Maybe Barb is just not for you, not saying this to be mean, but CC melee style of play may not be for everyone. Stop looking to other people to tell you how to build it and you will have few problems. Barb played fine early game for me, in fact it was one of the most fun classes to play.
This is the build I played…it evolved a little, but the core is still the same. By that I mean I went back and forth between frenzy and flare, I tried all the core skills but double swing is what was fun for me.
This is the build I played solo ssf to 100 and it was a lot of fun. But I honestly think you should just play it and make your own build, that way it plays the way you play. Barb unlike other classes, is strong no matter what. I mostly posted this so you can see that it does not need to be 3 shouts and upheaval, HOTA or WW.