Post edited 7:59 AM – November 22, 2011 by Kenneth

Alrght, so I have gone through all of the open chords, and with the excption of the traditional FMa chord, I'm doing alrght and all chords are ringing clear.

Being as the FMa chord is akin to a mini bar chord, I'm ready to start learning these crucial chords to have a better range of play on my guitar. The problem seems to be my hand stregnth and coordination. For instance, I have no indipendant movement of my pinky finger on my fretting hand apart from my ring finger. In order to get my pinky to bend, I would need to also bend my ring finger along with it. While this is not a problem playing a chord for the most part, it becomes a hinderance when I need to stretch across more than one fret over.

I'm aware that this has to do with lack of hand/finger stregnth, So my question is, are there any quick tips/tricks so that I can build the stregnth necessary to play bar chords comfortably? Also, are there any excercises you guys practice to build pinky independence?

Any advice is always welcome. :-)

Cheers.

Ken

Coire,

I can't thank you enough for this advice.

Status update: Since your advice, I have become very comfortable with bar chords which was my pain point because of the lack of hand strength and flexibility in the wrist. (Proves that practice was much needed as I now can twist my wrist and forearm enough and experience no pain or discomfort).

I switched from acoustic to electric guitar for a while when my brother gave me a beautiful PRS SE-245 with Seymour Duncan picups already installed which blew my mind away with the sound coming through my Fender Deluxe VM.

With the experience and practice gained through playing things on my electric, I was able to switch back to acoustic and apply all that I learned on the electric with minimal adjustments to suit the difference in neck size and string spacing.

I hear ya on the pinky independance. Funny thing is my right hand pinky can do all things on it's own. My brother which has been playing for like a gazillion years also does not have the pinky independence that I thought was natural to most folks. HAHA!

Anyway, I'd like to thank you for your advice and encourage others that may be faced with the same issues to not give up. Practice, practice, practice. Man does it pay off. When I compare where I was just a few short months ago to now, I am a completely different guitar player and the sound is soooooooo much better and cleaner. Also, you may want to try video recording yourself. Get out your iPhones or whatever means you have to record and get recording yourself for playback later. Trust me, you will spot your mistakes quickly and can make adjustments to your style and form of playing. It's working for me, a person who first picked up a guitar at age 41 (now 42 :-D). It can work for you too.

Cheers,
Ken