Ok, first I want to say that I'm a bit Socially Impaired. Shits happened to me in high school that fucked me up pretty badly. I'm still working on improving myself and becoming a better me.

Now, for the question: How Do I Approach and Talk to a Group of Strangers? I'm not talking about getting laid here, just striking up normal conversation and making friends. My social skill is not good enough for game yet.

I ask this because people at bars usually socialize within their closed group. It's hard to break into that group and talk to people.

What I tried in the past: Introduce myself to the whole group and try to get everybody's name. It backfires horribly and usually ends up in people ignoring me. I also feel very weird doing it and it. I don't know if it's social anxiety or is it because this approach is not normal.

What I thought of about recently but haven't tried yet: Talk to a person in the group (hi/hello + handshake + get name), get to know them and then leverage him/her to know other people. "How do you know these people?"

Feedback? Thoughts?

PS: This is a legit question. If you want to troll, please go elsewhere.