Just to be clear: This is by no means a complete replacement for learning bar chords. You still want to take the time to learn the standard technique. This is simply an alternative to E shape bar chords you might find useful. It is perfectly fine to learn to use your thumb early on in your playing journey. While a little unconventional when it comes to bar chords, learning to incorporate your thumb for things like a D/F# chord is very common early on. This just takes that concept a little further. Thanks for watching. :)
Thanks buddy. Believe it or not I, I had lost my hope on bar chords today. I thought maybe my finger is thin and it doesn't cover all the strings. I will use this as an alternative just to practice progressions and also practice full bar chords for perfection.
I'm a beginner and discovered this technique while carefully watching the legendary Mark Knopfler, to see how/when he does barre chords. I realized he NEVER uses the traditional technique and ALWAYS uses his thumb on top, sometimes even to play the A string ! I'll go this route, as it feels much more natural. Moving the position of hand and forearm multiple times while playing, as with the traditional way, feels totally awkward and SLOW.
Well I do not think this technique is a good idea for beginners Nate savage made a good video about barre cords Learn the concepts from him than practice Here are some tips that helped me Do not try to learn F cord or any kind of cords at first it will sound really crappy. just hold your first finger above all six strings on the third fret and try to pick each strings (You can use your middle finger for more pressure). Your fingers will hurt but the main purpose is to strengthen your fingers. (The stronger your fingers are the better it will be) Try to tweak and try different variations to pick every strings without buzzing.(Think about what takes the least effort to pick a string) When you are comfortable with picking all the strings try struming and now practice cords.
I've learned that learning bar chords in a progressive manner is much better way. Instead of teaching beginners F chord right away start them from E at the 12th fret. It's extremely easy to do an E or F bar chord at the 12th fret and above. Then start going down from there and don't move on until you are able to play a fret perfectly with barr.
Great detailed video Andrew! Know that It really helped with me to finally get that high E string to ring! lol That was always a bit problematic for me and now I'm all good! Thank you for that! :-)
I’m done with all other tutorials.... your my guy Andrew 😁 the way you instruct is completely relaxing & connects with me as i have a learning disabilities! ❤️💯🔥
The issue I have with smaller hands and shorter fingers is not being able to get my finger tips down on the A and D string. With my thumb over the top my A and D fingers are flat on the strings which mutes the G. There are a lot of vids that the instructors say: I teach people with small hands to do this (instructor seems to always have long fingers). Have one of the short fingered small hand person come on the Tube and show us how you taught them to do it!
If seen some people do that quite recently and was wondering what they are doing and playing. Thanks for explaining even though I have the feeling that I could have figured it out myself :D
Although I've seen lots of pros use this grip, it doesn't work for people like me with small hands. It's OK for power chords I guess, but the higher strings will buzz.
Maybe it’s just because I learned bar chords the normal way before broomstick, but I find broomstick harder. My hands are too big I think (I can do it but much tougher)
I can only play E Major, A Minor And E Minor Barre Chord, when it comes to A, C, D & G Major Barre Chords good luck 😂 hopeless at those, sometimes I get sick of playing the original chords and would love to barre chords better
I'm so glad you made this video because it's very difficult to find anyone willing to teach alternatives to barre chords. KT Tunstall and Ed Sheeran and others can't use them and yet it's still so difficult to find chord charts or whatever that help people like that. People with carpal tunnel or whatever else. So thanks a bunch for this
Hey John, Here is a video with tips on bar chords. ruclips.net/video/TqQYcYHF52o/видео.html This video is an additional/alternative technique to bar chords.
As a guitar teacher, I find that giving students an easier alternative like this can cause them to develop the attitude that they don't ever need to put in the extra work required to master barr chords and they will start to look for shortcuts whenever they find something challenging. While I use these shapes during certain contexts, they don't help students with anything but E shape barr chords and won't help when it comes to learning A shape barr chords, which are just as necessary to learn. So why not just focus on mastering the barr chord from the start?
I see lots of expert guitar players using the form in this video. It seems to me to be a very valuable tool for your toolbox. I have a hard time keeping it from being buzzy or dead on the E strings. But I can see that this shape would be less stressful to do while playing a whole song in front of an audience. I see no reason not to teach this to a beginner.
Ok but what if the players fingers are not long enough to play a barre while keeping the wrist straight? Then wouldn’t a position like this be beneficial rather than bending the wrist to bring your fingers up?
Barre chords are more limiting than this. There fine if your playing acoustic 4 chord turnarounds or quo....not much else. This method allows for much more versatility in your playing moving forward.
I use bar chord with full bar and jimi hendrix thumb style both like go into a B major with thumb method and then switch to a C# minor with full bar chord
Anyone saying this is a bad technique, ever heard of Hendrix, SRV? They played broomstick because you can embellish over chords much easier that way. It’s not a bad technique, but beginners shouldn’t learn it until they are really comfortable with normal bar chord technique (both e and a shapes) and even before that I believe you should learn the open chords. There are no short cuts in guitar, and when you build up a solid foundation everything else falls into place (with lots of regular practice of course).
Hi Andrew…Do you have any advise on “A” ,barre chord shape, double barre?using ring or pinky finger in conjunction with index finger? I like your tutorial’s👍 Many thnx!👍💯🎸
You absolutely CAN hold the guitar this way. A ton of our favorite players do this, and while traditionally, we're taught not to, it's perfectly fine. It's not great if you plan on shredding or playing classical guitar. But for other styles it's perfectly fine to put your hand in a position so you can use your thumb. Watch some videos of John Mayer, Jimi Page, Jimi Hendrix, and Stevie Ray Vaughan to see some examples of this style of playing.
@@MusoraMedia these tradtions are classical western technique. tons of other cultures and musical styles have developed many of their own techniques, which are completely safe if done correctly, like any timeless technique.
What's funny is that I watched this and actually started playing Barre chords because of the advice about playing in classical position, did that smashed the traditional Barre! 😄 As I get better at them I'll lower. Thank you lol!
I find that most electric players will eventually naturally morph from barre chords to this. It keeps the first finger anchored on the high e and b in the 'blues launching off" position and allows the thumb to mute strings as well. I would still learn how to play a barre chord if learning though especially if your a status quo fan.
This is bad advice. Although Clapton et al sometimes thumb over in preparation for, say, moving from F#m to D/F#, they don't use it as a *substitute* for barre chords. They only use it when necessary, not in lieu of proper barre chords. Besides which, thumbing over the 6th string is really only useful for the basic E and Em "shapes" and not much else. Try the thumb-over on 576655 (AM7) or 577585 (Am7) and you'll see what I mean. If you can't barre all six strings, then practice barring them using only your index finger until you can. Then introduce the other three fingers to the chord. Learning to barre properly rather than looking for shortcuts will save you a world of grief. It's much harder to "unlearn" a bad habit later on than it is to learn a good habit at the beginning.
obviously people use it for majors and minors with a 6th string root. major and minor triads are what most people play, most of the time. tons of guitarists substitute those barres entirely with thumb-over. when i deal with my hand injury, barres hurt like hell and thumb over is the only solution. as long as it doesn't hurt your thumb, this non-classical technique is more comfortable for your wrist. 5th string root triads are way easier to bar, fewer strings obviously
@@LfunkeyA - Just as obviously, there are situations such as yours that are the exception to every "rule." Django Reinhardt had to re-learn how to play guitar using just the thumb and first two fingers of his fretting hand. To my knowledge, no one ever faulted him for it. My point was that, provided one has normal dexterity, thumbing over is self-limiting and for that reason is a bad habit that shouldn't be encouraged.
Hey Ross! I can understand where you're coming from. However, many of our favorite guitar heroes (Hendrix, Page, SRV, John Mayer) use(d) this method ALL the time. When it comes to traditional guitar education, you're absolutely correct with your criticism. But in this day and age, many guitarists that take the traditional route get bored or find it too hard and they end up quitting. I feel that it's important to remember that many players have wildly different stylistic preferences and goals. There is absolutely nothing wrong with learning to play using your thumb to fret or mute the bottom strings. But as I mentioned in the pinned comment, that doesn't mean you wouldn't still learn the standard method.
@@MusoraMedia I appreciate your kind reply. one thing that is really important is to make sure that you don't lead students down a route that is going to prevent them from learning good technique in the long run. Many people will never learn to play bars because they simply learn this.
@@MusoraMedia this approach has a number of drawbacks. 1. The angle of the hand prevents stretching of the fingers when grasping. 2. students learn to squeeze with their thumb then lose the ability to move their thumb when need be because it becomes stationary.
@@MusoraMedia this technique is a good tool for damping strings when need be. But responsible teaching would dictate that the student should learn standard bars first. Teaching this as a shortcut is going to do nothing more than provide a crutch instead of a tool.
@@MusoraMedia furthermore you are teaching the student to apply more pressure rather than less and Barre chords do not take very much hand pressure to work properly.
Just to be clear: This is by no means a complete replacement for learning bar chords. You still want to take the time to learn the standard technique. This is simply an alternative to E shape bar chords you might find useful. It is perfectly fine to learn to use your thumb early on in your playing journey. While a little unconventional when it comes to bar chords, learning to incorporate your thumb for things like a D/F# chord is very common early on. This just takes that concept a little further. Thanks for watching. :)
Thanks buddy.
Believe it or not I, I had lost my hope on bar chords today. I thought maybe my finger is thin and it doesn't cover all the strings. I will use this as an alternative just to practice progressions and also practice full bar chords for perfection.
Its harder than normal bar chords i think lol
I'm a beginner and discovered this technique while carefully watching the legendary Mark Knopfler, to see how/when he does barre chords. I realized he NEVER uses the traditional technique and ALWAYS uses his thumb on top, sometimes even to play the A string ! I'll go this route, as it feels much more natural. Moving the position of hand and forearm multiple times while playing, as with the traditional way, feels totally awkward and SLOW.
Well I do not think this technique is a good idea for beginners
Nate savage made a good video about barre cords
Learn the concepts from him than practice
Here are some tips that helped me
Do not try to learn F cord or any kind of cords at first it will sound really crappy. just hold your first finger above all six strings on the third fret and try to pick each strings (You can use your middle finger for more pressure). Your fingers will hurt but the main purpose is to strengthen your fingers. (The stronger your fingers are the better it will be)
Try to tweak and try different variations to pick every strings without buzzing.(Think about what takes the least effort to pick a string)
When you are comfortable with picking all the strings try struming and now practice cords.
I've learned that learning bar chords in a progressive manner is much better way. Instead of teaching beginners F chord right away start them from E at the 12th fret. It's extremely easy to do an E or F bar chord at the 12th fret and above. Then start going down from there and don't move on until you are able to play a fret perfectly with barr.
Great detailed video Andrew! Know that It really helped with me to finally get that high E string to ring! lol That was always a bit problematic for me and now I'm all good! Thank you for that! :-)
I find bar chords easier than this way
I’m done with all other tutorials.... your my guy Andrew 😁 the way you instruct is completely relaxing & connects with me as i have a learning disabilities! ❤️💯🔥
Thank you for watching. Glad you enjoyed it. :)
The issue I have with smaller hands and shorter fingers is not being able to get my finger tips down on the A and D string. With my thumb over the top my A and D fingers are flat on the strings which mutes the G. There are a lot of vids that the instructors say: I teach people with small hands to do this (instructor seems to always have long fingers). Have one of the short fingered small hand person come on the Tube and show us how you taught them to do it!
Did you ever learn?
@@isaacarl0s no
@@bobbys4327 pick the guitar back up, I already got them and I have small hands
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!
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let's just say i've been struggling a bit 😂
If seen some people do that quite recently and was wondering what they are doing and playing. Thanks for explaining even though I have the feeling that I could have figured it out myself :D
I'm talking to beginners. Don't learn only this. It's limiting. Might be useful if you're in a time crunch but learn both ways.
Yep! Still important to learn both.
Great video. Lots of people struggle with barre chords.
For me this is the opposite
Although I've seen lots of pros use this grip, it doesn't work for people like me with small hands. It's OK for power chords I guess, but the higher strings will buzz.
I have pretty small hands myself and I can use this technique comfortably.
Oh my god 👁️👄👁️ I can't even do this.
Can you do it yet?
I've noticed Lewis Capaldi using this alternative
Maybe it’s just because I learned bar chords the normal way before broomstick, but I find broomstick harder. My hands are too big I think (I can do it but much tougher)
Been doing this forever cause like marty said jimi did it or sumn 😂 so I get all confused w normal bar chords
richie havens plays like that
I can only play E Major, A Minor And E Minor Barre Chord, when it comes to A, C, D & G Major Barre Chords good luck 😂 hopeless at those, sometimes I get sick of playing the original chords and would love to barre chords better
Pretty advanced technique. Not for beginners. Almost impossible on most acoustics.
I'm so glad you made this video because it's very difficult to find anyone willing to teach alternatives to barre chords. KT Tunstall and Ed Sheeran and others can't use them and yet it's still so difficult to find chord charts or whatever that help people like that. People with carpal tunnel or whatever else. So thanks a bunch for this
Why not move your finger higher for more leverage is it’s a strength issue? Obviously you need to flatten the finger out. to fret all the strings.
Hey John, Here is a video with tips on bar chords. ruclips.net/video/TqQYcYHF52o/видео.html This video is an additional/alternative technique to bar chords.
This technique is only good if you have lengthy fingers. I can’t barre the B and the high E at the same time using this method.
Yeah I'm sorry but thumb playing isn't easier than barre chords,it's harder.
Its comfortable for me❤ but what if bar chords in A string
The problem is not the thumb, rather the other fingers muting string 3 and 2. 😞
This bloke is a good teacher. Good tip as well.
Not for people with short chunky fingers
What is the scale for all the chords
As a guitar teacher, I find that giving students an easier alternative like this can cause them to develop the attitude that they don't ever need to put in the extra work required to master barr chords and they will start to look for shortcuts whenever they find something challenging. While I use these shapes during certain contexts, they don't help students with anything but E shape barr chords and won't help when it comes to learning A shape barr chords, which are just as necessary to learn. So why not just focus on mastering the barr chord from the start?
I see lots of expert guitar players using the form in this video. It seems to me to be a very valuable tool for your toolbox. I have a hard time keeping it from being buzzy or dead on the E strings. But I can see that this shape would be less stressful to do while playing a whole song in front of an audience. I see no reason not to teach this to a beginner.
shortcuts are great
Barre chords always cause my carpal tunnel to flare up so these are a great alternative
Ok but what if the players fingers are not long enough to play a barre while keeping the wrist straight? Then wouldn’t a position like this be beneficial rather than bending the wrist to bring your fingers up?
Barre chords are more limiting than this. There fine if your playing acoustic 4 chord turnarounds or quo....not much else. This method allows for much more versatility in your playing moving forward.
Playing a barre chord is waaaay easier than using your thumb to fret. Most awkward shit ever.
I would like to do it but my hands are too small for that.
Can u make a guitar amp
i always just play the open chords and move the capo around between chords -- thanks
Still you cannot run away from the tough chapters
damn ... this is hard one.
I use bar chord with full bar and jimi hendrix thumb style both like go into a B major with thumb method and then switch to a C# minor with full bar chord
Anyone saying this is a bad technique, ever heard of Hendrix, SRV? They played broomstick because you can embellish over chords much easier that way. It’s not a bad technique, but beginners shouldn’t learn it until they are really comfortable with normal bar chord technique (both e and a shapes) and even before that I believe you should learn the open chords. There are no short cuts in guitar, and when you build up a solid foundation everything else falls into place (with lots of regular practice of course).
Hi Andrew…Do you have any advise on “A” ,barre chord shape,
double barre?using ring or pinky finger in conjunction with index finger?
I like your tutorial’s👍
Many thnx!👍💯🎸
I learned you are not supposed to grab the fretboard like you grasp a baseball bat!
You aren't. Do the real Barre.
You absolutely CAN hold the guitar this way. A ton of our favorite players do this, and while traditionally, we're taught not to, it's perfectly fine. It's not great if you plan on shredding or playing classical guitar. But for other styles it's perfectly fine to put your hand in a position so you can use your thumb.
Watch some videos of John Mayer, Jimi Page, Jimi Hendrix, and Stevie Ray Vaughan to see some examples of this style of playing.
@@MusoraMedia these tradtions are classical western technique. tons of other cultures and musical styles have developed many of their own techniques, which are completely safe if done correctly, like any timeless technique.
What's funny is that I watched this and actually started playing Barre chords because of the advice about playing in classical position, did that smashed the traditional Barre! 😄 As I get better at them I'll lower. Thank you lol!
I am very bad in bar cords but still I arrange somehow the songs in fingerstyle
This is usually harder to learn then a bar chord
I find that most electric players will eventually naturally morph from barre chords to this. It keeps the first finger anchored on the high e and b in the 'blues launching off" position and allows the thumb to mute strings as well. I would still learn how to play a barre chord if learning though especially if your a status quo fan.
There are plenty of alternative chords
You can find a lot of them in jazz
my hands not big enough
Check out this video. ruclips.net/video/Z9XR0IGALKY/видео.html
Do you still have to barre A root chords?
thank you. very straightforward
This is bad advice. Although Clapton et al sometimes thumb over in preparation for, say, moving from F#m to D/F#, they don't use it as a *substitute* for barre chords. They only use it when necessary, not in lieu of proper barre chords. Besides which, thumbing over the 6th string is really only useful for the basic E and Em "shapes" and not much else. Try the thumb-over on 576655 (AM7) or 577585 (Am7) and you'll see what I mean.
If you can't barre all six strings, then practice barring them using only your index finger until you can. Then introduce the other three fingers to the chord. Learning to barre properly rather than looking for shortcuts will save you a world of grief. It's much harder to "unlearn" a bad habit later on than it is to learn a good habit at the beginning.
obviously people use it for majors and minors with a 6th string root. major and minor triads are what most people play, most of the time. tons of guitarists substitute those barres entirely with thumb-over. when i deal with my hand injury, barres hurt like hell and thumb over is the only solution. as long as it doesn't hurt your thumb, this non-classical technique is more comfortable for your wrist. 5th string root triads are way easier to bar, fewer strings obviously
@@LfunkeyA - Just as obviously, there are situations such as yours that are the exception to every "rule." Django Reinhardt had to re-learn how to play guitar using just the thumb and first two fingers of his fretting hand. To my knowledge, no one ever faulted him for it. My point was that, provided one has normal dexterity, thumbing over is self-limiting and for that reason is a bad habit that shouldn't be encouraged.
This was very good - thank you!
EDIT: Learn both ways I recant my earlier comment.
Hey Ross! I can understand where you're coming from. However, many of our favorite guitar heroes (Hendrix, Page, SRV, John Mayer) use(d) this method ALL the time. When it comes to traditional guitar education, you're absolutely correct with your criticism. But in this day and age, many guitarists that take the traditional route get bored or find it too hard and they end up quitting.
I feel that it's important to remember that many players have wildly different stylistic preferences and goals. There is absolutely nothing wrong with learning to play using your thumb to fret or mute the bottom strings. But as I mentioned in the pinned comment, that doesn't mean you wouldn't still learn the standard method.
@@MusoraMedia I appreciate your kind reply. one thing that is really important is to make sure that you don't lead students down a route that is going to prevent them from learning good technique in the long run. Many people will never learn to play bars because they simply learn this.
@@MusoraMedia this approach has a number of drawbacks. 1. The angle of the hand prevents stretching of the fingers when grasping. 2. students learn to squeeze with their thumb then lose the ability to move their thumb when need be because it becomes stationary.
@@MusoraMedia this technique is a good tool for damping strings when need be. But responsible teaching would dictate that the student should learn standard bars first. Teaching this as a shortcut is going to do nothing more than provide a crutch instead of a tool.
@@MusoraMedia furthermore you are teaching the student to apply more pressure rather than less and Barre chords do not take very much hand pressure to work properly.
thanks
👍👍❤️❤️❤️
This is even worse for me. Ah well. I guess I'll throw that guitar out the window now.
👍👍👏👏👏
every guitar player knows how to do barre chords, so why not learn the correct one instead.
This is bad don’t get people used to using their thumbs
It is not a good technique to use when guitar
Especially for begginers