barre chords how long did it take you?

[jamort]

I have been playing guitar for five months and have got all the open chords down and I have been working on getting barre chords for the past week or so I'm finally able to hold them, and acutally make the sound that there supposed to make... I was wondering how long it took you to be able to get the shape fast an also is you have any tips thanks

[Bigduggieface]

I've got pretty big hands, and I took to the instrument rather quickly. Once you learn the basic chord shapes, it will start to come naturally. Calloused fingertips and stronger hand and wrist muscles will also come with practice.

Be sure to learn and practice all of the common chords: major, minor, major7, and minor7. Make sure all strings ring clearly.

I bought a few songbooks and raided the local library for more. Once you master the barre chords, you'll then learn different voicings and inversions of all of these chords.

[jamort]

kool I um actually have been able to play a.ll the open chorms including minors and majors since I was like two months in playing and now I can play bar chords but I'm just having trouble with speed between changes

[Whammo]

It has been said, when practicing, to match the tempo of the song with the speed that you can change chords, rather than stopping the song to change.
But, working on chord changes within the context of the song might not be the best way to go.
You can divide up your practice. instead of worrying about getting the barre right, you can work on getting the 'E' shape part of the barre chord down using the middle, ring and pinkie totally ignoring the index finger barre.
Don't even worry about strumming at this point. Place your fingers, pick them up and and hammer them down to get the strings to ring out.
When you have this down pretty well, pick them up then straighten the fingers then hammer them down. the trick is to get the three strings to ring out every time.
Do this with the 'A' shape too. using just the ring finger. Then you can practice switching between the 'E' shape and the 'A' shape, ignoring the index finger barre.
Go slow enough so you get it right every time and speed up gradually.
Add the index finger barre when you can switch between the 'E' and the 'A' without thinking and it rings true.