Arthritis-Are Barre Chords the only way to play acoustic?

I've been playing since '68, and did a career in the military until being disabled in-the-line-of-duty.  I've got a pretty fair amount of arthritis and most mornings, everything hurts until I move around awhile and take enough aspirin to make my ears ring, LOL!  That doesn't stop me.

I can play barre chords, but rarely do.  I play a lot of stuff in first position, fingerpicking style and rarely hit a barre chord.  You can learn to transpose keys to fit your voice and give you easier chord shapes, or use a capo, and you can play an abbreviated version of any barre chords required.

I do tons of classic rock, country, and yes, even play some Dead.  I do Ripple, Brokedown Palace, Operator, and so on, from the "American Beauty" album without getting into any barre chords.  "Ripple" in particular plays very nice when Travis picked, you can sound like the whole band, and doesn't require the use of any barre chords.

Have a look at the books I listed in the thread linked below.  If you study those, you won't have any trouble playing endless songs without barre chords.

<a href="http&#58;&#47;&#47;www.chordie.com/forum/index.php?t=tree&th=1285&mid=5885&S=3392bc579166c2d4e56218419631e6d1&rev=&reveal=" target="_blank">   http://www.chordie.com/forum/index.php? … 285&am p;am p;am   p;mid=5885&S=3392bc579166c2d4e56218419631e6d1&rev=&a mp;a mp;a mp;reveal=</a>

Bottom line: Don't lose hope.  You can do it, and the more you learn, the more you can work your way around any limitations you may have with the chord shapes.

Oubaas <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_smile.gif" border=0 alt="Smile">

Box of Rain fingerpicks very nicely.  You can use a plain old inside/outside picking pattern with your right hand.  For example, with a D chord, fretted like this as you look at the front of the fretboard:

654321

EADGBe

XX0232

You'd pluck the fourth string with the thumb of your right hand, then the first string with your middle finger, then the third string with your thumb, then the second string with your index finger.  Repeat.

With a G chord:

654321

EADGBe

320003

You'd pluck the sixth string with your thumb, the first string with your middle finger, the third string with your thumb, the second string with your index.

You can also alternate that first thumb pluck each time through between the sixth and fifth strings, and the treble string between the first fretted at third fret and an open second string.  Play around with it, adds variety.

The best transcription I've seen of Box of Rain is here:

<a href="http&#58;&#47;&#47;www.guntheranderson.com/v/data/boxofrai.htm" target="_blank">http://www.guntheranderson.com/v/data/boxofrai.htm</a>

If you need to see right where the changes are, grab the one here at chordie, too, but it isn't as accurate as the one I linked.

Chords used are fretted thus:

D  XX0232

Am  X02210

Em  022000

C  X32010

G  320003

A  X02220

Bm XX4432 (versus the full barre)

Asus4  X02230

I usually do a little intro with A and Asus4 before hitting the D in the initial melody.  Always remeber that sheet music is merely a suggestion.  Play it any way you feel works for you.  You can change keys, or use a capo, too.

You've got a pair of excellent guitars there.  I love an SG, and the GAD50E is a sweetheart of a guitar.  I own the Guild GAD-40C and the GAD-30 amongst the six guitars I own.  That GAD series is a lot of bang for the buck!

Here's some other links you might find useful starting out:

<a href="http&#58;&#47;&#47;www.frets.com" target="_blank">http://www.frets.com</a>

<a href="http&#58;&#47;&#47;www.stew-mac.com" target="_blank">http://www.stew-mac.com</a>

<a href="http&#58;&#47;&#47;www.lmii.com" target="_blank">http://www.lmii.com</a>

<a href="http&#58;&#47;&#47;www.musiciansfriend.com" target="_blank">http://www.musiciansfriend.com</a>

<a href="http&#58;&#47;&#47;www.americanmusical.com" target="_blank">http://www.americanmusical.com</a>

<a href="http&#58;&#47;&#47;www.music123.com" target="_blank">http://www.music123.com</a>

As for singing, your voice is an intrument.  Everbody can sing.  If that wasn't true, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson, amongst others, would not have had singing careers.  But you have to practice.  I play and sing everyday.  I also read aloud to my wife while she crochets.  That helps exercise the voice.  We're doing Stephen King's "The Stand" right now.  Full, uncut, expanded version.  So yes, you can sing.  You just need to practice.  I can't play the trumpet right now, but if I pick it up and practice in a logical manner, eventually, I'll be able to.  Same as singing.

Have a look here:

<a href="http&#58;&#47;&#47;www.homespuntapes.com/catagory/default.asp?catID=25&ctype=i" target="_blank">  http://www.homespuntapes.com/catagory/d … D=25&a mp;a mp;ctype=i</a>

As for lessons, I don't see the point in forcing someone to try to play in a way that hurts.  Classical guitarists tend to be uptight about form.  But a good teacher can hurry you along the way.  But I've never taken lessons.  You'll have to decide the right path for you.  I Taught myself to play, sing, read music, and understand theory with books.  I must have done OK, too, because as I got down from the stage in Pretoria, South Africa one night, after singing a number, some kid ran up to me all excited and told me he had all my albums at home.  I thanked him, but I didn't bother to tell him that I don't have any albums.  My wife and I still crack up over that one now and then...

Oubaas  <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_smile.gif" border=0 alt="Smile">

LOL!  Well you have fun with that info and if you have any questions, post 'em and I'll try to answer 'em!

If you just keep repeating those picking instructions up there, it'll keep getting easier.  Start out with that D chord roll, inside/outside, thumb, middle, thumb, index like I explained above.  When that starts to smooth out, try switching back and forth between the D and G chord while picking.  You'll love Mark Hanson's book, he'll educate you very thoroughly on this sort of playing.  Those books you ordered are going to be a lot of fun for you.

Here's Mark's website:

<a href="http://www.accentonmusic.com/" target="_blank">http://www.accentonmusic.com/</a>

And if you want to do some flatpicking as well, here's Dan Crary's website:

<a href="http://www.dancrary.com/" target="_blank">http://www.dancrary.com/</a>

Dan's "Flatpicker's Guide" is my favorite flatpicking book.

<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dan-Crary-Flatpickers-Guide/dp/1574240587/sr=1-1/qid=1172278238/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-3292697-3184861?ie=UTF8&s=books" target="_blank"> http://www.amazon.com/Dan-Crary-Flatpic … dp/1574240 587/sr=1-1/qid=1172278238/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-3292697-318486 1?ie=UTF8&s=books</a>

I was disabled in-the-line-of duty in the U.S. armed forces and medically retired in 1991.  I happened to meet a beautiful young South African woman about seven years later and we hit it off.  About a week after she got back to South Africa, she phoned me here in the states and said, "You've been everyplace else in the world, won't you come and try my country for awhile?"  So I sold the house I owned at the time and two weeks later stepped off a plane in Johannesburg and was just about knocked over by an auburn-haired missile.  She was pretty happy I came over.  I stayed there five years, married her, and we've now got two kids and have moved back to the U.S.  She became a U.S. citizen awhile back.  What a sweet young thing like her sees in an old geezer like me I have no idea, but I'm glad she sees it, whatever it is, LOL!

Oubaas  <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_biggrin.gif" border=0 alt="Very Happy">

I prefer to use open chords. I capo a lot. It's not that I can't barre, I just prefer the open sound. Of course there are times you just have barre but on the whole you can get away with it quite a bit.

I play a lot of jazz.  I access the entire fretboard all the time.  I rarely play barre chords.  And I can transcribe keys in my head, on the fly while playing.  Barre chords really aren't all that important.  Understanding music is far more important.  Barre chords are actually a rather simplistic way of solving a chord problem by barring another chord's shape.  Knowing theory, being able to construct chords, knowing which degree to drop if you abbreviate, understanding chord substitutions, etcetera, will all steer you around the fretboard and allow you to play things the way you want to play them rather than being stuck with fifteen chords and a barre to fall back on.  And the best way to learn those sorts of things is to play jazz.  Check out some of the instructional material that Joe Pass left us.

Oubaas  <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_smile.gif" border=0 alt="Smile">

Well, I really don't understand (yet) about abreviating and changing chords on the fly, but I'm sure I can pick it up in time.

Another physical flaw I failed to mention is on my fret hand, my ring finger is quite curved toward the middle finger, from the joint nearest the fingertip compliments of a flag football game back in the 1900's.  When I close this hand, there is a good 3/8" gap between the ring finger and pinky. This adds to the frustration of trying to barre.  On the Dm7 (among others) my ring finger is closer to the 6th fret than the 7th (thud).  Also, I cannot hold an A chord with fingers 2-4.  But, I can bar it with my index finger and also with fingers 1-3.

So why I have not always yearned to play trumpet rather than guitar?  Sure would make reaching the goal more certain.  But to me there is nothing as sweet as the sound of an acoustic guitar.

I would love to be able to play at least a couple of songs now while working thru the books I ordered.  Are the songs below too much for a beginner?  If not how do I figure how to play them fingerstyle?  Seeing the chords alone doesn't tell me too much.  Will PIMI, inside/outside work?

Big Rock Candy Mountain

Paradise (John Prine)

Wildwood Flower

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Tennessee Stud

Steven