ok, let me just ask this, and i should be out of the forums hair for awhile

ok so im trying to play thigns like Eb, and Bb, and chords like that, 5th string major barre chords.

but i have a seriously probably with the traditional fingering, its mostly going from things like F7, to something like Eb. for starters, its very difficult for me to make Eb sound right the traditional way, to make matters worse it also takes me a lifetime to finger it at all.

So heres my issue, and ive already done a fair amount of research so what im looking for here is reassuranse.

i CAN play it with my first finger barring the root and 1st string, and my third finger barring the notes on strings 2 3 and 4. i CANNOT play it the other way very well

my question is really, is it ok for me to use the alternate fingering(which btw is included in the learning guitar book), or shoudl i just suffer through months of playing it the traditional way, and hope it improves?

i would just play it the way that works but in one of my first questions about learning guitar someone posted a picture and it said "DONT PLAY LIKE THIS", because its bad for your fingers

and it showed a guy doing what im talking about, sort of "laying" down a finger so that its bent backwards

these were the pictures





i just cant imagine the guy with the sausage links for fingers in this 2nd picture fitting fingers 2 3 and 4, on strings 2 3 and 4, down at the 8th fret, and barring the 6th fret with his first..

This post was edited by blunderwonder2 on Jun 8 2011 07:35pm

its really just Eb that is troublesome... i dont like the major chords on 5th string barre

for most all of the chords, i play 6th string barre chords F-C, I play D and E at the top of the neck, and then Eb is the only chord i really have to play with a 5th string barre..

i am going to go ahead and learn all the 5th string barre chords for the 7 chords, minor chords, and maybe sus chords, because at some point i will have to use them but, as far as using the 5th string barre for major chords, i dont think i will be doing it for any chords except Eb, so im goign to go ahead and do it the alternate way, and if it hurts my fingers, it wont be very often anyway


any thoughts?

This post was edited by blunderwonder2 on Jun 8 2011 08:30pm

can close this topic, i figured out a way to make it work i think

i just use first finger for 5th string and mute the 6th string, fingers 2 3 and 4 for the other 3 strings, and i made some room only using 1/2 my pinkie for the 2nd string, cuz its ok if the first string is muted

This post was edited by blunderwonder2 on Jun 9 2011 11:51am

Lol...

You make so many topics on this board. I guess that shows that you want to learn though... Best of luck to you my friend. I'll do what I can to help. I've been playing between 6-7 years, though I have very little technical knowledge or formal training on guitar.

Cheers.

well its frustrating is all, and i constantly look for the easy answer

and, i went back on what i said before and decided to just use the alternate fingering because its twice as fast, and i saw a youtube of some old guy using that type of fingering, so if its bad for your fingers, its at least tolerable. its like impossible for me to do it the traditional way. Also, i may just start substiting Eb Maj9 or Maj7 instead, because theyre both alot easier/quicker to play, And if i absolutely have to ill play just regular Eb maj, and use the alternate fingering :/

i just wanted to hear from someone else that they used the alternate fingering for chords like Eb, and that it doesnt ruin your fingers Im goign to give both fingerings some more practice tho, it seems like my knuckle is getting used to bending that way so ill see though.

Have you tried the barred 5-string position in the shape of C?

e----3-----
B----4-----
G----3-----
D----5-----
A----6-----
E----X-----

Barre the third fret with your pointer finger. It is basically a C chord in open position, but moved up three frets and barred.

ya thank you for that suggestion, i also tried it withn the D shape, the B shape is really the easiest one tho

my real concern was, look at that first picture, and you see the guys 1st finger? how its like bent backwards. is that ok to do? because i can do the 5th string barre chords very quickly that way, but it sort of hurts my finger, and i just want to make sure i dont do any permanent damage

I do it like this mostly

[1] -----
[1] --- [4]
[1] --- [3]
[1] --- [2]
[1] ----

That way i can hammer on and off with all 3 fingers

And if I do not need to hammer or need the high string ill just barre it kinda muting high string.
The only way you will get it is practice

dont do that, it'll fuck up your joint :/

i think im going to do it anyway :/



mi not sure i understand what you mean. i barre with the first finger, and then my ring finger for the lower frets as well. ive seen a few youtubes of older guitar players doign the same thing, so if there is any damage to the fingers, its tolerable, and if not ill just switch back if it becomes a problem