Even if it's like, let's take another one.
Let's take a [G] G major _ barre chord right here.
All we really need are three notes.
These chords are triads.
Any major and minor chord is a triad, which means there's three different notes.
So when you're playing a barre chord, you're actually usually playing six strings or five
strings and you're getting doubles of some of the notes.
So on a G major, what you could do is just take these three _ _ _ _ _ right here.
So right now I'm on 5D, 4G, and 3B.
Or as I like to call it, the fifth fret on the third string, the fourth [B] fret on the fourth
[D] string, and the third fret on the [G] fifth string. _
And then that's going to be your replacement for a barre chord rooted here.
So this would be a G major chord.
[Ab] _ G [A] sharp, [Bb] A, [B] [C] A sharp, B, C, and so on and so forth.
So remember, just work on the position that your hand is instead of trying to just contort
your fingers in a way.
Really thoughtfully think about where your thumb is, where the pressure is coming through
the fretboard, and just play different parts of shapes and then you'll have it down in no time. _