3 Ways to Improve Barre Chords by Doing Less

Barre chords! These are frustrating for so many guitarists.

Your left hand gets fatigued. It hurts.

Are you ever going to play barre chords well?

Unfortunately, trying harder can become counterproductive. You practice barre chords for an hour or more without stopping. But this may make the pain worse and could even trigger a repetitive strain injury like tendonitis or carpal tunnel syndrome.

Or maybe you need to work out with weights and increase your physical strength. I’m a fan of resistance training. This has many health benefits and can improve barre chords, especially if you improve grip strength. But the limitation of this approach is thinking of barre chords as an exercise in brute force. No matter how much strength you have, using your energy strategically will get better results.

So here are three ways to improve your barre chords by doing less:

1. Lower Action

If your strings are too far from the fretboard, it will greatly increase the difficulty of barre chords. Take your guitar to a qualified guitar repair person and ask them to set the action as low as feasible while still avoiding buzzes.

2. Fewer Barre Chords

This sounds like cheating, right? But in situations where a barre chord is optional, it’s often beneficial to use an alternative fingering.

3. Less Pressure

This is where the magic really happens. Even if you’re a body builder with crushing grip strength, there’s no need to waste effort. And if you’re not a body builder? Using energy efficiently becomes even more important.

So how do you use less pressure when barring?

a. Press fewer strings – In some cases, you can do a half barre instead of a full barre. Even when a full barre is needed, however, you may not need to press all strings. In a first-position F chord on all six strings, for example, you only need barre pressure on the 6th, 2nd, and 1st strings. Other fingers are pressing the 3rd, 4th, and 5th strings, making barre pressure on those strings wasted effort.

b. Press more lightly – Seek the minimum necessary effort for the barre finger. Try touching the string lightly and gradually adding pressure. As soon as you have a clear tone, you have added enough pressure. Notice whether this is less pressure than you normally use. Then practice alternately lifting the finger and then putting the barre down, seeking to immediately find the minimum amount of pressure you need.

Have fun with those barre chords. (It really is possible!)

Keep making music!

What approaches do you find most helpful for improving barre chords?

If you want to get your practice session off to a great start, try my Warmup Routine Checklist. To get a copy, click here.