Dan’s Guitar Learning Journal

A couple of years ago, during one of my various guitar learning phases, I picked up a really useful tip on how to hold barre chords. For months I struggled trying to learn barre chords, I thought it was a matter of developing strength in my hands and forearms, but I was very wrong about this. I can’t remember where I actually picked this up, so apologies to the source. What I do know is that it was from a guitar teacher who learned this trick from his five year old student! The trick goes like this.

When playing a barre chord, gently hold the guitar against your body.

As soon as I applied this simple principle, I could play any barre chord I wanted. Needless to say I was fairly gobsmacked! How could I struggle for months getting nowhere and then in a minute play any barre chord I liked. The lesson I learned here was that if you know the outcome (cleanly playing a barre chord) and you haven’t been taught a technique (In this case by applying some simple physics) you need to experiment. I wasted way too much time on a pointless task. What I now try to do in my learning is to apply different techniques to the problem in the hope that one of them will stick and work for me. I know that sounds a bit generic, but part of the process is to find a tried and true technique through research.