Brother, I strongly disagree about bar chords. I think you should explain to whom or what style your approach is directed, I play alone, I am Hispanic, I play in restaurants and events, sometimes in the company of another guitarist and the bar chords are needed, especially because of the colors and the robust and large sound that the basses give, Latin rhythms need the 6 sounds. I accept your approach when you're going to handle arpeggios, as I say. It depends on the style. It's a feedback with love, think about it, there are styles that do need the 6 sounds and the bar chords. In short, it is not necessary to play all 6 strings on the guitar, but it is convenient to learn how to use them all to have more options and musical possibilities. Music is not a matter of comfort, in fact if it is anything, it is the opposite: determination, effort and work. But above all, you have to avoid being comfortable if you aspire to be a musician with all your letters, at least when you start, once you have passed that phase is when you start to "have mischief". I get someone who knows how to play at exorbitant speeds but doesn't know how to play an F Major and I don't know whether to laugh or cry...
Bar chords are much easier on nylon strings. Playing bar chords on steel strings will give you arthritis. But yeah, you need that full sound for the flamenco-type strum.
I would tell a beginner that barre chords are definitely worth learning, but also don't beat yourself up if you can't do them right away. They are hard and I was probably a few years into playing before I could play a halfway decent barre chord. In the meantime, there are ways around using them, as this video demonstrated. I also would say, dont get upset if you never learn to play them perfectly. Even now, many, many years into playing, if I play a barre chord and one or two of the notes is a little muted or percussive, I just embrace that imperfection and keep strumming. I say it adds a little personality to the chord.
I agree with you. I find the thumb over far more painful and difficult than the full barre. if you need to play a quieter minor chord just play the bottom three strings (with one finger across all three) at the fifth fret to get A minor play the bottom 4 to get Amin7 (by bottom strings I mean the thin ones), although mostly I'll play full barre chords for a fuller sound. If the full major barre chord gets painful then I play the basic F shape and use my ring finger to mute the E string. Or move down to play the open A with one finger across the DG and B strings then muting the thin E with your second finger as if playing A7 but not sounding the E. This is also a good way (I think) to play Seventh chords up and down the neck (obviously sounding the thin E ) As I get older my fingers, not that big anyway are also getting less and less flexible so need simple shapes to play.
Completely agree. There are countless popular songs with barre chords. Any guitar player should know how to play them. The more musical knowledge you have, the more options you have for chord voicing, it makes you a better player.
Guitar playing has no worth without the bar chords. There's no mistake having it. I'll say you're being a guitar player today wasn't successful without doing bar chords when you started. Come on.. ✌️🙂🙃
Learn the barre chords people. They help you connect scales and triads. If you later decide to not use them, you will still have all the knowledge surrounding them.
100% - this idea of not to use Barre chords... that's pretty much the worst advice I've ever seen on RUclips or just about anywhere online, honestly...
I play whatever chord voicing fits the song the best -- in my opinion. I'm the furthest thing from a chord snob. The chord snobs I know insist that the most difficult voicing is ALWAYS the best. Hey, I love cowboy chords as much as any other chord. Sue me. 🤣
@@marshallapplewhite5941 nope, I completely agree, sometimes it's best to use a full on barre chord, and sometimes it's not... its the blanket statements of no one uses barre chords that just isn't accurate IMHO...
Yeah, he should've given the context. I just watched one of Sean's shorts vids where he's playing fingerstyle on a baritone, and he was using whole barre chords throughout.
When I try a new song the first thing I usually do is mute all the strings, and just try to find the groove with my right hand playing chucka-chukka's and plinka-plinka's along until I find something close, and get a feel for the timing or picking pattern. After that I let the melody and the feel of the tune be my guide.
when i do surf its like that ill lay down beat and rhythm with spring reverb chucka- chucka drips pinkapinka drips around it and then some back in forth and stabs in-between and any chords that work with the jam i think i will try make a vid to show that for surf musicians out there as i have a rare dick dale kinda way sorta of playing and writing but didnt even know who he was
Jack johnson plays barre chords all the time, it gives him that signature rhythm and style. Learning barre chords is essential for certain styles of playing, so definitely learn them if you want to get as much under your belt
This guy knows that barre chords are essential and commonly used, needed and easy once mastered. From what I can gather he is using this just to increase his RUclips exposure by utilizing comment interactions that the algorithm uses for search visibility.
Barre chords are actually much easier than getting clear sharp tones from partial chords through muting and “missing” strings, at least in most contexts where people play acoustic guitars. That technique is great, and is part of a more advanced player’s arsenal for sure, but it requires right (strumming) hand accuracy and control , particularly with faster tempos/strummy parts. As others have said, the type of music you’re playing decides the issue, and barre chords are an essential tool much of the time. Plus, they’re simply not that hard. I have small hands, and with work, I got mine to a consistent point for gigging and recording in a reasonable time. With work, mind you, and one has to get a few tips at the start so one doesn’t waste practice time/muscle build with inferior technique.
For some of us, barre chords, esp covering six strings, are literally impossible. I had a serious hand injury, a long with a stroke, that makes barre chords impossible for me. My hand will never be strong enough again.
@@coyote520 Yep, I was just responding for the typical student. I’m glad you’re playing despite those challenges! Just in case, have you tried hacks like lowering the action down to the bare minimum, getting a smaller acoustic to increase leverage, putting electric strings on an acoustic, or playing an electric with, say, 8-gauge strings and just dialing in a tone that works? Not sure if any of that will work for you, but if not, there are indeed many other chord forms than barres.
Both you and Rick Beato have talked about muting the top string with your thumb. Well, Im so happy for you two that you have long fingers and thumbs. It is next to impossible for me to reach the top string with my thumb on an F chord, and beyond impossible to do it with a C chord. Please understand that we are not all created identical.
Ignore he guy above who obviously lacks any empathy and just wanted to show the world. I agree. Far too many (all?) of the people ‘teaching’ on RUclips go for a one size fits all and that means basically do what I do. It can be a complete waste of time watching these. There is no substitute for lessons in person from a good teacher. The problem is finding one. What annoys me most about the creators of these videos is they claim to ask for comments but it’s been 10 days and crickets … except for the loser. I’ll mark this guy as a ‘do not recommend this channel.’
@@Anthony_Goncalves If you know about human physiology, you would realize that those with short fingers usually have thicker fingers. Ive already got enough trouble with neighbouring strings buzzing because of the thickness of my fingers. Besides, Ive already made the switch from a classical to an acoustic, which made the buzzing problem even worse.
How about this one: don’t start with a pick. Acoustic guitars are meant to be played with fingers and it honestly feels a lot more natural vs a pick. Also the sound is a lot less harsh.
You are a great teacher and have taught me a couple of things from the one or two videos I have watched. I have to respectfully disagree with the bit on Barre chords unfourtunately. After some practice I can use them fluently and ring most notes and there are certain songs such as All Around The World by Oasis that use these alternative barr chords in the bridge sections. Further to this, playing them regular helps hammer the E string notes into any newbies brain further unlocking their knowledge of the fretboard. Other than this, I think everything I have heard you say is spot on brother.
1. Don’t learn chords. Learn triads. 2. Don’t learn all notes of the major scale, top string to bottom. Learn one octave major, minor and pentatonic scales starting at their root on each string. 3. Always play to a metronome or drum track, even when noodling. 4. Noodle at will but pay attention to intervals. Even sour notes have an interval! 5. Have fun. When it’s not, you’re playing it wrong.
Why? Why cant you do both? I did. Ive been playing since 65. I should be terrific. But Im not. I took off for periods when I didnt play at all. I always played better when I was in a band. I learned more stuff. Theres no short cuts. I planned on doing it all. Im so glad I have succh a wealth of teachers arund now.
“Why?” “Why not?”@@ziblot1235 They are simply suggestions. You don’t have to do anything I suggest. There you go. I just eliminated your why and why not.
As a relative beginner still i am always a bit surprised whenever u see a song lesson and below the line i see countless "what's the strumming pattern?" I always just strum and try get the feel for the groove. Although sometimes it is useful to start with a formal strumming pattern when first learning a song.
Try "digada" for triplets and "diga" for twos, etc. Yes, counting is important, and there are ways to count that compliment the strum rather than detract from it.
Sean, try wrapping the e-6th string with your thumb, play B-2nd and E-1st with index finger, and the rest of the strings as you would with a bar chord. It makes it easy and you're using the forearm muscles instead of the thumb muscle to exert the pressure. I've been playing that way for 55 years. You don't get tired and youget the full six string sound for both major and minor chords all the way up the neck, i.e., F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab, A, A#/Bb, B, C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F. i teach it as Form 1 major and minor chords.
I guess nobody believes small hands/fingers are a "thing." No way my thumb would reach around the neck to catch the 6th string. But I agree, a full barre is rarely needed. Just play the strings (notes) you need.
I also really disagree with you on not playing the bar chords . I play bar chords as much as regular chords in every song I play. It's a million times easier to play abar chord for alot of people then it is to get their thumb on that top E string. Remember not everyone has a big enough hand and long enough fingers to make the F style regular chord with their thumb. Been to lots a concerts and gigs and bars. Most of the guitar players are definitely using the bar chords.
To your tip about learning chord families by key - great idea. I learned by practicing the chord pattern of Pachelbel's Canon in D, naturally beginning with D, but then with every other key.
I do wish that YT guitar teachers would remember that many of us learning to play the guitar do not have large hands, ‘ie’ large enough to be able to play a chord and bring their thumb over the neck to play the low E string. Yes I agree to be able to play the low E string with your thumb does give you the opportunity to be more creative etc with hammer on’s etc as apposed to playing a barre chord with your pointer finger, but you can only do that if your hand is large enough, I do not have small hands but they are not large enough to use the ‘thumb over’ method, it would be great if I could.
Neck profile and shape, not just width can make a big difference for thumb over. I have a few guitars and on some I have a difficult time with thumb over if at all. However, my Martin solid wood GPCRSGT, I have no problem with thumb over, even though the neck widths are virtually the same
first thing i learned was bar chords I can crush all 6 anywhere on th fret board I fingerpick . even wrote 2 songs using them.. . Im glad i learned it, It has served me very well in other aspects of MY playing ..
...even if I don't use them as often as before. But when I need them I have them. There are a few songs where bar chords are needed. Stray Cat Strut is one where Brian Setzer uses one. If you don't practice them, you just can't use them. -- But for a new player, I suggest that bar chords are part of a later stage in a guitar player's career.
I don't know if this is going to make sense but I have begun to learn Target the middle finger of my next cord during chord changes. In some cases it leaves my pointer finger open to do the bar but in most cases it's somehow just easier to get to the next cord if I target the string my middle finger is going to be on rather than my pointer finger. I wish I had begun doing it sooner.
Along with that, I wish I had learned my open chords without using my index finger. It makes going from a g to a G7 much easier much easier to go from a minor to b minor etc. Those are also the finger positions that help me visualize triads as well.
THANK YOU! This is my first week of starting to play guitar (learning chords) and counting the rhythm actually enabled me to play something that sounds like a song for the first time. What a rush! ❤ Im just trying out different counting patterns.😍😍
Hi Sean, your videos are so helpful. I haven’t played the guitar for years. I am trying to get back to it. I do struggle with new things as I have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. I am sorry to ask but would it be possible for you to send me a slower copy of the video link on “5 worst mistakes every beginner guitar makes? Sorry for the hassle.
This is the first video I've seen from this channel, so I'm not really sure what your level of playing is and I get that this video is for beginners. I understand we want to avoid driving off new players because they're frustrated, but in my opinion you have to learn not only Barre chords, but multiple versions of chords to graduate to being an intermediate player. This is the only video I've seen that tells players to not learn Barre chords. If you're struggling with Barre chords take your guitar in and get it set up, your action is probably too high, or try a lighter gauge string. Most guitars I play, I've sanded the saddle down a bit. Of course, you might not always need all of the notes in a chord, for example Gaug7 (aka G7#5). I once new an excellent guitar player that only practiced to a metronome, he asked me how I learned timing and playing in the pocket. I explained that the only time I might use a metronome is when I'm recording (with no drums) and practice to the actual recording of the song. If you can play in time with a recording, you can play in time with professional musicians.
Seriously, I wasted five years learning down and up. One day I played wonder wall free style and then realised that down and up is just a guide. I now play with feeling and emotion. You said it.
My favorite movable chord shape came for a Mel Bay book. It's a minor seventh using the sixth, fourth, third, and second strings. Put your middle finger on the tonic on the sixth string and lay your ring finger across the 4,3, & 2 strings on the same fret as the tonic, while killing the 5 & 1 strings. Easy peasy.
What's the big difference between electric and acoustic strings aside from the gauge? Ultimately they're just pieces of steel wire. I put 9s on my acoustic since it has a huge body so it's super loud with thicker strings.
Ok, I read many of the comments looking to see if any have the same difficulty with bar cords, the first crease in my left (bar) pointer finger is almost always and precisely over the 6th, high E when making bar chords dulling the note fully or a buzzing weak attempt at a clear tone. The only effective way to have a clear ring to the 6th is with pronounced pressure focused on the treble side of the fretboard or move the finger down and emphasizing the treble strings and over the E leaving the bass weak. Certain electric guitar fretboard radius configurations as the 7 1/4” help but not always. This lesson, which I stumbled upon, reaffirms what I had concluded which to research and implement any alternative to bar chords and found a much cleaner tone as well
Good tips, especially the down up! I disagree with bar chords though. I do primarily play fingerstyle, but I use bar chords all the time, along with thumb over, or partial chords like you showed. It all depends on what melody notes I need in a particular song. Hell, some songs I might play that F chord 2 or 3 different ways or octaves in the same song depending on the notes needed. And because I do use bar chords so often in fingerstyle and am used to them, I play them al lot stumming as well.
I somehow find the open f major a bit more complicated by now, simply because I didnt practice it as much as I did with the bar chords. I did use Sean's 3rd tip however: Basically I learned or trained bar chords by learning a song that had a ton of F in it :P
F is a good barre chord to use for some extra heaviness/voicing when your tonic is Dm or Am and playing cowboy chords. Elliott Smith used that major barre F plenty. “Happiness” and “Waltz #2” come to mind
I think the thing is that new players get put off struggling with barre chords. They spend too much time on them, get frustrated because they think they can't play their favourite songs and quit. Remember showing a friend who was new the easy open F and it really upped her motivation. Couple of years further on and she's fine with the full barre, but it never held her back.
@@notmyname3681 Yes, they can definitely be a struggle for beginners. My disagreement with Sean is that he said professional performing players never use them which is just not true at all. I think bar chords are important to learn and are used a lot.
This is so helpful. I recently started learning the guitar having learnt the piano first and I hate the down up thing! I also can't bar and naturally use my thumb so I'm very happy to hear this!!
Using coated strings, learning songs, not basic licks, which I intend to do when I practice (noodle), and trying open tunings, is making me more excited about my practice sessions. I'm like a beginning intermediate, if that's a level, and those suggestions will really help me get more excited about guitar. The other two were great too.
About gauging down on acoustics ... it's not that simple and really depends on the guitar. If your guitar is *properly* set up (by a luthier) for 0.013 gauge, your nut slots will be cut a little deeper, and the saddle will be slightly lower than say one strung with 0.012 gauge, to give you a lower action, because the higher tension of 0.013 strings allows for that (smaller oscillation amplitude on thicker strings). You could put a set of 0.012 on it and the strings might not buzz, but they will buzz (hitting the frets) **for sure** if you go lower than that (0.011 or 0.010). You'll need a new nut and saddle cut for such thinner strings (some will play with the truss rod in an attempt to mitigate the problem - but that's not really a good solution) but the action will be quite a bit higher (if you want no buzzing) than what you would get with 0.013. In the end, it won't be any more comfortable to play 0.011 or 0.010 with high action versus 0.013 with low action. So going from 0.013 to 0.012 - should work, but from 0.013 to 0.011 or 0.010 ... not really.
so...i went to the link to Sweetwater for the Elixer strings you use. It defaulted to 12's. If I pick a different gauge, you are gonna lose your affiliate link. Your link only works for the 12's...that kinda sucks! Would love to get any gauge Elixers and have you get your cut...
Best thing for me as a 6 or 7 year old learning to play was learning bar chords. Set me up to be able to move all over the neck. Don’t really use full bar chords now but use portions of them all the time.
Do y know mad marching man ? I am 66, been teaching since I was 16 ! I agree !!! Hat ddudddu shit and I also have never taught one way barre chords...good on you man. Ps Prince used his Thumb ...enough said !
okay, but when the strumming pattern isnt down up down up down up, what am supposed to count? say if its down down down up down down up or something. the 1234 doesnt represent down and the & doesnt represent up, so it just counting doesnt help
I use some barre chords still, but I make much more use of triads..You don't always need barres anyway..In place of full barres I'll use root position D-G-B string triads up the neck, or some other inversions. Triads are also the absolute best and quickest way to learn the entire fretboard hands down, imho.
I dont use my thumb to mute the e string for an f major chord, i like to use the bluegrass method and use my thumb to hit the bass F on the e string. good video
Iv been playing for forty some years. I learned G C and D major cords to start with to play simple early folk, country, bluegrass music with simple rhythm strumming. Playing with others helps a lot.
I recommend learning relative chords like Em Am Bm G C D n G#diminished, they all fit contextually follow same pattern on any chord. These are relative chords
I didn't even like ordering skateboards because I couldn't see Slash feel the concave and shape of the board. I'm real curious as to how anyone what would be cool with ordering a guitar they haven't played unless they're already familiar with it? I been playing Rhythm on and off for years just started taking guitar seriously. Thanks✌
As for DDUUDU language, I totally disagree, it's a great tool for the beginner guitarist to learn timing, especially visual learners. The idea eventually disappears and becomes natural as they progress, but it's great for a jump start in learning.
My first teacher, Griff Hamlin was a stickler for counting, so I learned early. Five years and our learning something new every day. Today, working on harmonized sixths and thirds,and 5ths in a piece of music
I find that when I play for a few hours my strumming forearm blood flow gets cut off and find my arm falling asleep. Any recommendations besides not playing so long
Interesting. When I began playing, no barre chords (always thumb over) and playing along with the radio to learn. Then I went concerts and saw the "pros" using barre chords and spent ages getting to grips with them (and it was hard). Now it's more-or-less natural but the interesting thing is that most of the best players I see on youtube do not use barre chords - or rarely do. Now I am going to unlearn what was so hard to learn and see how I get on. Once again, very interesting and it does explain a lot. When I think back to how easy it once was to learn new songs...... I am now wondering whether, apart from hardly any practice these days the instinctive barre-chording is holding back my ability to solo easily - sort of stuck in finger shapes and positions which are difficult to change. Time to do some unlearning perhaps.
Man I can testify to the quality of Washburn acoustic guitars. I have a G17 that was my first guitar... 25 years ago. It was like $200 in 1999. Its been knocked over, dropped, sat on... its been to 1000 festivals and camping trips in all weather. All the gold is worn off the tuner keys and there's plenty of dings and scratches. Still stays in tune, the neck is still straight and square. And I still play it cus it sounds better for open-air un-amplified playing than anything I have had over the years. Its a sleeper, it looks like a POS but sounds great.
Donner Circle Looper is what I use now, used to have a Digitech Jam Man but the foot switches kept breaking. For drums I use a Beat Buddy, which is really awesome for what it is. And the Circle Looper has drums too. You can also save i forget how many loops... 40 maybe... so you don't have to re-make them every time.
The no down down down up, wow yeah the way you show it with timing instead is actually for me anyway much easier to remember than keeping track of when to down and when to up. 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 makes way more sense and is easier to remember and apply. I’ll convert the down and ups in future videos I watch to the timing method. Thanks so much Sean!
Once you said no Barre chords, you got got me ! Your tip number four, I teach drumming and always give students a fun piece of music so they can enjoy the rudiments.
wouldn't tuning down the guitar cause listening issues for a beginner? I thought part of learning was to train the ear. It seems like that would contradict training your ear, because you wouldn't use that under normal song playing or would you?
The down-up thing always confuses me, tbh. I usually just strum by feel rather than strict up down thing. I think this down-up thing may be fine to notate when a song has a very basic strumming pattern, but with most actual songs, even those that sounded simple seems to require more complicated strumming patterns to actually have the right feel for that song. You may only be strumming the bottom three strings, you may put an accent on a certain beat, the strength of the strumming may be in increasing strength, the pace of the strums may not be uniform, etc. It gets overwhelming really quickly to go by up-down patterns if you try to think about the hand movements pattern. I am still not very good at coming up with it on the spot, I'm still a beginner at guitar, but I usually with a few tries, I'd just develop my own strumming pattern after listening to the music or watching someone demonstrate the pattern they use, and half the time I didn't even know what strokes my hands are actually doing, but as long as it gets the right feel for the song, then I think that's fine.
The problem with teaching the inbetween/upstrums between the counts though is that they don't necessarily fall exactly on the 'and' at the half-way point between beats they fall on any one of the two other 16th note divisions known as 'eh-and-ah'. Students need to know direction and should be able to copy aurally anyway. You can get them to copy a rhythm without any verbal direction: if they get strum direction wrong it can be tweaked/corrected after they have 'heard' the rhythm.
"Trading the D-U secrets" cracked me up. The bars advice was completely new to me and I'm older than you. It might be a little controversial too - I'd rephrase it as "get away from fixed chord shapes and learn new voicings". But as a shocker, the advice serves its purpose. Coated 11 - check. Practice in context - absolutely. I'm mostly practicing scales as a warm-up. Open tuning - I finally got into doing that more often when I realized I could leave my spare guitar in drop D or any alternative tuning for a while. Before that, I would stay away from open chords because I was too lazy tuning my guitar back and forth. Good stuff!
I was 21 I was lucky to have a friend who played in a band and in one after I had being taught the five major chords I quickly learned how to play some of Waylon Jennings songs just by listening to the songs by ear and I have to disagree with the down down,up method cause that's how I learned, how to strome ,all that counting method confuses me
OMG!! I agree with all of this..I've been a full time guitar teacher for 30 years. I have to talk my adult students out of barre chords ( I say "be capable, but don't feel the need to actually play them") and DUDUDU strumming LOL. When I jam with other guitar players I think they play barre chords because it proves they're not lame. I have had guys show up knowing "all five shapes of the pentatonic" with no idea what to do with it. The first songs I hand out are Can't Buy Me Love (all 6 chords of C major), then Eight Days a Week (cool easy intro TAB riff) and She Love's You ( key of G with Cm, D Augmented). I once had a school system music teacher come up to me after a gig and said he "caught me" playing "baby chords" 'cuz my C#m was 3 fingers (like D7 on the next lower strings) and not the 'PROPER BARRE CHORD' SO SAD!! THANKS AGAIN.
Regarding Topic 1: I don‘t get it. How do you say it? If you say „Play the 1 and the &“, there is an & between each of the numbers. How do I know which one to play? Down Up does not work, because there is no duration. But the other method also does not work, because there are many &s and Es. And how do you say triplets in the counting method? Good thing I use Guitar Pro tabs where everything is just written correctly 🤣
I too was perplexed when I started watching instructional videos about strumming. I always thought in primitive terms of singing the beat in my head such as ching ching chinga (down up)ching which seems the same as your counting. I never even thought about if it was up and down or not. I always told people I was instructing to relax their wrist - the beat seemed obvious.
Excellent info Sean. My oldest daughter plays piano and guitar and “caught” me during a solo practice session taking the chords of a key and making a “song”, not the traditional way of learning. It was like an epiphany for her own practice.
The 6 string “e shape” barre chord is not only difficult to play well on its own, especially down by the nut, it’s also almost impossible to make clean, musical transitions into and out of it. When I use it I find myself sliding up to G or A minor instead of going into their open shapes because the transition sucks so bad. And then you’re holding that shape for a whole song and your hand is dead after 2 minutes. Learning “Wind Cries Mary” and “Goodbye Carolina” and learning the freedom and flexibility of the shorter shapes has done well to break me from it.
I am a newb and i probably change my strings too much. I like to tinker and this makes me swap my strings at a minimum of once a month. Also always trying out different strings will definitely check out coated strings.
I have been trying to play James Taylor’s “Frozen Man”. It calls for an Em 11th chord. I simply can’t stretch my fingers to play this chord. Any suggestions?
I don't know what level of "beginner" this video is aimed at, but it's certainly above my level. He's using terms I'm not familiar with and talking very fast. Two minutes in, I'm done.
Hey Sean, really great info as usual! Just wondered if you could do a video on the partial chords electric guitar players use in bands commonly - I know a lot of guitar chords but whenever I watch bands live it’s like they all know completely different shapes and I’m pretty sure they are just broken voicings of chords to minimise effort and reduce how heavy they impose on the mix.
yes please Sean, was going to ask same thing, but i found your minor chord you showed much harder to play than the double finger one, just bc of muting the a chord to stretch two chords over for the index finger note
Triads? Three thinnest strings, all open is Em. A little barre across all three at third fret is Gm; fifth is Am; seventh is Bm; eighth is Cm; tenth Dm. Take the Dm shape and slide it up two frets (thinnest strings only) is Em; one more Fm etc. Much easier Fm than a big barre at the first fret. Same with D shape (thinnest three only). Up two and it’s E major; to the fifth and it’s F major. Who needs ‘the beast’? If you CAN do ‘the beast’ on the three thinnest, slide up two, you’ve got a G major, two more it’s A major etc. I used to be amazed watching guys playing funky guitar without seeming to do anything. But think about it. A little ‘three thinnest’ barre at the fifth fret gives you A minor. Plonk your second finger onto fret six of the B (second thinnest) string, and you’ve got F major. Interesting sound for no effort. Have a go!
Hi Sean, I’m self-taught and played for over 30 years. I started to play before RUclips was a thing and seem to play completely differently to every RUclips instructor. I agree with your Barre chord comments. You don’t use them in reality. You can’t hear the top or bottom strings in a band situation anyway.
I am a learning player. An the counting I agree with instead of down down up. What about 16th note when ands become downs. Lol It's true. Or focus on 4th and 8th beat songs till more comfortable?
Not learning to read music; at least to the level of down down up-down down (very basic rhythms.) The ability to construct/hear those melodies will improve your musical awareness so much.
Hey Sean! Regarding the "use of barre chords" mistake: you've shown us how to bypass the "E shape" barre chords but what about the "A shape" barre chords (which I think are even harder to play cleanly due to the twisted wrist and finger positioning)? Do you just mute both the E and A strings and play the 3rd inversion?
For non-classical, think how much easier fingering would be if guitar fretboards were made with slightly more radius (curve). Especially for those of us with smaller/weaker fingers. Extreme radius is one of the reasons why electric guitars are so effortless to play.
That Washburn! I have the exact same guitar as my steel string and it's an awesome sounding and beautiful looking instrument! And great value for money, imo sounds like a much more expensive guitar than it is. And the reason why it's so cool to see it in a video like this is that I've never seen it actually used anywhere except videos that advertise/showcase it.
Since i've watching this i've been doing this daily, (the part where you said practice chord changes with a strumming pattern with 1,3,4,5,) and it's changed my practice and made me a better guitarist already, thanks so much Sean!
I been practicing and playing for over 50 years. I made all these mistakes. I used to play CAGED scales for hours. Gave them up. I could not make a barre chord that did not buzz. Gave them up. Could not get my head around arpeggios. Now, I only play partial arpeggios (aka triads). Guess what. A triad plus one or two scale notes make a kickass lick and I can hear the scale better. I just could not learn strumming patterns with Down Up. Now I count the pattern. I still have not graduated from Standard. I would add one more tip. Stop looking at the fretboard. Play in the dark so you have to hear the guitar. There is always a way to find a way to find what note I am on with an open string plus harmonics. You are never more than 3 frets away from an open string tone and usually 1 or 2 up or down.
Hey Sean, love your content, newb moving to intermediate on acoustic 6 string and your lessons are very helpful. I will add another mistake, at least one I made, failure to setup your guitar properly. I just went through all my settings, neck relief, bridge height, which was fine and finally got around to filing the nut down to just above the 1st fret. What a difference, night and day, bar chords are no longer an issue, the tone is more mellow, not as twangy on my LL-16 on the high E. I had adjusted neck relief in the past and checked the strings at the 12th fret but the nut filing, for my guitar was huge. Later man oh and BTW, I tried to open your website yesterday and it would not open, cheers.
As a player of many decades , I find you’re feed entertaining , as I am always looking for new fingerboard moves . The only problem I have is that most of your concepts are designed for clicks not picks .
Barre chords are fine provided you learn proper thumb placement. I have been playing guitar over 30 years primarily a bassist but I still have trouble fingering the damn "B" chord.
As a newby, I only recently discovered the importance of counting. I LOL'd at the remark about how ludicrous artists back stage sharing their up-downs would be 😂
For people learning to play, I would suggest getting a looper and drum machine, or a looper with one built in. You can lay down a rythm, a bass line and then jam with yourself. It really accelerated my learning. I am 100% self taught. Didn't even use books. I learned by listening to music figuring it out and looking up tabs. The looper accelerated my progress x10. I went from being awful after 10 years of noodling, to being good enough that people wanna hear me play. And I learned how to improvise solos and accompaniment. I can play along with just about anything now. I am sure I do everything wrong 😂. But the looper helped me with making my own music, and learning songs that don't sound right without the rest of the instruments.
Just turned 70 and all you're teaching is spot on. Love the crack about Mel Bay I thought that no one else had heard of those horrid "learn guitar in two weeks" books.....
Agree 100% about bar chords. For just rhythm chomping, it’s fine, but for riff and fill embellishments, that flung out pointer makes things difficult. Wish I’d have learned earlier- three notes are a chord, and inside chords are quick and easy…. but bar when you want.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
Brother, I strongly disagree about bar chords. I think you should explain to whom or what style your approach is directed, I play alone, I am Hispanic, I play in restaurants and events, sometimes in the company of another guitarist and the bar chords are needed, especially because of the colors and the robust and large sound that the basses give, Latin rhythms need the 6 sounds. I accept your approach when you're going to handle arpeggios, as I say. It depends on the style. It's a feedback with love, think about it, there are styles that do need the 6 sounds and the bar chords. In short, it is not necessary to play all 6 strings on the guitar, but it is convenient to learn how to use them all to have more options and musical possibilities. Music is not a matter of comfort, in fact if it is anything, it is the opposite: determination, effort and work. But above all, you have to avoid being comfortable if you aspire to be a musician with all your letters, at least when you start, once you have passed that phase is when you start to "have mischief". I get someone who knows how to play at exorbitant speeds but doesn't know how to play an F Major and I don't know whether to laugh or cry...
Bar chords are much easier on nylon strings. Playing bar chords on steel strings will give you arthritis. But yeah, you need that full sound for the flamenco-type strum.
I would tell a beginner that barre chords are definitely worth learning, but also don't beat yourself up if you can't do them right away. They are hard and I was probably a few years into playing before I could play a halfway decent barre chord. In the meantime, there are ways around using them, as this video demonstrated. I also would say, dont get upset if you never learn to play them perfectly. Even now, many, many years into playing, if I play a barre chord and one or two of the notes is a little muted or percussive, I just embrace that imperfection and keep strumming. I say it adds a little personality to the chord.
I agree with you. I find the thumb over far more painful and difficult than the full barre. if you need to play a quieter minor chord just play the bottom three strings (with one finger across all three) at the fifth fret to get A minor play the bottom 4 to get Amin7 (by bottom strings I mean the thin ones), although mostly I'll play full barre chords for a fuller sound. If the full major barre chord gets painful then I play the basic F shape and use my ring finger to mute the E string. Or move down to play the open A with one finger across the DG and B strings then muting the thin E with your second finger as if playing A7 but not sounding the E. This is also a good way (I think) to play Seventh chords up and down the neck (obviously sounding the thin E ) As I get older my fingers, not that big anyway are also getting less and less flexible so need simple shapes to play.
Completely agree. There are countless popular songs with barre chords. Any guitar player should know how to play them. The more musical knowledge you have, the more options you have for chord voicing, it makes you a better player.
Guitar playing has no worth without the bar chords. There's no mistake having it. I'll say you're being a guitar player today wasn't successful without doing bar chords when you started. Come on.. ✌️🙂🙃
Learn the barre chords people. They help you connect scales and triads. If you later decide to not use them, you will still have all the knowledge surrounding them.
100% - this idea of not to use Barre chords... that's pretty much the worst advice I've ever seen on RUclips or just about anywhere online, honestly...
I play whatever chord voicing fits the song the best -- in my opinion. I'm the furthest thing from a chord snob. The chord snobs I know insist that the most difficult voicing is ALWAYS the best. Hey, I love cowboy chords as much as any other chord. Sue me. 🤣
@@FretboardMaestro It's pure chord snobbery -- simple as that. I can't stand chord snobs.
@@marshallapplewhite5941 nope, I completely agree, sometimes it's best to use a full on barre chord, and sometimes it's not... its the blanket statements of no one uses barre chords that just isn't accurate IMHO...
I agree. I have short fingers. I find it much easier to do full barre chords than put my thumb over the fret board.
in fingerstyle the usage of bar chords is crazy
don make the bar chords look not important they are extremely important in fingerstyle
when changing keys they are also extra important
an example mate ruclips.net/video/iqaYk-vPUMw/видео.htmlsi=tvN-nksC54uZ7MwA
Yeah, he should've given the context. I just watched one of Sean's shorts vids where he's playing fingerstyle on a baritone, and he was using whole barre chords throughout.
@@castleanthrax1833 yeah right
@@h.smontage1615 Tissue??
When I try a new song the first thing I usually do is mute all the strings, and just try to find the groove with my right hand playing chucka-chukka's and plinka-plinka's along until I find something close, and get a feel for the timing or picking pattern. After that I let the melody and the feel of the tune be my guide.
when i do surf its like that ill lay down beat and rhythm with spring reverb chucka- chucka drips pinkapinka drips around it and then some back in forth and stabs in-between and any chords that work with the jam i think i will try make a vid to show that for surf musicians out there as i have a rare dick dale kinda way sorta of playing and writing but didnt even know who he was
Jack johnson plays barre chords all the time, it gives him that signature rhythm and style. Learning barre chords is essential for certain styles of playing, so definitely learn them if you want to get as much under your belt
No no big mistake, you heard the man - only for beginners ha ha ha 😂
The difference in tone from the f barre chord and basically all the other Fs is huge to me but I get what he’s saying
This guy knows that barre chords are essential and commonly used, needed and easy once mastered. From what I can gather he is using this just to increase his RUclips exposure by utilizing comment interactions that the algorithm uses for search visibility.
Let's face it, Sean's as rough as guts, about as refined as a fart at the dinner table, so dropping a note here or there is no big deal.
I’m playing steel strings for the first time after 40 years of nylon and, yeah, bar chords are a real exhausting strain.
Barre chords are actually much easier than getting clear sharp tones from partial chords through muting and “missing” strings, at least in most contexts where people play acoustic guitars. That technique is great, and is part of a more advanced player’s arsenal for sure, but it requires right (strumming) hand accuracy and control , particularly with faster tempos/strummy parts. As others have said, the type of music you’re playing decides the issue, and barre chords are an essential tool much of the time. Plus, they’re simply not that hard. I have small hands, and with work, I got mine to a consistent point for gigging and recording in a reasonable time. With work, mind you, and one has to get a few tips at the start so one doesn’t waste practice time/muscle build with inferior technique.
For some of us, barre chords, esp covering six strings, are literally impossible. I had a serious hand injury, a long with a stroke, that makes barre chords impossible for me. My hand will never be strong enough again.
@@coyote520 Yep, I was just responding for the typical student. I’m glad you’re playing despite those challenges! Just in case, have you tried hacks like lowering the action down to the bare minimum, getting a smaller acoustic to increase leverage, putting electric strings on an acoustic, or playing an electric with, say, 8-gauge strings and just dialing in a tone that works? Not sure if any of that will work for you, but if not, there are indeed many other chord forms than barres.
Both you and Rick Beato have talked about muting the top string with your thumb. Well, Im so happy for you two that you have long fingers and thumbs. It is next to impossible for me to reach the top string with my thumb on an F chord, and beyond impossible to do it with a C chord. Please understand that we are not all created identical.
Damn dude. Get laid & cheer up bro!
Ignore he guy above who obviously lacks any empathy and just wanted to show the world. I agree. Far too many (all?) of the people ‘teaching’ on RUclips go for a one size fits all and that means basically do what I do. It can be a complete waste of time watching these. There is no substitute for lessons in person from a good teacher. The problem is finding one. What annoys me most about the creators of these videos is they claim to ask for comments but it’s been 10 days and crickets … except for the loser. I’ll mark this guy as a ‘do not recommend this channel.’
@@tomrees4812 Good for you. My reply to him obviously got removed.
Just get a smaller neck guitar then bro i teach kids they can do that ....
@@Anthony_Goncalves If you know about human physiology, you would realize that those with short fingers usually have thicker fingers. Ive already got enough trouble with neighbouring strings buzzing because of the thickness of my fingers. Besides, Ive already made the switch from a classical to an acoustic, which made the buzzing problem even worse.
How about this one: don’t start with a pick. Acoustic guitars are meant to be played with fingers and it honestly feels a lot more natural vs a pick. Also the sound is a lot less harsh.
You are a great teacher and have taught me a couple of things from the one or two videos I have watched. I have to respectfully disagree with the bit on Barre chords unfourtunately. After some practice I can use them fluently and ring most notes and there are certain songs such as All Around The World by Oasis that use these alternative barr chords in the bridge sections. Further to this, playing them regular helps hammer the E string notes into any newbies brain further unlocking their knowledge of the fretboard. Other than this, I think everything I have heard you say is spot on brother.
1. Don’t learn chords.
Learn triads.
2. Don’t learn all notes of the major scale, top string to bottom.
Learn one octave major, minor and pentatonic scales starting at their root on each string.
3. Always play to a metronome or drum track, even when noodling.
4. Noodle at will but pay attention to intervals.
Even sour notes have an interval!
5. Have fun. When it’s not, you’re playing it wrong.
Why? Why cant you do both? I did. Ive been playing since 65. I should be terrific. But Im not. I took off for periods when I didnt play at all. I always played better when I was in a band. I learned more stuff. Theres no short cuts. I planned on doing it all. Im so glad I have succh a wealth of teachers arund now.
“Why?” “Why not?”@@ziblot1235
They are simply suggestions. You don’t have to do anything I suggest.
There you go. I just eliminated your why and why not.
As a relative beginner still i am always a bit surprised whenever u see a song lesson and below the line i see countless "what's the strumming pattern?" I always just strum and try get the feel for the groove.
Although sometimes it is useful to start with a formal strumming pattern when first learning a song.
3:25 is by far my favorite moment with you, trying to say down down down up at lightning speed w/a gruff voice impression. Thank you.
Try "digada" for triplets and "diga" for twos, etc. Yes, counting is important, and there are ways to count that compliment the strum rather than detract from it.
Sean, try wrapping the e-6th string with your thumb, play B-2nd and E-1st with index finger, and the rest of the strings as you would with a bar chord. It makes it easy and you're using the forearm muscles instead of the thumb muscle to exert the pressure. I've been playing that way for 55 years. You don't get tired and youget the full six string sound for both major and minor chords all the way up the neck, i.e., F, F#/Gb, G, G#/Ab, A, A#/Bb, B, C, C#/Db, D, D#/Eb, E, F. i teach it as Form 1 major and minor chords.
I guess nobody believes small hands/fingers are a "thing." No way my thumb would reach around the neck to catch the 6th string. But I agree, a full barre is rarely needed. Just play the strings (notes) you need.
I also really disagree with you on not playing the bar chords . I play bar chords as much as regular chords in every song I play. It's a million times easier to play abar chord for alot of people then it is to get their thumb on that top E string. Remember not everyone has a big enough hand and long enough fingers to make the F style regular chord with their thumb. Been to lots a concerts and gigs and bars. Most of the guitar players are definitely using the bar chords.
F major bar chords are way heavier also, completely disagree with this video. Some people don’t have large fingers/thumbs either. Stupid video
Nothing at all with power/bar chords. Disagree with that one. Been playing power chords for over a decade. Depends on the style of music.
To your tip about learning chord families by key - great idea. I learned by practicing the chord pattern of Pachelbel's Canon in D, naturally beginning with D, but then with every other key.
That's a great way to learn!
I do wish that YT guitar teachers would remember that many of us learning to play the guitar do not have large hands, ‘ie’ large enough to be able to play a chord and bring their thumb over the neck to play the low E string.
Yes I agree to be able to play the low E string with your thumb does give you the opportunity to be more creative etc with hammer on’s etc as apposed to playing a barre chord with your pointer finger, but you can only do that if your hand is large enough, I do not have small hands but they are not large enough to use the ‘thumb over’ method, it would be great if I could.
Neck profile and shape, not just width can make a big difference for thumb over. I have a few guitars and on some I have a difficult time with thumb over if at all. However, my Martin solid wood GPCRSGT, I have no problem with thumb over, even though the neck widths are virtually the same
I have tiny hands and can do this. Stop making excuses!
I can't get my thumb over the top, but I have completely worn the finish off the neck of at least 3 guitars on the top side of the neck
I like the idea of using riffs and solos for practicing scales.
first thing i learned was bar chords I can crush all 6 anywhere on th fret board I fingerpick . even wrote 2 songs using them.. . Im glad i learned it, It has served me very well in other aspects of MY playing ..
...even if I don't use them as often as before. But when I need them I have them. There are a few songs where bar chords are needed. Stray Cat Strut is one where Brian Setzer uses one. If you don't practice them, you just can't use them. -- But for a new player, I suggest that bar chords are part of a later stage in a guitar player's career.
Learn the barre cords PROPERLY so you can play with puting the bar on and of, thats much better
I challenge you, yes they happen in real life just practice
Due to arthritis in my index finger on my left hand I have to play the barre cord and I have no problem.
I don't know if this is going to make sense but I have begun to learn Target the middle finger of my next cord during chord changes. In some cases it leaves my pointer finger open to do the bar but in most cases it's somehow just easier to get to the next cord if I target the string my middle finger is going to be on rather than my pointer finger. I wish I had begun doing it sooner.
Along with that, I wish I had learned my open chords without using my index finger. It makes going from a g to a G7 much easier much easier to go from a minor to b minor etc. Those are also the finger positions that help me visualize triads as well.
THANK YOU! This is my first week of starting to play guitar (learning chords) and counting the rhythm actually enabled me to play something that sounds like a song for the first time. What a rush! ❤ Im just trying out different counting patterns.😍😍
Hi Sean, your videos are so helpful. I haven’t played the guitar for years. I am trying to get back to it.
I do struggle with new things as I have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
I am sorry to ask but would it be possible for you to send me a slower copy of the video link on “5 worst mistakes every beginner guitar makes?
Sorry for the hassle.
This is the first video I've seen from this channel, so I'm not really sure what your level of playing is and I get that this video is for beginners. I understand we want to avoid driving off new players because they're frustrated, but in my opinion you have to learn not only Barre chords, but multiple versions of chords to graduate to being an intermediate player. This is the only video I've seen that tells players to not learn Barre chords. If you're struggling with Barre chords take your guitar in and get it set up, your action is probably too high, or try a lighter gauge string. Most guitars I play, I've sanded the saddle down a bit. Of course, you might not always need all of the notes in a chord, for example Gaug7 (aka G7#5).
I once new an excellent guitar player that only practiced to a metronome, he asked me how I learned timing and playing in the pocket. I explained that the only time I might use a metronome is when I'm recording (with no drums) and practice to the actual recording of the song. If you can play in time with a recording, you can play in time with professional musicians.
Seriously, I wasted five years learning down and up. One day I played wonder wall free style and then realised that down and up is just a guide. I now play with feeling and emotion. You said it.
My favorite movable chord shape came for a Mel Bay book. It's a minor seventh using the sixth, fourth, third, and second strings. Put your middle finger on the tonic on the sixth string and lay your ring finger across the 4,3, & 2 strings on the same fret as the tonic, while killing the 5 & 1 strings. Easy peasy.
What's the big difference between electric and acoustic strings aside from the gauge? Ultimately they're just pieces of steel wire. I put 9s on my acoustic since it has a huge body so it's super loud with thicker strings.
Ok, I read many of the comments looking to see if any have the same difficulty with bar cords, the first crease in my left (bar) pointer finger is almost always and precisely over the 6th, high E when making bar chords dulling the note fully or a buzzing weak attempt at a clear tone. The only effective way to have a clear ring to the 6th is with pronounced pressure focused on the treble side of the fretboard or move the finger down and emphasizing the treble strings and over the E leaving the bass weak. Certain electric guitar fretboard radius configurations as the 7 1/4” help but not always. This lesson, which I stumbled upon, reaffirms what I had concluded which to research and implement any alternative to bar chords and found a much cleaner tone as well
Good tips, especially the down up! I disagree with bar chords though. I do primarily play fingerstyle, but I use bar chords all the time, along with thumb over, or partial chords like you showed. It all depends on what melody notes I need in a particular song. Hell, some songs I might play that F chord 2 or 3 different ways or octaves in the same song depending on the notes needed. And because I do use bar chords so often in fingerstyle and am used to them, I play them al lot stumming as well.
I somehow find the open f major a bit more complicated by now, simply because I didnt practice it as much as I did with the bar chords. I did use Sean's 3rd tip however: Basically I learned or trained bar chords by learning a song that had a ton of F in it :P
F is a good barre chord to use for some extra heaviness/voicing when your tonic is Dm or Am and playing cowboy chords. Elliott Smith used that major barre F plenty. “Happiness” and “Waltz #2” come to mind
I think the thing is that new players get put off struggling with barre chords. They spend too much time on them, get frustrated because they think they can't play their favourite songs and quit. Remember showing a friend who was new the easy open F and it really upped her motivation. Couple of years further on and she's fine with the full barre, but it never held her back.
@@notmyname3681 Yes, they can definitely be a struggle for beginners. My disagreement with Sean is that he said professional performing players never use them which is just not true at all. I think bar chords are important to learn and are used a lot.
@@raymorgan4657 Yeah, I agree. Like most things it's better to have the ability and choose whether or not to use it than not be able.
This is so helpful. I recently started learning the guitar having learnt the piano first and I hate the down up thing! I also can't bar and naturally use my thumb so I'm very happy to hear this!!
Question. What's your opinion on counting your strums with down-up-down-up-down-up?
Using coated strings, learning songs, not basic licks, which I intend to do when I practice (noodle), and trying open tunings, is making me more excited about my practice sessions. I'm like a beginning intermediate, if that's a level, and those suggestions will really help me get more excited about guitar. The other two were great too.
I consider myself an intermediate beginner. 😅
This video 🙌…20 yrs in I’m still trying to bar these fkin chords 🤦♂️ ..never again!
About gauging down on acoustics ... it's not that simple and really depends on the guitar. If your guitar is *properly* set up (by a luthier) for 0.013 gauge, your nut slots will be cut a little deeper, and the saddle will be slightly lower than say one strung with 0.012 gauge, to give you a lower action, because the higher tension of 0.013 strings allows for that (smaller oscillation amplitude on thicker strings). You could put a set of 0.012 on it and the strings might not buzz, but they will buzz (hitting the frets) **for sure** if you go lower than that (0.011 or 0.010). You'll need a new nut and saddle cut for such thinner strings (some will play with the truss rod in an attempt to mitigate the problem - but that's not really a good solution) but the action will be quite a bit higher (if you want no buzzing) than what you would get with 0.013. In the end, it won't be any more comfortable to play 0.011 or 0.010 with high action versus 0.013 with low action. So going from 0.013 to 0.012 - should work, but from 0.013 to 0.011 or 0.010 ... not really.
so...i went to the link to Sweetwater for the Elixer strings you use. It defaulted to 12's. If I pick a different gauge, you are gonna lose your affiliate link. Your link only works for the 12's...that kinda sucks! Would love to get any gauge Elixers and have you get your cut...
Thanks so much! As long as you get to sweetwater through the link, you can choose anything else from the site and I still get credit :)
What if we also play trumpet? Valves go up and down right?
Best thing for me as a 6 or 7 year old learning to play was learning bar chords.
Set me up to be able to move all over the neck. Don’t really use full bar chords now but use portions of them all the time.
Do y know mad marching man ? I am 66, been teaching since I was 16 ! I agree !!! Hat ddudddu shit and I also have never taught one way barre chords...good on you man. Ps Prince used his Thumb ...enough said !
How to know what frets go together and why. Is it always 3. 5, and 7, or 10, then 12?
okay, but when the strumming pattern isnt down up down up down up, what am supposed to count? say if its down down down up down down up or something. the 1234 doesnt represent down and the & doesnt represent up, so it just counting doesnt help
I use some barre chords still, but I make much more use of triads..You don't always need barres anyway..In place of full barres I'll use root position D-G-B string triads up the neck, or some other inversions. Triads are also the absolute best and quickest way to learn the entire fretboard hands down, imho.
The strumming pattern rant was absolutely beautiful. Bravo.
I dont use my thumb to mute the e string for an f major chord, i like to use the bluegrass method and use my thumb to hit the bass F on the e string. good video
Knowing the chords of the key is a game changer.know the intervals of one key you know them all
Hit the F root with your thumb. Same up the neck for other chords. Blues guys do this all the time. It minimizes hand movements to other chords.
Iv been playing for forty some years. I learned G C and D major cords to start with to play simple early folk, country, bluegrass music with simple rhythm strumming. Playing with others helps a lot.
I recommend learning relative chords like Em Am Bm G C D n G#diminished, they all fit contextually follow same pattern on any chord. These are relative chords
I didn't even like ordering skateboards because I couldn't see Slash feel the concave and shape of the board. I'm real curious as to how anyone what would be cool with ordering a guitar they haven't played unless they're already familiar with it? I been playing Rhythm on and off for years just started taking guitar seriously. Thanks✌
As for DDUUDU language, I totally disagree, it's a great tool for the beginner guitarist to learn timing, especially visual learners. The idea eventually disappears and becomes natural as they progress, but it's great for a jump start in learning.
My first teacher, Griff Hamlin was a stickler for counting, so I learned early. Five years and our learning something new every day. Today, working on harmonized sixths and thirds,and 5ths in a piece of music
I find that when I play for a few hours my strumming forearm blood flow gets cut off and find my arm falling asleep. Any recommendations besides not playing so long
CT of neck
Interesting. When I began playing, no barre chords (always thumb over) and playing along with the radio to learn. Then I went concerts and saw the "pros" using barre chords and spent ages getting to grips with them (and it was hard). Now it's more-or-less natural but the interesting thing is that most of the best players I see on youtube do not use barre chords - or rarely do. Now I am going to unlearn what was so hard to learn and see how I get on. Once again, very interesting and it does explain a lot. When I think back to how easy it once was to learn new songs...... I am now wondering whether, apart from hardly any practice these days the instinctive barre-chording is holding back my ability to solo easily - sort of stuck in finger shapes and positions which are difficult to change. Time to do some unlearning perhaps.
Hi Sean! Why cant you put electric guitar strings on an acoustic guitar? I put electric Ernie Ball 10's on my acoustic. Sounds good.
Man I can testify to the quality of Washburn acoustic guitars. I have a G17 that was my first guitar... 25 years ago. It was like $200 in 1999.
Its been knocked over, dropped, sat on... its been to 1000 festivals and camping trips in all weather.
All the gold is worn off the tuner keys and there's plenty of dings and scratches.
Still stays in tune, the neck is still straight and square. And I still play it cus it sounds better for open-air un-amplified playing than anything I have had over the years.
Its a sleeper, it looks like a POS but sounds great.
Donner Circle Looper is what I use now, used to have a Digitech Jam Man but the foot switches kept breaking.
For drums I use a Beat Buddy, which is really awesome for what it is. And the Circle Looper has drums too.
You can also save i forget how many loops... 40 maybe... so you don't have to re-make them every time.
The no down down down up, wow yeah the way you show it with timing instead is actually for me anyway much easier to remember than keeping track of when to down and when to up. 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 makes way more sense and is easier to remember and apply. I’ll convert the down and ups in future videos I watch to the timing method. Thanks so much Sean!
Once you said no Barre chords, you got got me ! Your tip number four, I teach drumming and always give students a fun piece of music so they can enjoy the rudiments.
wouldn't tuning down the guitar cause listening issues for a beginner? I thought part of learning was to train the ear. It seems like that would contradict training your ear, because you wouldn't use that under normal song playing or would you?
The down-up thing always confuses me, tbh. I usually just strum by feel rather than strict up down thing.
I think this down-up thing may be fine to notate when a song has a very basic strumming pattern, but with most actual songs, even those that sounded simple seems to require more complicated strumming patterns to actually have the right feel for that song. You may only be strumming the bottom three strings, you may put an accent on a certain beat, the strength of the strumming may be in increasing strength, the pace of the strums may not be uniform, etc. It gets overwhelming really quickly to go by up-down patterns if you try to think about the hand movements pattern.
I am still not very good at coming up with it on the spot, I'm still a beginner at guitar, but I usually with a few tries, I'd just develop my own strumming pattern after listening to the music or watching someone demonstrate the pattern they use, and half the time I didn't even know what strokes my hands are actually doing, but as long as it gets the right feel for the song, then I think that's fine.
The problem with teaching the inbetween/upstrums between the counts though is that they don't necessarily fall exactly on the 'and' at the half-way point between beats they fall on any one of the two other 16th note divisions known as 'eh-and-ah'. Students need to know direction and should be able to copy aurally anyway. You can get them to copy a rhythm without any verbal direction: if they get strum direction wrong it can be tweaked/corrected after they have 'heard' the rhythm.
"Trading the D-U secrets" cracked me up.
The bars advice was completely new to me and I'm older than you. It might be a little controversial too - I'd rephrase it as "get away from fixed chord shapes and learn new voicings". But as a shocker, the advice serves its purpose.
Coated 11 - check.
Practice in context - absolutely. I'm mostly practicing scales as a warm-up.
Open tuning - I finally got into doing that more often when I realized I could leave my spare guitar in drop D or any alternative tuning for a while. Before that, I would stay away from open chords because I was too lazy tuning my guitar back and forth.
Good stuff!
I was 21 I was lucky to have a friend who played in a band and in one after I had being taught the five major chords I quickly learned how to play some of Waylon Jennings songs just by listening to the songs by ear and I have to disagree with the down down,up method cause that's how I learned, how to strome ,all that counting method confuses me
My favorite strumming pattern is up up down down left right left right on the b and a strings. Every time I play it I get 30 extra guitars.
OMG!! I agree with all of this..I've been a full time guitar teacher for 30 years. I have to talk my adult students out of barre chords ( I say "be capable, but don't feel the need to actually play them") and DUDUDU strumming LOL. When I jam with other guitar players I think they play barre chords because it proves they're not lame. I have had guys show up knowing "all five shapes of the pentatonic" with no idea what to do with it. The first songs I hand out are Can't Buy Me Love (all 6 chords of C major), then Eight Days a Week (cool easy intro TAB riff) and She Love's You ( key of G with Cm, D Augmented). I once had a school system music teacher come up to me after a gig and said he "caught me" playing "baby chords" 'cuz my C#m was 3 fingers (like D7 on the next lower strings) and not the 'PROPER BARRE CHORD' SO SAD!! THANKS AGAIN.
Dude is great teacher and probably someone I could hang out with based on his personality
Regarding Topic 1: I don‘t get it. How do you say it? If you say „Play the 1 and the &“, there is an & between each of the numbers. How do I know which one to play? Down Up does not work, because there is no duration. But the other method also does not work, because there are many &s and Es. And how do you say triplets in the counting method?
Good thing I use Guitar Pro tabs where everything is just written correctly 🤣
You mentioned sheet music. should I learn sheet music In order to play the guitar. Do I need sheet music for anything??
I too was perplexed when I started watching instructional videos about strumming. I always thought in primitive terms of singing the beat in my head such as ching ching chinga (down up)ching which seems the same as your counting. I never even thought about if it was up and down or not. I always told people I was instructing to relax their wrist - the beat seemed obvious.
So how would I know that those notes are in the A minor scale if I didn't know the scale already?
Where is the link for the strings in the description?
Excellent info Sean.
My oldest daughter plays piano and guitar and “caught” me during a solo practice session taking the chords of a key and making a “song”, not the traditional way of learning. It was like an epiphany for her own practice.
Dude, nice seeing you rattled and passionate about what's up or what's down. Thanks. Nice to know you are speaking from experience.
My guutar teacher does quite a lot of the things you suggest. F chord with my thumb over the top.
The 6 string “e shape” barre chord is not only difficult to play well on its own, especially down by the nut, it’s also almost impossible to make clean, musical transitions into and out of it. When I use it I find myself sliding up to G or A minor instead of going into their open shapes because the transition sucks so bad. And then you’re holding that shape for a whole song and your hand is dead after 2 minutes. Learning “Wind Cries Mary” and “Goodbye Carolina” and learning the freedom and flexibility of the shorter shapes has done well to break me from it.
I am a newb and i probably change my strings too much. I like to tinker and this makes me swap my strings at a minimum of once a month. Also always trying out different strings will definitely check out coated strings.
I have been trying to play James Taylor’s “Frozen Man”. It calls for an Em 11th chord. I simply can’t stretch my fingers to play this chord. Any suggestions?
Your intros are worth the free subscription.
I don't know what level of "beginner" this video is aimed at, but it's certainly above my level. He's using terms I'm not familiar with and talking very fast. Two minutes in, I'm done.
Hey Sean, really great info as usual! Just wondered if you could do a video on the partial chords electric guitar players use in bands commonly - I know a lot of guitar chords but whenever I watch bands live it’s like they all know completely different shapes and I’m pretty sure they are just broken voicings of chords to minimise effort and reduce how heavy they impose on the mix.
yes please Sean, was going to ask same thing, but i found your minor chord you showed much harder to play than the double finger one, just bc of muting the a chord to stretch two chords over for the index finger note
Triads? Three thinnest strings, all open is Em. A little barre across all three at third fret is Gm; fifth is Am; seventh is Bm; eighth is Cm; tenth Dm. Take the Dm shape and slide it up two frets (thinnest strings only) is Em; one more Fm etc. Much easier Fm than a big barre at the first fret. Same with D shape (thinnest three only). Up two and it’s E major; to the fifth and it’s F major. Who needs ‘the beast’? If you CAN do ‘the beast’ on the three thinnest, slide up two, you’ve got a G major, two more it’s A major etc. I used to be amazed watching guys playing funky guitar without seeming to do anything. But think about it. A little ‘three thinnest’ barre at the fifth fret gives you A minor. Plonk your second finger onto fret six of the B (second thinnest) string, and you’ve got F major. Interesting sound for no effort. Have a go!
thanks!@@martydoherty2660
@@martydoherty2660excellent information thanks
@martydoherty2660
RANDY JUDAH TORREZ ❤<
Make a bloody Tutorial this sounds interesting but a visual will be more better.👍😆 🤣 😂
I have no problem with the Fmajor Barre chord. Although if I play F open chord I barre the bottom two strings.
Hi Sean, I’m self-taught and played for over 30 years. I started to play before RUclips was a thing and seem to play completely differently to every RUclips instructor. I agree with your Barre chord comments. You don’t use them in reality. You can’t hear the top or bottom strings in a band situation anyway.
Great stuff but Why Em for 2nd? Why not E Major? Same for F#m vs. F# and so on?
I am a learning player.
An the counting I agree with instead of down down up.
What about 16th note when ands become downs.
Lol
It's true. Or focus on 4th and 8th beat songs till more comfortable?
I can't fit my thumb around the neck am I stuck barre-ing?
Not learning to read music; at least to the level of down down up-down down (very basic rhythms.) The ability to construct/hear those melodies will improve your musical awareness so much.
Think maybe toking up before doing a video could be considered a "beginner's mistake."
Hey Sean! Regarding the "use of barre chords" mistake: you've shown us how to bypass the "E shape" barre chords but what about the "A shape" barre chords (which I think are even harder to play cleanly due to the twisted wrist and finger positioning)? Do you just mute both the E and A strings and play the 3rd inversion?
For non-classical, think how much easier fingering would be if guitar fretboards were made with slightly more radius (curve). Especially for those of us with smaller/weaker fingers. Extreme radius is one of the reasons why electric guitars are so effortless to play.
That Washburn! I have the exact same guitar as my steel string and it's an awesome sounding and beautiful looking instrument! And great value for money, imo sounds like a much more expensive guitar than it is.
And the reason why it's so cool to see it in a video like this is that I've never seen it actually used anywhere except videos that advertise/showcase it.
My bad, commented before I saw the part where you advertised the guitar 😂 still a legit great instrument
I just got mine and love it.
Since i've watching this i've been doing this daily, (the part where you said practice chord changes with a strumming pattern with 1,3,4,5,) and it's changed my practice and made me a better guitarist already, thanks so much Sean!
I been practicing and playing for over 50 years. I made all these mistakes. I used to play CAGED scales for hours. Gave them up. I could not make a barre chord that did not buzz. Gave them up. Could not get my head around arpeggios. Now, I only play partial arpeggios (aka triads). Guess what. A triad plus one or two scale notes make a kickass lick and I can hear the scale better. I just could not learn strumming patterns with Down Up. Now I count the pattern. I still have not graduated from Standard.
I would add one more tip. Stop looking at the fretboard. Play in the dark so you have to hear the guitar. There is always a way to find a way to find what note I am on with an open string plus harmonics. You are never more than 3 frets away from an open string tone and usually 1 or 2 up or down.
Hey Sean, love your content, newb moving to intermediate on acoustic 6 string and your lessons are very helpful. I will add another mistake, at least one I made, failure to setup your guitar properly. I just went through all my settings, neck relief, bridge height, which was fine and finally got around to filing the nut down to just above the 1st fret. What a difference, night and day, bar chords are no longer an issue, the tone is more mellow, not as twangy on my LL-16 on the high E. I had adjusted neck relief in the past and checked the strings at the 12th fret but the nut filing, for my guitar was huge. Later man oh and BTW, I tried to open your website yesterday and it would not open, cheers.
As a player of many decades , I find you’re feed entertaining , as I am always looking for new fingerboard moves . The only problem I have is that most of your concepts are designed for clicks not picks .
I agree with the barre chord theory but I would say when learning it’s good to learn for finger strength and muscle memory
Barre chords are fine provided you learn proper thumb placement. I have been playing guitar over 30 years primarily a bassist but I still have trouble fingering the damn "B" chord.
As a newby, I only recently discovered the importance of counting. I LOL'd at the remark about how ludicrous artists back stage sharing their up-downs would be 😂
Me to hahaha! I’ve been called out, but at least I’m laughing about it 😂
For people learning to play, I would suggest getting a looper and drum machine, or a looper with one built in. You can lay down a rythm, a bass line and then jam with yourself.
It really accelerated my learning.
I am 100% self taught. Didn't even use books. I learned by listening to music figuring it out and looking up tabs. The looper accelerated my progress x10. I went from being awful after 10 years of noodling, to being good enough that people wanna hear me play.
And I learned how to improvise solos and accompaniment. I can play along with just about anything now.
I am sure I do everything wrong 😂.
But the looper helped me with making my own music, and learning songs that don't sound right without the rest of the instruments.
Just turned 70 and all you're teaching is spot on. Love the crack about Mel Bay I thought that no one else had heard of those horrid "learn guitar in two weeks" books.....
I’ll never forget my time with Mel
Agree 100% about bar chords. For just rhythm chomping, it’s fine, but for riff and fill embellishments, that flung out pointer makes things difficult. Wish I’d have learned earlier- three notes are a chord, and inside chords are quick and easy…. but bar when you want.