TOPIC: The movable shapes

I've started venturing from the open position to the movable chord shapes, the E-shape barre chords. These things are hard on the muscles of the hand, especially where the thumb joins the hand. I practiced them for maybe 10 minutes,(F,F#,G) and i was done. Of course, i had already been practicing for an hour anyway, and was ready to go back to the open position. It was a painful cap to a practice session. I wasn't too concerned with how clean they rung out, it's the fingering mechanics and movement i was trying to get used to. Guitarists make those movements look deceptively easy. I'll just keep at it. I was told practicing them on an electric is alot easier, but i'm gonna stay acoustic to build the muscles. Pain is weakness leaving the body!

One tip to make your experience a little less exhausting is to only fully press the neck just as you are picking the strings and then slack off a bit even if you are repeating the same chord. You might get a staccato sound if you release a little early but that may be better than wearing your wrist muscles out holding chord that is not being played.

Good point Gerry. Thanks! I'm also using a spring loaded hand machine to work the muscles in my "weak" hand.

I have found that, as a right handed player, if I shift or swing the guitar more to the left such as moving it from the right knee to the left, that the barring of the chord becomes more natural. This motion tends to rotate the pointer finger to the thumb side of it and pressure is more easily applied. See if that helps.