I got a message from one of my YouTube subscribers who was trying to form a
partial barre chord I believe and she says in paraphrasing "Every time I tried
to play this kind of chord, my notes sound muted or blunted and I can't find
any kind of instruction on how to fix that. They all say, you know, how to make
the chord but but they doesn't sound good so what do I do with that?" Well, I
want to make this video to help those who are having a similar problem and I
want to start off by saying it's really very common. Most people who started out
playing guitar I think everyone has the same problem in the beginning. And I know
when I first started I was surprised because I thought if I put the fingers
in the right place like somebody showed me it would sound good.
Well now it takes a little bit of time practice and adjustments. But what I'm
gonna do in this video is I'm gonna give you the kind of adjustments and the
things to look for starting with open chords and then I'll go on to partial
barre chords and barre chords. Now make sure you pay attention to the open chord
part the first part because it's cumulative. I think I said that right. In
other words, everything that applies to open chords also applies to partial barre and
barre chords. There's just a few other things to look for so let's get started.
Now what it all comes down to is getting your fingers in kinda just the right
place and at the right angle to get the chord to sound good. At first you have to
pay a lot of attention to it and after a while it gets to be a habit.
Your fingers just go there and you don't even think about it. So we're gonna
start off with a basic D chord. And the first thing I want to say is it's important to
get your fingers close to the frets. These are frets and the fingers need to
get as close as possible. You can't always get them equally as close
depending on the chord that you're making but do the best you can for that
particular chord. Second of all, you want to get to the
best that you can. The tips of the fingers on the strings as opposed to the
flatter pad part. Now that means that your fingers need to be kinda angled
up and then back down. If they're too much aside there's no way you're gonna
get the tips of the fingers on. So that opens up the whole issue of hand angle and
elbow position and all that which I'm gonna do now. Okay, #3
angle of the wrist so the wrist should be kind of relaxed
down. You don't want to push it too far up this way but you don't want that way
back here either. Actually I see more people have it kind of back. Have it kind
of just hanging relaxed down and you don't want to tensed too much not only
will it make funny sounds but it'll tire you out fast and you won't be able to
play for long. Now #4 and it has to do with the wrists also. Have your
elbow hanging down and relaxed. You want to be able to just let your fingers go
slightly and your hand will fall. That takes a little practice. Its natural to kinda
forced things a little bit and then tensed up. But when you feel yourself
tensing too much just relax, shake it out and start again. You want to break that
habit before it gets too entrenched. Now finally with open chords when everything
else is right you want to make sure you're pressing down hard enough but
that's the last thing. You want to fix the hand, elbow position, the fingertips
and all that first because you want to put as little pressure as you have to, to
get a good sound. If you press too hard your hand and your fingers will get
tired. You won't be able to play for long you also develop problems later on.
So as time goes on, you'll find that you can actually with a little tweaking
apply less pressure but still get a good sound and that's what you want to aim
for. Now let's go on to partial barre chords. All the principles that I just
described apply with partial barre chords you also want to have your barre
finger. It's only on a few strings as close to the fret as possible.
As possible often you will have to angle it a little bit so that all the strings
won't be equal to the finger but that's okay just do the best you can. Also you
want that first knuckle kind of buckled in and the second knuckle up in the air.
This is where sometimes you need to push your wrist up a little more this way
forward as opposed to way back here. If you clasped it too far back here it'll
be hard to get a good solid partial bar. So in short, you're aiming to get your
finger as close as you can perpendicular to the neck as opposed to too much of an
angle the best you can. You can't always get perfectly perpendicular and you want
to have that second knuckle up in the air so that you can press down with that
first part of your finger. And finally barre chords, very similar to partial
bars. You want to put your finger across the neck
and the best that you can perpendicular to the fret not on top of the fret but
just behind the fret in this direction. Also you want to push your hand a little
bit forward this way so that you get a good rigid bar. If it's too far back your
knuckles will collapse a little bit. I like to angle my finger just a little
bit back that way so that it makes a little more ridges a little easier to get
ridges as opposed to flat against the neck. Now bar chords and even partial
bars are one of the more difficult things to learn on guitar. Partial bars a
little bit easier than bar chords. I would strongly recommend that you
prepare when you're doing barre chords or partial bars with some exercises
first rather than jump right into a chord and get frustrated because the
chord doesn't sound good. And above all, keep coming back at it. Make small
adjustments. Use your ear and see if it sounds better and then keep refining it
as you go. Take for granted that it's gonna take time and you just want to
keep coming back at it persistently, you'll get it. I'm Tomas Michaud from Real
Guitar Success. Thanks for joining me today. If you liked the video, give me a
thumbs up and a comment I'd love to hear what you're thinking wherever you're
watching this video. See you again soon.