I may have missed the capo discussion a couple of weeks ago, but I'm glad I caught FM's talk in yesterday's class on the structure of Shady Grove and the common scale notes that dominate the melody line as they relate to the chords. It really helped to break down the song and learn it. FM did the same thing with Loch Lomand a few months ago and it helped a lot. The playing's great, but I appreciate the "classroom" part of the "class" too!

Yeah, i know what you're saying. You mentioned capo, mine came in handy last night. My church's worship band is really cool about letting me practice with them, which gets me used to being on stage, and playing with others, much like being in class.(plus they do need an acoustic guitar) I got a Chris Tomlin worship tune from my church in Bb. I know Tomlin plays this in C, and i wonderered, "what the heck, Bb"? Are you serious? Who came up with that?? i'll have to discuss this with the worship leader....
I looked at the chords for this tune in Bb...not gonna go there, all of them harder barre forms. I figured, Bb is A#, why not capo 1, and play Key of A open chord forms. I reduced my barre chord exposure from 4 difficult barre forms to just 1, an F#m7, which isn't too bad when playing in the first position. I decided playing A maj. chord forms with a capo @ 1 was alot more practical than playing in C @ 8!

Sounds good. I know I will eventually have to tackler the barre chords, but this is a good way to play songs I like and not get frustrated in the short term.

Regarding barre chords, FM really opened my eyes when he told me that a lot of the time I really don't have to play the whole chord, but only the bottom four strings, especially since barre chords are difficult for me right now. If I use only the bottom four strings, I can usually get much of the sound of the chords without having to hold the barre over the bass strings. I still practice the more difficult chords but this lets me play a tune with a difficult chord in it without sweating over the barre chords.

lspencerini, thats a good idea, i've heard other seasoned players say the same thing. I've been practicing going from open playing to barre because some major keys have relative minors that are barre forms. D has Bm, E has C#m, A has F#m, B has G#m. Though playing tunes in B would be barre chord city, the 1 being B, the 5 being F#. The 2,3, and 6 of the key are all sharps, so in my humblest of opinions, B is a bad choice unless you have the movable shapes down. The 15th measure of Loch Lomond has a 3 chord change in the measure, Bm, C, G. Bm requires all fingers on frets, so for me, muting strings is an issue, but i'm getting better. I just keep hammering away at it, going from the open shapes to the barre. It's more muscle memory than anything, and Bm is a cool chord when it sounds properly.

Definitely good to know both. You can make a G minor with just you index on the first three strings, but if you need a base note you're out of luck. Keep working the barre forms and just accept that it's going to take awhile. I've been at it for months, and I can only make a few of them cleanly and quickly. Don't give up!