Barre Chords.

Ok...im sure uv had this Q a million times over, but here it comes again. Can anyone give me good advice for playing barre chords. Iv been playing on and off for some time, and these are my Achilles. Can u advise any good dvds to purchase, or exercises to help increase finger and hand strength.....keep them clean!!.

no need to buy dvds to learn barre chords, it may seem at first like youve gotta push really hard on the frets with your first (barring) finger, but you havent, as this finegr is only holding 2 or 3 strings down, just practice slowly switching from the differnt barre chord shapes, making sure each of the notes rings clear, getting faster untill you can just snap into them,

try fretting every string with your index finger at, say, the 5th fret. its pretty hard at first, but keep doing it until your hand muscles strengthen. make sure you have your thumb pushing hard on the back of the neck, not sticking out by the low E string. when you can play every note at the 5th fret using your index finger without any buzzing (play each note individually, one after the other, without moving your left hand), add in the other fingers. barre chords are probably the hardest thing for a learner to do, so don't worry if you can't get them at first. you said that you've been playing on and off for some time. if you practised for 10 minutes a day, then your fingers would get stronger than if you practised for a longer time once in a while. practise switching between different shapes - don't fall into the trap of just playing E shaped barre chords up and down the low E string!

for general left hand finger strength and inpedendance, try fretting the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th frets on the low E string with each finger (one finger per fret). no need to worry about picking in this excercise. then let go of the 5th and 7th frets, so you are using your 1st and 3rd fingers, and then switch round so your 2nd and 4th fingers are being used. keep doing this to build up independance. try to get each finger to fret the note at the same time.