play barre chords proficiently

but still working on the speed part. i NEED to find time to practise.

Me be havin a bit of trouble. Smallish, weak hands. Almost as if I was a girl…

it’s getting better with practice, but i still can’t seem to get my fourth string to ring.

and i’ll still need to work on the speed portion. i tend to stall for a few seconds when i switch to a barre chord.

tips, anyone?

i’m still learning chords, but at least i can play barre chords and open chords comfortably—and with practice, all of it comes easier. the thing is, i’m over the hump. thank Jesus.

i’m playing open chords comfortably but it doesn’t matter. nothing that i think i know matters. just when i think i’m making progress, there’s something else that has me feeling like i don’t know anything at all. it’s a study in frustration. most of the time, i feel like i’m sisyphus, except i’ve got a guitar instead of a rock.

i’m in class learning bar chords and power chords. and it’s fun. but it’s hard and it hurts. i don’t even have the fun of hearing chords ring out, or playing simply to play and feeling good about that. everything i play now sounds like loud dirgy sludge. but i don’t care. i’m not about to reach for a capo. not for anything in the world. i’m going to keep going until i get to the other side of this. and then i’m going to keep going past whatever’s going to come at me next. i don’t care anymore, how much it hurts or how hard this is. i’ve had way worse pain than this.

i’m not going to stop until i know how to play. really play. that’s going to be some other kind of satisfaction, when that happens. that’s going to feel like i conquered the world.

Oh MAN these are hard to play. I’m starting out with B minor and working my way up…. I think my index finger’s going to stop working in a little bit…

Gently down the screen…

...at all but the lowest 2 frets. I am slow to switch among chords, but that will come in time.

I just don’t know how to get the chords to ring out on the lowest frets. It takes more muscle than I seem to have. Is there a trick to this?

...with the 3-finger style, I think.

I am starting by playing “Sweet Jane” over and over, ad nauseum. Except for the nauseum part, because I have yet to get tired of it. It’s just such a sweet-sounding little melody.

Long, long ago.