Barre chords killed my guitar learning. I just couldn't get a clean chord no matter what I did. My fingers are short for a person 6'2" (at the time, now I'm 6'1"). Just couldn't get it.
Fast-forward 40 years: I could do barre chords on my tenor, a Fender Nohea bought on Amazon, but it was really hard to barre the first two frets. Felt like I needed a pair of Vice Grips to play a B or Bb.
Then I read one of Barry's blogs about setups and adjusting string height. A light went off in my head, then I had a realization
, my uke had really high strings! I took it to a music store and they did a string height adjustment at the nut and the saddle. Voilá! Way easier. Then I discovered fluorocarbon strings. Easier to play and sounded better (to me).I listened to Ukulele Mike Lynch's YouTube vid about barre chord exercises. Read about moving my finger around on the neck to find the best position to play the barre and it all came together. I won't say they are easy, but they are a lot better. And I can now make them without looking at the fretboard. Much more gooder!
