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How do I learn to play difficult guitar chords?

I'm trying to learn to play the guitar, but whenever I encounter a difficult chord (say, F or F#m), there is absolutely no way I can make my hand barre the whole first fret AND cleanly hold down other strings...I really struggle even with very easy chords.

Seriously, I could spend the next 40 hours trying to play F#m, and it ain't happening...what's the trick, guitar players? How do I progress from "that's flippin' impossible" to "okay, I can do that?"

12 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    It takes time and practice to develop the strength to hold down the barre firmly but it WILL get easier!

    Lots of tips/techniques here! http://www.ihatebarrechords.com/

  • ?
    Lv 4
    4 years ago

    Difficult Guitar Chords

  • 1 decade ago

    Practice and then more practice.

    It took me a while to be able to play F, but now it's easy. You know, once your fingers are strong enough, there are way more challenging chords that make F look easy, and they don't only involve barring strings. There's one I was playing the other day in which you play the third fret on the low e string and the 10th fret on the high e string. I'm a girl, so my fingers are too short to be able to play that, so I have to turn my hand and use my thumb and pinky. Not really that difficult to play, but I'd rather play F :P

    Just don't give up, I've been playing for a year and a half and I was learning a song the other day in which you have to barre the second fret and then do hammer ons and pull offs on the third and fourth strings. I suddenly realized I couldn't play it on my acoustic. So I just practiced and practiced, took me about 4 days to play it well. Really, if you try hard enough, you'll get it. It might take you a month, it might take you a year, but you'll get there eventually.

  • Anonymous
    4 years ago

    1

    Source(s): Guitar Lessons http://sparkindl.info/GuitarLessons
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  • 1 decade ago

    I found barre chords difficult at first, what I did and it seemed to make it easier was I practiced just barring down all the strings with my index finger. I didn't try the other strings till my finger got stronger so that I got a nice clean sound when barring them down, then I added the other strings to form the chord. A guitar hand exerciser or one of those stress balls might speed up the process the hand exerciser you can get at just about any music store. Just practice barring down the whole fret then when that sounds good and you feel comfortable, add your other fingers.

  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    we all have i know this sounds cliche, but you must PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE play a chord, and if it doesnt sound right, play each string individually to see where the problem is. You might not be pressing a string hard enough or you might be touching another one by mistake, not allowing it to ring. Correct each deficiency as you go through all six strings and once youve finished, play the chord, if it still sounds bad, go through and correct again its long and tedious, but its a downhill battle. It gets easier and easier as you go. A song that would take you weeks to learn will probably only take an hour tops once you get going. As for the indents, dont worry, it will hurt less and less as you play, I PROMISE, just as long as you keep at it! good luck

  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    How long it takes to learn guitar depends on how good you want to get and how much practice you put in. How good you can get with 1-2 hours a day for a few months depends on what methods you use to practice. There are effective practice methods that will help you make the best use of your time. This course is one of the best. https://bitly.im/aMMoY It's not just about how much you play but how effectively you play that will determine how good you will get.

  • 5 years ago

    If you intend to learn how to perform the guitar from your house but like you were with a instructor by your area then a ideal online course is the Jamorama online program for guitar from here https://tr.im/hsVva

    Jamorama simply try to re-create a scenario in that you could have a teacher, or are playing in a band.

    You'll get Jam paths (to simulate the band), pointers and frequent problems (that your guitar teacher might have stated while teaching you).

    Every thing in it is to ensure that you could have a similar knowledge to having a teacher.

  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    Hey,

    A great online guitar course with thousands of videos and a step-by-step method is http://www.goobypls.com/r/rd.asp?gid=554. It's really great. In my opinion the best guitar course available online both for beginners/intermediates and advanced users.

    Have a nice day

  • 5 years ago

    there are many people out there who doubt that they have the ability to play guitar, so let me tell you right away: your hands aren’t too big or too small, you’re not too young or too old, and it doesn’t matter if you want to play electric or acoustic. Read here https://tr.im/KbFS1

    Everyone has their own challenges, but I’m confident that if you practice and put your mind to it, you can play the guitar.

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