Barre Chords on Classical Guitars

BigLicks67

I generally find nylon strung guitars easier to play than steel strings in the open position, but I'm finding that playing barre chords from the fifth fret onwards seems to require more hand strength than on my steel string acoustics. Does anyone else find this to be the case and any tips on how to improve my technique in this area.

Many thanks in advance.

HAL9000

As you move to higher fret positions, barres should become easier rather than more difficult as there should be more 'give' in the strings. The only reason I can think of why it could be harder is that the action starts getting too high as you go further up the neck - either due to the neck bowing, or the bridge simply being too high (or possibly a combination of both).

One thing you do need to do when playing barres is to shift the position of your fretting hand so that the wrist is very much under the neck rather than behind it. Makes barres so much easier. 

Jalapeno

As Hal9000 says - Check your technique - thumb in the middle.

BigLicks67

The guitar is set to about 4mm on the bass side, so the bridge is about standard height. My wrist is under the neck, but I'll keep my eye on that in the future.

I'm not sure about neck bow but there does appear to be a 'bump' around the 14th fret when sighting down the neck.

HAL9000

Normal action at the 12th fret for a classical would be 3.5 - 4mm so it seems that the string height is about right. What is the action like at the 5th

BigLicks67

HAL9000 said:

Normal action at the 12th fret for a classical would be 3.5 - 4mm so it seems that the string height is about right. What is the action like at the 5th

Around the 2.5mm mark with my ruler.

HAL9000

Sounds about right.