guitar trouble with bar chords?

Question

hi i can play a chord with a bar easily but sometimes when i play a song for a long time with chords like F# and so on my thum starts to get very painful. how can i stop that?

Answer 1

I've been playing classical guitar for 35 - 40 years and I noticed the biggest mistake that most students make is the placement of the thumb, it should be in the middle of the back of the neck of the guitar, and most students want to wrap it around the top part, in the beginning this doesn't present to much of a probem but later on when your starting to make complicated chords and looking for speed this is when this shows why it's necessary. A lot of things students don't understand why a certain thing is nessasary, they want to do it their own way, they don't realize that these are things that are preparing you for things later on, such as comlicated chords, and then later on can't figure out why their having so much trouble, but usually by then it's offen ttoo late because the habits have been formed. If you thumb is not in the right position your not going to be able to complete these chords and it will slow you down when you have to play fast, your left hand should be perpendicular to the strings, otherwise it's not going to be possible to play these chords . I can always tell students who have been self taught, they form bad habits early on that are hard to correct later on. You didn't say how long that you've been playing, maybe it's not too late to change, try working on it a little at a time, not all at once, start by running the C scale up and down the guitar placing you thumb in the middle of the neck, work on it for about a month and see it starts to work for you, it's not going to happen over night, especially if you've done this for a long time, so go slowing and see if you notice a difference. When your done working on a few scales start using the same technique with a few chords. Hope this works for you, good luck !

Answer 2

Are you using your thumb to support the chord--having it at the back of the neck or are you using your thumb to get the barre chord on the sixth and fifth strings?

I apply the latter method, and have done so for 50 years, yet my thumb has never pained me.

If you're using the thumb as a support arch then I can better understand why you're experiencing pain because numbness can set in along with the pain of keeping it stiff.

My only suggestion, in that event, is to minimize that method of barring chords.