h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Remember that bar chords are moveable, so if you use that 'shape' one fret further up you'll have D minor, if you moved it one down you'd have C minor.

You can play 'em from the bottom string as well for a six-string chord:

C#minor:

9 (C#)
9 (G#)
9 (E)
11 (C#)
11 (G#)
9 (C#)

I'm in my element 'ere!

I just don't *do* barre chords. Hurts me hands

They are a bitch are the old bar chords. I still have to make a real effort to avoid half the notes vanishing.

Do you have hand trouble generally or is it just bar chords?

(have we discussed this before?)

No, we haven't discussed it before and I don't have hand trouble.

I've just got a sloppy technique and bar chords force me to twist my wrist and strain the tendons, soI just avoid them.

I think they should sell learner guitars with a groove down the length of the neck to educate beginners into correct thumb placement.

I used to do the same thing but could feel the wrist getting funny; I could really do without Carpal Tunnel trouble. I war the guitar quite low which doesn't help.

If you don't use barre chords at all your limiting yourself quite a lot. Have you tried the 'whack your thumb round the back and use it on the bottom string' thing?

Nah, my hands are too small to do the thumb trick. I just try and avoid hitting the open strings. If you play loud enough & with gusto, preferably using the distraction technique at the crucial moment, you get away with it.

i.e.

E
Hey little girl is your daddy home
A

Did he go away and leave you all alone Mmm-hmm
C#m

I got a bad desire (bang foot, cough & fart)
A B E
Oh.... I'm on fire

I also have teeny hands.

But I'm more often on the ole flute than on my guitar. Although I love my guitar.

I nearly made a comment until I saw who was posting

Funny enough, I find playing my 12-string easier even though it's got a wider neck.

Mine are small too but a few years of piano helped the stretch. I sill avoid barre chords if possible though.

The C#min in post 39 can be stripped down a bit and played without barring:

X
5 Middle finger
6 Fourth
6 Little finger
4 Index finger
X

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what are suppositories?

It's ok. It was a very bad joke on my part.

You use them if you develop these symptoms -

http://www.medinfo.co.uk/conditions/haemorrhoids.html

The irony being that when you've got piles the last thing you want to be doing is sticking anything up there.