Adapting to shorter scale lengths / fighting a losing battle?

[merlin666]

How do you barre two strings? I've watched other players do it and the top joint of their finger seems to bend backwards so the top part of their finger lays flat. My fingers do not do this. I can get the two strings pressed down but then the third one below it gets muted because my finger doesn't bend far enough to clear the third string. Is this a "keep trying and eventually you'll stretch your finger out and it'll work" or is this a "sorry about your luck, genetics will never enable you to do this" ?

Yes this is a difficult and advanced technique. I only use this for D shapes on a uke with a very narrow neck where three fingers would be too crammed and it is reasonable to press three strings with two fingers. Some people have a bone structure that makes it easier, like jimi hendrix.

 

[richntacoma]

How do you barre two strings? I've watched other players do it and the top joint of their finger seems to bend backwards so the top part of their finger lays flat. My fingers do not do this. I can get the two strings pressed down but then the third one below it gets muted because my finger doesn't bend far enough to clear the third string. Is this a "keep trying and eventually you'll stretch your finger out and it'll work" or is this a "sorry about your luck, genetics will never enable you to do this" ?

Not sure I can answer this question fully, as my PhD is not in genetics or physiology, and I am hardly an advanced player . It was clear early on that I was not going to play soprano using three fingers together, if I ever wanted to play a D chord. One of my teachers showed me the using two fingers method, and I could not do it very well either at first. But, that seemed to be my only option, and after maybe a month it seems to have worked out to be a pretty simple (for me) solution. So, not sure if this is luck/genetics or my being stubbornly dogged about practicing this one thing, as I realized the only reason I wanted to play uke was for the total soprano sound.

 

[clear]

How do you barre two strings? I've watched other players do it and the top joint of their finger seems to bend backwards so the top part of their finger lays flat. My fingers do not do this. I can get the two strings pressed down but then the third one below it gets muted because my finger doesn't bend far enough to clear the third string. Is this a "keep trying and eventually you'll stretch your finger out and it'll work" or is this a "sorry about your luck, genetics will never enable you to do this" ?

If you can mute the bottom string, it means your finger is bending more than you think it can, i.e. you've got enough backwards bend in the finger. Try slanting your finger; this should unmute the bottom string.