Barre Chords ... Ouchie.

I heard barre chords were pretty tough. Conclusion ... yeah they're pretty tough. I found a neat little article in Guitar World that deals with barre chords. You cycle through E, A, D, G and C. I already knew these chords so that was a good start. By barring the next string up and doing the chords you move up one half step. E becomes F, A become A sharp, etc. You work your way up the neck. You're a tough man if you can make it to the 12th fret without stopping.

I found a video on Youtube that also helped me learn to play barre chords. The main thing he stressed was to practice doing the chords with the free fingers. For example, you'd usually play the E with the first three fingers of your fretting hand. But to learn to do barre chords quickly you should first play the E with the last three fingers. Once you can do that, you just barre the entire fret with your index finger. Easy as pie ... yeah sure. I've been practicing barre chords for the past week. I'm really getting there but the G shape variations are still pretty tough. Getting there.

Keep on rockin' and strummin'.

Oh, here's the Youtube videa I was talking about: