Why for the love of all can I play barre chords ...multitudes of basic chords..pick some , solo some but can NOT master power chords..two stinking strings ..Is it a mind block..some physical defect or too many years of acoustic before learning electric..any handy tips or ideas would be appreciated..I am not a quitter but Im seriously thinking I can happily go through life without them haha!

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Mona
"Music is What Feelings Sound like"

Form a full barre chord (e.g., A at the fifth fret). Place your pick on the E string and strum slightly away from the guitar. This way you only hit two strings.

And you don't need to barre with the first finger since you won't be hitting the two thinnest strings.

I will give it a shot..thank you for the tip!! Ill let you know how it goes LOL!

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Mona
"Music is What Feelings Sound like"

You've got the hard part down with the barre chords. Now just relax it a bit and have fun.

Ha ha, I know the problem, but vice versa!

When I started playing the guitar, I started with powerchords.
I played powerchords for a long time, mostly improvising or playing along to a record or cassette tape.

I was good in powerchords and good in soloing, but I never could become friends with "real" guitar chords because to me they were for shrumming away on an acoustic at a campfire and NOT for a rocking guy like me!!

Well, people get more mature with the years and thank God so did I.

Guess what??
I had biggest problems with barree chords. I had enough strength in my finger tips but couldn't manage to get my forefinger FLAT on 6 Strings! There always were at least 2 strings which were muted because I didn't have the strength required for barree chords.

I had to be patient and it was like beginning from the start again.

Same with you!
If you start with powerchords after learning "real" chords with strumming first, there's three problems:

1st: Hitting 2 or 3 strings ONLY.
Well, if you have soloing experience, this should be easy to get managed.

2nd: Muting the strings not played but maybe accidentally hit.
This requires a completely different finger position. While in chords the front thirds of your fingers are pretty vertical, so that you can hear ALL strings without muting any of them, you need to have a much shallower finger position for powerchords.
This needs quite some practice. Additionally you need to palm mute strings as well (at the bridge).
For me, the easiest way to get powerchords done was the following technique:
Use your fore finger for the lowest string you want to play (for example low E).
Then use your middle finger for the next higher string (in this case it would be A). Place your middle finger on the fretboard like when playing a barree chord and give just little pressure on the A string with your finger tip. The rest of your middlefinger rests loosely on the D, G, H and high E string, muting them. Practice this with and without palm muting at the bridge.

3rd: finger flexibility:
With "real" chords you're used to have your fingers pretty close together. With powerchords you need to strech your fingers.

Example: G Powerchord
Forefinger on low E string, 3rd fret
Ringfinger on A string, 5th fret
(middle finger off the fretboard or same position as ringfinger but 1 fret lower. I prefer it off the fretboard)

This would be the standard 2 string G powerchord.
You can practice this all over the fretboard on strings E, A, D, G.

Now, if you want to play a Blues shuffle, you need to strech your fingers over up to 5(!!) frets!
Leave your fingers as discribed above.
Now I use my pinky to reach frets #7 & #8 on the A string while fore- and middlefinger stay where they are (fret 3 & 5 on E & A).

Practice that on all kinds of fretpositions on the board, on different pairs of strings. (E, A, D, G again)
If you have soloed (engl.??) before and can play trioles, this should also be the easier part to get done, as far as flexibility is concerned.

Next step:
Later you can start practicing powerchords on 3 strings, just by gently rolling down the first joint of your ringfinger so that you do not mute the D string in my first example but still muting the rest of the strings (G, H, E). H would be B in English.

I hope this helps???

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Kindest regards from Germany, Dee
My recordings --> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_mu ... dID=564337
STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!

Even though this reply was not directed to me, I thank you for some great advice.

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...I for one, sure would appreciate the return of intelligent conversation, spirit of assistance and the simple yet effective ignoring of those who can't seem to hang with that...
Best regards,
rob

Just want to say thank you to everyone..so glad I found this forum the other day immediately after scoring my mint plus..I could read the posts forever what a wealth of information!

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Mona
"Music is What Feelings Sound like"

I have a typo there!
It should read RINGFINGER, not middlefinger in this sentence!
Sorry!

I'm glad I could help a little

_________________
Kindest regards from Germany, Dee
My recordings --> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_mu ... dID=564337
STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!

some progress being made although I admit I could only go up in this situation..thinking of them sort of like barre chords is helping..muting not so good at the moment..hence why they call it practice..haha..Fyi..without a doubt ZZ Top is best to practice with ..Again I thank everyone..on a side note..Im an old lady and have played acoustic for several years the whole electric thing is sort of a bucket list thing..for a few decades down the road hopefully..started with an el cheapo epiphone SG..after tuning it every 5 minutes kept eyes open till perfect guitar came along...sounds dumb without a doubt there is a major difference between the quality and sound of acoustics but for some reason I never realized the difference on an electric I always thought it was the amps and effects..I am wrong..
Okay Im done writing a short book here..If I ask questions that make you want to roll your eyes please forgive me..haha

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Mona
"Music is What Feelings Sound like"

For power chords, most use their index finger and their ring finger. When doing this, you need to plant your thumb on the back of the neck to play comfortably, not slap your thumb over the top of the neck. If that doesn't work for you, or you can't seem to stretch your fingers far enough apart, try playing power chords with your index and pinky fingers. Again, try to keep that thumb on the back side of the neck

There's no such thing like "stupid questions", dear, there's only "stupid answers"!
Feel free to ask!

_________________
Kindest regards from Germany, Dee
My recordings --> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_mu ... dID=564337
STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!

You ain't alone, my friend.
I think I'm the world's worst.

Practice practice and more practice.
Be discouraged ye not, You WILL get it.

My daughter has tiny spider hands, and she can do it.
It freaked me out, I asked "How DO you DO that??"
She just said "just keep practicing Daddy, you'll get it."

I ain't even close yet

A bit of break thru as the afternoon went on..There might be just the slightest chance that I was over thinking the hell out of it..hmmmm..and might I add ZZ sounds way better with power chords than barre or open ..now if they could just write a bunch of songs with just the E & A string only or the A & D string it would almost sound like I know what Im doing..Hugs and Thanks again everyone!

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Mona
"Music is What Feelings Sound like"

LOL, that's cool! I'm happy that you're making progress!
I love ZZ Top, too.

If you like, you can check out my La Grange cover, wich was a collab via the internet with another guitarist from Canada (Tom) and a singer from USA (Lee):
I play the brighter sounding rhythm Strat and the first solo, Tom plays a Les Paul (intro, rhythm and solo at the end)

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_so ... ID=4137593

_________________
Kindest regards from Germany, Dee
My recordings --> http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_mu ... dID=564337
STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!