Post by RichLF chord form (both 133211 and xx3211, all the way up and down the
neck, but not barred (wrapped my thumb around the neck to get the low
root). I'll count that as 11.
I'd certainly count that as a barre chord.
At the very least you're playing a partial
barre in the xx3211 form. You're playing
a full barre in the six string version.
You're just using your thumb to achieve
the root. I'd count it as one chord.
Same with your aug and diminished shapes.
Those are all individually the same shape chord.
You're simply moving them from G to G# to A etc.
If you did the same with C CM7 C7 shape chords
you could add another 11+11+11 chords. But to
me those too are partial barre moveable chords.
Do the same with however you play a Bb chord.
Move it up to B C C# D etc.
And I'm simply not convinced that poor setup
or lack of hand strength doesn't allow people
to learn barre chords, partial or otherwise.
Barre chords simply require technique, not
vice grip like strength. If somebody didn't
show you that as a kid, perhaps that's why
it seemed rough to you. But I see plenty
of kids with cheap guitars playing full
barre chords. I did it on a cheap Japanese
drednaught with Black Diamond strings when
I was 5 years old. I certainly didn't have
Arnold-like strength. But I had teachers
that taught me how to use leverage.
I tend to not separate E Em Em7 E7 etc
as "different chords". There's typically
one note difference but the shape is exactly
the same. My practical reason for considering
those chords the same works like this -
Say Joe Newbee learned three chords D C G.
We all know that's SHA in the key of G.
So now say he learned the variants of those
chords Dm D7 Dm7 DM7 etc. That doesn't really
give him any "new chords" to work with. He's
still got D C and G, he's just got some minors
and 7ths. I suppose in the most strict sense
he would have TWO chords, D and Dm. The natural extentions
to those chords (7ths etc) don't change the basic function
of the chord. That kid might have learned 15 different
"chords" but actually what he has is D C and G with
5 variants each. He still can't play an F or a Bb or
an E.
So big picture, "I've memorized 1000 different chords".
Ok, great. Can you play Bbm7?
"No, that's not one of the chords I've memorized".
That doesn't seem very practical.
Compare that to -
"Yeah, that's like an Am7 on the 5th fret but
moved up one fret. I'm a little weak on that full
barre version but I can play the partial version
on the first 4 strings".
Or look at it like this -
Even IF it did take significant strength to play
barre chords, it's not like becoming an olympic
weight lifter. You can train your hand to have
more strength ('specially when you're a youngin')
in a few days. And again, I'm not convinced that
it's unusual strength that's needed.
Learn a Barre E shape on about the 7th fret.
If it's fuzzy today, work it for 60 seconds at
a time, three times a day. In a week you'll wonder
what the problem was last week.
Lumpy
You played on "The Love Boat"?
Yes. White tux, huge sideburns.
www.LumpyMusic.com
