Position on the neck

[4hisglory]

Why does most beginner guitar books teach you to play at the top of the neck but you never see anyone playing there??

[Teewanabe]

Basically because they are open chords, Meaning the open strings are part of the chord structure. It is widely considered easier than barre chords (Chords which require barring a fret with a finger). And is considered easier for the learning guitar player as bieng easier because he really doesn't have to remember a lot of  fret positions up the neck and the fingerings are usually simple .  I wouldn't say guitar players rarely use these positions  . Rock and country players are more apt to use them while you may not see many Jazz and Funk players using them.

Someone asked a question a while back about good gospel guitar chords,  Well the truth is if they are good chords on the piano they usually work on the guitar. Sometimes finding the right voicing or fingering can be more difficult  , but basically a phat chord is a phat chord        

[BBoy]

Yes, open chords are easier to play at first. But when you can "barre," you can slide up and down the neck and get some really thick, professional sounding chords.

A lot of pop musicians and country musicians, as stated before, do play up at the top of the neck.

Be Blessed . . . oh, I am SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS GUITAR ROOM!  

[B3Wannabe]

I find barring easier than remembering finger positions. I just lock my hand into a position and say, "Hand, remember that!".  :wink: My problem is transitioning: even though I remember the chords, I can't transition fast yet.

[Teewanabe]

Barring is easy, but for beginners they usually deal with muting problems. And one reason is they will have a poor set up on their guitar ,with the strings to high or, the  harmonics  and intonation is off and they can't get thier chords to sound "pretty" or clean.

Transitioning problems take practice like anything else, however you can make things a lot easier by knowing different voicings and just like the keyboard you can work out economy of motion problems  . Knowing where all your triads are all over the fretboard helps this problem also.  

Guitar is a lot like piano in that you can use all types of inversions to help solve your problems with speed and effieciency .  It is a lot easier to bend notes LOL ..... and  the left hand seems to have more brains playing guitar than piano  :lol:  :lol:  :lol: