Jason Isbell: “Barre chords are the biggest pain in the ass of all guitar playing”
Every guitar player has been there. No matter how easily we may be able to play them now, learning barre chords in the beginning seems an impossible task, simply by virtue of the fact you don’t yet have the strength to properly fret all six strings with one finger.
If it’s a struggle you resonate with – or have in the past – you’ll be pleased to know Americana and Southern rock guitarist Jason Isbell is also of the same opinion.
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In a new conversation with Matt Sweeney of Guitar Moves, Isbell recalls his grandfather and uncle being “really serious” about barre chords and insisting he was able to play them the length of the fretboard.
“It’s tough to learn. Barre chords are the biggest pain in the ass of all guitar playing,” he says. “The number one pain in the ass. And if you can get past that hump, congratulations, you can be a guitar player forever now. That’s really the one thing that it takes. Can you play barre chords without stopping and going off and doing something different?
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While barre chords are a must-learn, one alternative until you build the finger strength is to alter the E-shape barre, so instead of your index finger acting as the nut – and your ring finger and pinky fretting two frets higher on the A and D strings with your middle finger one fret higher on the G string – you fret the E string with your thumb over the top of the board, leave your middle, ring finger and pinky where they are and fret only the top two strings with your index finger. Give it a go…
Elsewhere, Jason Isbell imparts in the same interview the one piece of advice he would give to any aspiring guitar player looking to purchase their first instrument.
“Get it set up,” he insists. “Spend the 50, or 80, or 100 bucks, and before you leave the music store let them set it up for you… [Let them] set the action right, make sure the frets are level, make sure it’ll stay in tune.
“That is so huge and I wish somebody would have told me that when I was a kid, because of course you’re not gonna be able to afford an incredible instrument when you’re that age. If you spend the extra time, the extra money, you get home and you can play it. It makes all the difference in the world.”
Watch the full conversation below:
And check out more from Guitar Moves via the official YouTube channel.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
