This could have went in “What are you struggling with” but lets get a topic in Technique.
I have such a hard time with barre chords. My problem is small hand completely barring one fret and trying to stretch over 2 more.
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Barre chords just suck to learn. I’ve quit guitar courses before because of them. There really isn’t a magic bullet or cheat code here to make them work. You just have to keep at it and magically, one day it’ll just click. I’ve got long, skinny fingers so I don’t really know what advice to give about short fingers other than just take the lesson and learn to adjust your wrist / hand position to make them ring out. Alex teaches them better than anyone I’ve ever seen before.
Lots of on / off drills. That’s it.
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One of my favorite parts of this course is that along the way I could suddenly play barre chords, after years of trying to get good at them - and this was before the barre lessons!
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Anything where the stretch is too much, I suggest starting higher up the fretboard and slowly work your way down over. Eg, could you play a 6th string B chord on the 7th fret?
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I just picked up my acoustic bc it was the closest thing to me lol. I cannot
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Yeah absolutely do not start with first position F or B
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yeah. B, even in 7th, is hard bc my short a** fingers lay on other strings that they shouldnt lol
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If you’re open to it, you could record a short video of you fretting them and myself or someone here might be able to give you some tips. Could partly be wrist position.
Even if they end up not being for you, as convenient as they can be, they can still suck even for people with larger hands. My hand size isn’t an issue, but I often find I can’t hold down one of the strings (think it’s usually the G) due to the shape of my finger around the knuckle. There are a heap of other chord variations you can play all across the neck, they just may not sound as full, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
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Barre chords were all I could do way back in high school when I first learned how to play. It was just easier for me to switch between them instead of “open” chords. So imagine me in high school jazz band just playing barre chords instead of the open chord version of what I was “supposed” to be playing. 
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Hey gang! Thanks to all who’ve said kind words about my barre chord teaching. Unfortunately, you were in the minority during beta testing. The overwhelming feedback we received was that barre chords were so hard that it made a number of people want to stop playing. NOT the goal of B2K lol.
So for that reason, barre chords are no longer currently a part of the course. That said, I’m really hoping to find a way to include them as they’re super important. Stay tuned…I *may* be working on a masterclass-type lesson that would be added to course.
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That would be great! They didn’t make me quite but I definitely felt like throwing my guitars out the window a few times lol. Was definitely a struggle. Especially on the acoustic. Omg. Idk if its just me but I feel like there is a HUGE difference between electric and acoustic.
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Barre chords on acoustic are just plain awful lol. They’re doable, but it’s exhausting for your hand. Lighter strings (11-52) can make them more manageable though. Barre chords on electric are much easier, but still really tough in the beginning.
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I and the little group of us that were chatting all praised the barre section in the course. If it’s not there anymore, could you take the videos and release them on the GB youtube page, maybe? Those lessons really were fantastic imo, as someone who rage quit learning guitar a few times in my life because of barre chords. I’ll switch to the singular for this part, my biggest issue in the beta was the order that you hit chords. Rather than starting with some of the major CAGED chords, I thought starting with power chords would have given us a quicker win / sense that we can do this. I was pretty vocal about that. I got pretty grumpy about the Clash too. I love the Clash, and the lesson was making me not want to hear Should I Stay or Should I Go. That said, now that I’ve got almost a year under my belt, chord transitions are where it’s at. It’s at least as important as learning the actual shapes. As much as you can practice just switching between different chord shapes, do that.
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He acknowledged the praises lol
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Yeah, I definitely hear and appreciate the praise on the barre chord lesson! I was just saying that most of the feedback we got from testers about the barre chord lesson was not favorable.
Again, I’m hoping to develop something that’s similar to that barre chord lesson to release with the course that sets everyone up for long term success with barring—but that’s gonna take a little time to iron out. And if/when that happens, I’ll let you all know.
And thanks for the feedback on the order of power chords and open chords. We took your advice!
If you haven’t already, I’d recommend you check out the final product and the new sequence of lessons. Lots of changes were made after listening to all of our rad testers’ feedback, and, dang, it made it the final product pretty sweet. You guys rock!
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I think this is a really good idea because one possible future for me is that I focus nearly entirely on barre and power chord work 
Would love some additional material there.
Yeah big +1 to this!
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Nooooooooo, barre chords were one of the many things i was looking to learn on this course!! havent had any success with them on other courses but i was sure @AlexLeach 's method of teaching would get me over the line with them.
Please please please include that lesson as a masterclass then? is there any reason not to? if we find them too difficult we can shrug our shoulders and come back to them if we feel like it at a later date, but i feel its a mistake to just remove them for everybody because of negative feedback.
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Could they become a ‘secret’ lesson? Maybe a bit how ‘Billy Jean’ became on the revised B2B?
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Wait… what??? Barre chords are not in the course? Mind you, I am only up to Module 2 lesson 3 going back through things…
These are essential for rock! Power chords are still in there right? A5, C5, etc…
Now I might not be playing the C shape barre chord properly because of the lessons I had back in high school (laying my ring finger down to cover D G and B strings) but it’s doable.
Now I need to power through the course and see what’s new!
Also… is there a GuitarBuzz YouTube channel??
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Yes there is a YouTube. They are working on it though. Nothing posted yet.
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