Bar Chords

I too have small hands that are a bit arthritic. I just got a new ukulele with radius fretboard and that has helped. The other two things that have helped were lowering the action on my ukes that were too high, and exercises to strengthen them. If you check on this site I think there is a tutorial about barre chords that is very helpful also. Most of all practice.
 
Yes, but practicing "badly" will just reinforce bad habits. The key to getting clean barre chords is this: whenever you get a poor sounding chord, STOP. DO NOT CONTINUE PLAYING. Then, micro-adjust your finger(s) until the strings ring cleanly. Usually, all it takes is a slight rotation or a small lateral shift of the barring finger. When it finally sounds clean, concentrate on your fretting hand and try to remember exactly how it feels at that point. Then, take your fingers completely off the fretboard and see if you can duplicate the chord cleanly once more. Eventually, your muscle memory will take over and you'll no longer have to think about it. The only way to get there, though, is to slow down, get your hand to do the right thing, and repeat. It is very important to STOP playing and correct the problem immediately - not just "power through" the rest of the song hoping that it will get better through practice.

Great advice! I really need to work on this. This whole thread is so informative for me.
 
The quintessential video, now with almost 100k hits, that shows why to barre and a mini-lesson on how to barre, compliments of UU member and professional, Mr. Ross. I find this lesson,more than any, will carry the beginning Ukuleke player to the intermediate level.

 
Does the size of the fret wire have an impact on barre chording? I have a early 50's Harmony Baritone that has uses very small fret wire (possible mandolin size?) Have seen other ukes also using this small size. Would a larger guitar size fret wire help? This would also allow a capo to be placed in the middle of the finger area rather than needing to be place right up against the fret. Does anyone know of a modern production Bari using fat frets and would that help in forming barre chords?
Thanks in advance,
Stu
 
OregonJim has some excellent advice.
Also, I might want to offer that it is likely that you have the ukulele angled back, because you are likely trying to look at your fretting hand to see what is going on. This makes your wrist angle back as well, making barre chords more difficult to execute cleanly. It is a question of technique, and will come with practice, but you must make sure that it is quality practice.

My suggestions are to try and hold the ukulele with the fretboard perpendicular to the floor. You will immediately notice that your wrist is in a more natural angle. You do not need to be looking at your fretting hand, you need to be looking at your music. :D

Now, perhaps with better hand placement, you may find that you may reduce fretting pressure. It is an ukulele, and if you have low action, it does not take much pressure to fret all four strings cleanly in a barre, I promise you can do it! That advice about snugging right up to the back of the fret is important too.

Lastly, and I have posted this before, practice making your one-, two- and three-finger chords, like C, and A and F, and G with fingers 2,3, and 4 and not your index finger.

If you can get that down, then your index finger becomes free to barre any fret - you now have four movable chord shapes just like that. Drilling on this little trick now will help you down the road.

Keep at it, best of luck!
 
Got a lot of good advice, but will take a long time before I can nail it, haha. Thanks all.
 
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