Struggling with playing barre chords? Believe me, I’ve been there. Barre chords are a kind of right of passage in the guitar world – those who have mastered them have truly proved their mettle.
That said, there are some secrets that are rarely talked about that can make your barre chords a bit easier to play, and get you over the hill faster. I’ll reveal these secret hacks to make playing barre chords easier right now! Let’s jump right in.
1. Find a Happy Medium
The biggest tip I can give you for playing barre chords easier is to find a happy medium in the pressure you’re exerting to form the barre chord itself.
You don’t want to press so hard that you’re hurting your wrist and hand, and creating unnecessary tension (perhaps the most common barre chord mistake).
At the same time though, you want to press hard enough that you’re still getting a clean sound, and clearly fretting all the notes of the chords. Walking this line of the happy medium is the key to barre chord success.
2. Experiment With The Height of Your Barre-ing Finger
Moving your finger higher or lower on the fretboard will allow you to find a sweet spot, where you’re able to find that happy pressure medium explained earlier.
A lot of this depends on how your body (or fingers) are built, so there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Experiment with moving your barre-ing finger higher or lower to find a nice leverage point.
3. Experiment with the angle of your Barre-ing finger
Which area of your finger you’re using to form your barre is another important factor affecting your barre chords.
By rolling your finger to the side, you may be able to find an ideal leverage point, where you can use more pressure from your arm and shoulder to press down and form the chord, rather than pressure from your wrist and hand.
4. Posture, Posture, Posture
Practice with your wrist neutral and your back upright / straightened. This will help reinforce that you’re using pressure from your upper body to apply the pressure that forms the chord, rather than pressure from your wrist. If you practice this consistently every day, you won’t even have to think about it anymore, and will be nailing perfect barre chords easily every time.
5. Use a Capo
Yes, this one is kind of cheating, I’ll admit it. But hey, it will do in a pinch. If you’re really struggling with barre chords and need a simple trick to get out of playing them, experiment with capos. By moving them around the fretboard, you can easily change keys, and play your barre chords as open chords instead. The ultimate hack!
By the way, if you’re looking for an awesome capo, Schubb provides both quality and affordability. You can get an awesome Schubb capo here on Amazon.
Need More Help Playing Barre Chords?
The best way to learn barre chords is with an experienced teacher.
To find the best guitar courses, with experts walking you through each step of the learning process, check out my recommended lessons, courses & teachers.
If you’re still looking for more free guitar lesson resources, I’d recommend subscribing to some of the awesome acoustic guitar YouTube channels out there. The only trouble is – it can be hard to find the right channels, and to know who’s really putting out good information.
That’s why I wrote up a whole guide post on my 8 favorite YouTube channels for learning acoustic guitar.
If you really want to take things to the next level, though, you’ll get a lot more out of a paid guitar course / lesson platform than you will out of YouTube. That’s because these platform and lesson programs put everything you need in one place, and tell you exactly what order to learn things in.
If you’re looking for the best guitar courses, with experts walking you through each step of the learning process, check out my recommended lessons, courses & teachers.