#$@&* Bb,

Dick, I have to ask: can you get a clean 1111 barre? I have a uke that has been setup, yet no matter how I try, I cannot get a clean 1st fret barre on it. My other tenors, have different degrees of difficulty and finger placement to get it, but no way on that one tenor. (I have to take it in to the guitar tech and have him adjust the nut.)

If you can barre the second fret on up, then it's probably the nut that is a little high.

Otherwise, Ukulele Mike Lynch recommended in one of his YouTube videos, that every time you pick up your uke you practice making barre chords.

First make a straight barre with your index finger at the 7th fret and pluck each string. Adjust the position and pressure until you get 4 clean notes. Then move down a fret, pluck, all the way to the first fret.
Second, do the same, fingering the D7 barre.
Third do it using a Bm shape.
After a while you can add the C string position, for the Bb shape. (And the moveable chord.)

If you can play it with the full barre, the two string bare is a piece of cake.

Pay attention to your thumb and your index finger placements. (If you're like me, my knuckles and valleys don't line up with the strings well. I was told to try my finger's overhang at the top edge. And if that doesn't do it, then change the angle of my finger across the fret as well. It worked. (With the suggestions previously mentioned as well.)

Every day, every time you pick up your uke. If it gets easy, start at the 10th fret. It will improve your strength and your finger placement. After a week or three, you'll wonder what the big deal was.

Then you can work on speed of getting your fingers into position quickly and accurately. (I still have some problems with that.)

You can do it watching TV playing softly to not annoy your SO. Good luck.
 
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A pretty good test of your setup is to play a D using the same fingering (5th fret), then drop to a C# (4th), C (3rd), B (2nd), and finally Bb (1st).

If they are all equally good, or bad, your setup is likely fine.

If you can play the D easily, but not the Bb, then I'll bet your nut is too high. If it is, don't fight it - just get the nut height sorted out.

I make my own ukes, and one of the compliments I get is that they are really easy to play. This is because I use a zero fret, so the string height at that end can't possibly be too high. You can get a nut adjusted to be equally good, but it's easy to get it wrong if you haven't had lots of practice getting it right, which is why a professional is usually recommended!

Most ukes costing under around US$500 arrive with the nut set too high, because it costs in time and skill to set it exactly. With a proper setup, the Bb is really no harder than any other barred (or part barred) chord.

Once you get it working with whatever fingering you choose (full barre, barreing only the E and A strings), then work on the other fingering until you can play that too. If you can play both it really helps with different changes. For example, Bb to F7 is much easier using the partial barre for Bb. Bb to Bbm really needs the full barre. Bb to Eb is probably easier with the full barre (and certainly easier if you play Eb as 3336, which I think usually sounds much nicer than 3331 as well as being easier to play!).
 
“Never give up on something that you can't go a day without thinking about.” ― Winston Churchill
 
Okay, here’s my story of my pretty much victory over the dreaded Bb chord.

First of all (today) I was trying to play it on my 8 string, with very little success. Then I switched to my baritone — HA! — piece of cake. Then I played it on my (ugh!) red, concert Flea and then my Kala soprano — again, no problemo! So . . . I guess I probably play better now than I did when I fought it in the pass. I was surprised at how easy it was on the baritone.

So, I still can’t play it clean and pure on my 8 string, but I only use that to sing and strum in C, D and sometimes G. Happily, I CAN play it well on my baritone which is what I wanted. And, I don’t play the other ukes much, they are mostly wall hangers.

However, my problems are not completely solved. I’m still havin’ trouble changin’ from chord to chord. I have a lotta videos on that subject though, so I think i can just keep chargin’ on . . .

I surely wanna thank everyone who posted with efforts to help me. I used a lot of your helpful suggestions. :eek:ld:
 
Sweet! Now that you've got it down, you'll think of all kinds of places where a bar chord is Just Easier...
 
Ukecaster said:
Yeah, good one Teri! Oh, so now you're telling me that Bb and A# are the same? :D
Click to expand...

Only their mother can tell them apart.

I thought your comment was funny, too, John.
 
Huh... I found the full bar Much simpler. See also 3-in-one bar D chord, but 2225 full bar is dead simple niw
 
Thanks, Tootler, some of your suggestions have helped in the past, and, if I suddenly need an E chord and remember, I’ll use this one too. :eek:ld:
 
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