Guitar experts!! What does "barre with index finger" mean?

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Question:

So I'm starting to learn the guitar!. For about a couple of months I had to cut my nails short so my nails don't get tangled in the strings!.

I found out that Dolly Parton plays with long fingernails because she, "tunes her guitar to an open major chord, so all she has to do is barre with her index finger!." What does this mean!?!?

I'm not trying to be a guitar expert, I'm all about singing and songwriting !. But I want to have some moderate guitar skills to help me advance my songwriting without having to chop of my nails!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

It means laying your left hand index finger flat across the strings at the fret, and playing the chord underneath it!. There are a lot of chords that you barre normally in standard tuning - like B for example!. When switching to open tuning, you can barre much more; for example, when you play slide guitar, you normally tune it open and put the slide across the strings like you would an index finger if you were barring it!.

If you don't have the strength in your fingers yet, barring can be pretty difficult, but the more you practice it, the stronger you will get!.

I wouldn't suggest barring everything though just so you don't have to cut off your nails!. Besides, when you barre chords, you still have to play the chord underneath the index finger, which means you still have to be able to press your fingers to the strings!. You can just cut the left hand fingernails fairly short though and leave the right hand how you like it!. I finger pick a lot, and find that I prefer to have longer nails on my right hand because it sounds better, and I have more control!.

I don't know if I explained this all that well, but if you still have questions, there is a lot of information on the net about it!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

As you go higher on the neck, it's more difficult to play a full chord using all five fingers, (sorry, four fingers, and a thumb)!. Your index finger takes the place of the thumb!.
http://search!.yahoo!.com/search!?p=barre+c!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

also, here's a picture to give an example, where the first finger is laying on all the strings:

http://www!.guitarnoise!.com/wiki/lib/exe/!.!.!.

Here's a youtube video as well:
http://www!.youtube!.com/watch!?v=pBnS4uhaX!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

RJ explained well his answer and has earned the ten points from you!.Www@QuestionHome@Com