Partial bar chords

[michelew]

I'm an 'advanced-ish' (?) beginner. I can form full bar chords and am working on changing from and into bar chords. This is coming along OK. But, I'm having trouble with a fair few partial bar chords, like the Dm7 in 'Dust in the wind' the barre chord at the 5th fret in 'Romanza' (although this one is often OK) and similar partial bar chords. I find that my first finger ends up being at an angle and a little on its side rather than straight along the fret with the hyperextension as Neil shows it. I'm practicing this. I find that either some of the barred strings thug and/or the note under the second or closest finger also thuds (doesn't ring). I'm also getting it a bit with the partial F in 'House of the Rising sun'.

I think my hand is in the right position ('not baseball bat') and my wrist is extended, so what am I doing wrong, and what should I practice to fix the problem. Do I just need to keep practicing, practicing practicing doing the hyperextension with my barre finger?

Any advice welcome.

Thanks

[Lavallee]

Hi Michele, I normally lower my thumb behind the fretfoard to keep it in front of the finger tip doing the partial bar chord to increase the strenght. On the partial F chord , I move my thumb toward back to put in front of the bar again. Seems to work for me

Marc

[haoli25]

Michele, make sure that your left thumb is in the middle of the neck and directly behind your index finger on your barre chords. That should give you maximum pressure with the least amount of effort and it will make those notes ring.

Bill

[michelew]

Thanks guys I'll give those suggestions a try. I already have my thumb in the middle of the neck, but I'll try directly behind the index finger and lower down.

ta

Michele

[Chasplaya]

HI MIchele, Another thing to try is to set up a barre just as you do normally and play each string barred individually, often the thug/thud comes from a string under a finger joint and it is a case of slight adjustment of the finger one way or the other , usually moving up across the neck is best.

[AndyT]

If you can, make a short video of your hand as you make the barre chords. That way we (and Neil) can see exactly what's going on.

[AcousticAl]

AndyT wrote:

If you can, make a short video of your hand as you make the barre chords. That way we (and Neil) can see exactly what's going on.

Hi Michelle,

I was going to suggest just that- make a video if you can. I did something similar for muting strings in 'Down on the Corner' and Neil actually posted a video response to it. There's no guarantee he'll do that- but there is a guarantee that we'll all step up to help you out if we can.

BTW- welcome to the site. I didn't get a chance to respond to your intro post.


Al

[michelew]

Thanks Guys. I'll try and make a video. It is likely to take a little while - but hopefully by the end of the week.

Thanks again. Michele

[michelew]

I had another look at the left hand section of the 'Dust in the Wind' tutorial and I think I am probably doing what Neil warns against while playing the Dm7, namely muting the 2nd string with my 2nd finger because it is lying down a little rather than being properly up on its tip. So first I think I'll concentrate on hyperextending the 1st finger and curling the others and see whether I improve. Thanks again. Michele

[michelew]

I've been practicing the hyperextend and curl approach - and it is working - I just need to concentrate, keep my wrist in good position and slow it down. Changing into that position isn't easy yet.

If I'm still getting the problem in a couple of weeks I'll post a video in case I'm doing something else wrong that is compounding the problem.

Thanks M