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Need help understanding some guitar chords, anyone willing to help?
I am learning guitar, and using tab/chord guitar websites to familiarize myself with different chord positions. It's working very well and I'm learning songs very quickly this way, until I come to the tricky chords.
I am using Ultimate-Guitar.com; on this website you just hover over the chord names and it shows you the position. Once in a while (more often, actually), I encounter these chords that have a line going through the first fret. Sometimes it goes through all six strings, sometimes five, sometimes three.
An example would be an F chord. It has a line going through the first fret, then the other positions are third string/second fret, 4th string/third and 5th string/third.
I used a video to learn the F chord, and it looks like I just hold the first three strings of the first fret.
My question to you is: in general what does this line mean? I'd like to know how to read these notes so I don't have to look up a video every time I come to one of them (and they come up a lot).
Does this make any sense? I'm still learning the lingo.
Thanks for reading!
Prohad: that was my first assumption, but the F has the line going through every string on fret 1, and the video says only hold down first 3 strings, and I played it and it sounds right.
2 Answers
- ?Lv 41 decade agoFavorite Answer
Yes it is called a "Barre" chord. Pronounced "bar". When it's 3 strings held down, it's a half barre.
Your biggest problem will be that you are self taught and have NO idea how to use your hands and fingers for proper technique. In over 30 years of teaching guitar I have never seen a self taught person do it right.
You end up clutching the neck, choking it and pressing WAY harder than it needs.
To play a barre chord, let the TIP of your thumb slide down to the exact center of the back of the neck.
It should be lined up with your middle finger, and will be one fret higher than where the bar goes.
The rest of your hand will be hanging towards the floor NOT touching the neck.
Your first finger making the barre will be STRAIGHT, not bent or curved. Over all, your hand will be sort of in a U shape, pointed towards the ceiling.
NEVER grab the neck, or let your wrist bend backwards letting the palm at the base of the thumb touch the neck.
With proper technique you are using balancing points and can do the job with almost no pressure. It lets your muscles stay relaxed, and ultimately allows you to play lightning fast.
Get a good teacher. The guitar ain't a toy. There's more to know than you think.
Source(s): http://www.myspace.com/tidbitunlimited Brad Rapp - Anonymous1 decade ago
Bar the entire fret with your index finger(hold every string down)