I still have a lot of trouble with barre chords any advice. It is really frustrating!
Barre, or bar, chords are used constantly by guitar players. Because they are movable shapes they really allow you to access more of the fretboard. With them you no longer have to be confined to the open position. And you can play sharps and flats too. With all this said, they are very tough to play when you first learn them! Here are a few pointers that will help.
1. Barre Chords Are NOT For Beginners
If you're still trying to learn the basics, then focus on easy open chords like E, G, A, C, D and E minor, A minor and D minor. B7 is another you can work in. It's one thing to learn the chord shapes, another to actually put them to use and get them down. Be sure to learn lots of easy guitar songs. Only after you're totally comfortable with open chords, and can keep up with popular songs and not lose a beat, are you ready to move onto to other shapes.
2. Power Chords Should Be Learned Before Barre Chords
Power chords are little two or three note shapes that can be moved around the fretboard like barre chords. In fact, power chords are actually fragments of barre chords. They are used all the time in popular music especially with distorted electric guitar. "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath is just one of literally a million examples. Learn as many power chord songs as you can. Learning how to move these easy chord shapes around on the guitar neck first will help get you ready for full barre chords.
3. The F Chord is Part of a Barre Chord
The F chord that is commonly played near the open position is actually part of an "E form" barre chord. If you attached a capo to the first fret and then played an E chord, you'd see that the notes on strings 1, 2, 3, and 4 are part of the F chord (when the capo is off). Full barre chords are based on this "E form" with your index finger taking the place of the capo. Reduce the whole barre chord to just the first four strings and get comfortable with using it like this first. Be sure to omit strings 5 and 6.
4. Learn Easy Barre Chord Songs
Whether you're practicing power chords, partial barre chords or full barre chords, practice them by applying them to simple songs. For example, songs like "Wonderful Tonight," "Brown Eyed Girl," and "Sweet Home Alabama" are all based on the chords G, C and D. You can access all three of these chords along string 6. Play along with songs like these. If you can't play the whole barre chord shape, simplify it. This process of learning and rehearsing things in little steps should be used when you take on other barre chords shapes too.
Guitar CAGED Chord System
After you have mastered basic open chords, power chords and some barre chords, you can learn the CAGED system. This will really open up the fret board and have you playing all sorts of chord shapes, arpeggio patterns and inversions.