Barre Chords Made Easy

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Aileen Copeland
6 years ago
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Barre Chords Made Easy What Are Barre Chords? A barre chord (also known as a moveable chord) is a chord in which you "bar" or "barre" a whole fret with your pointer finger.

You just have to lay your point finger over all six strings and keep it there (or onto a new fret when you change).

1 Barre Chords Made Easy What Are Barre Chords? A barre chord (also known as a moveable chord) is a chord in which you "bar" or "barre" a whole fret with your pointer finger. This acts sort of like a capo, making it so your pointer is playing the spots that your other fingers aren't. It's easier than it sounds. You just have to lay your point finger over all six strings and keep it there (or onto a new fret when you change). Of course, there's a good way to barre the fret, which we ll be covering in more detail later. Here s an example of a G Major Chord played in the open position vs. a G major played as a Barre Chord. The truth is, few guitarists look back on their barre-learning experiences fondly. It's definitely one of the harder parts to master when learning guitar. We're here to help. Your first tip is not to settle. Barre chords are these strange creatures that can sometimes sound right when you're not playing them completely right. Just a fluke of the technique, I suppose. But just because you've gotten the chords to sound right, or close to right, don't settle and not learn it the right way. Remember, you're going to be playing

2 THOUSANDS or more barre chords in your guitar life. You'll want to know the proper way as soon as possible. What Are The Different Types of Barre Chords? For this lesson, we will tackle two types of barre chords: the E shape, and the A shape. Under these two chord shapes fall four other subcategories and these are: The major chords The 7th Chords The Minor Chords The Minor 7th Chords Although it would be good to know the different types of chords, for now, we are only going to focus on the major chords in the E and A shape. Remember that barre chords are also called movable chords. If you will recall, we already mentioned earlier that barre chords are the kind of chords you can easily move up and down the guitar s neck.

12 Notes of Music Contemporary western music typically only uses twelve pitches, each named after a letter of the alphabet with sharps and flats in between them.

3 12 Notes of Music Contemporary western music typically only uses twelve pitches, each named after a letter of the alphabet with sharps and flats in between them. They are equally spaced with 100 cents (a unit of measurement used for musical intervals) between each and their names repeat every octave: Don t worry too much about why- right now, just take a look at your guitar s fretboard! It s quite likely that your guitar has fret markers, either right on the fretboard or on the side of the fretboard. It s also very likely that there s a double marker at the

4 twelfth fret. The reason for this is that that s where the cycle of twelve notes starts again. For example, in standard tuning, your lowest string is tuned to E. This means it produces an E note when you play it open and also when you play it fretted at the twelfth fret. With the vast amounts of music that s played on the guitar, it s hard to think that it all boils down to just twelve notes. Trust me, unless you make an exception for offpitch bends, unique custom guitars or being out of tune it really does.

Barre Chords Shape of E As you can see in the picture above, if you disregard the bar or the index finger, you will notice that what is left is the form of an E Major chord.

5 Barre Chords Shape of E As you can see in the picture above, if you disregard the bar or the index finger, you will notice that what is left is the form of an E Major chord. We are basically moving the E Major chord to another location, then we bar, or press down the open strings with our index finger. You can also relate the index finger, or the bar to the nut of the guitar. This is the reason why bar chords are called movable chords because of this capability. We are just simply transferring the E major chord and the nut (in the form of index finger to bar the open strings) to another fret to achieve, or create another chord. Here s my 3 step system for playing barre chords held in the shape of E

6 Step 1: The Index Finger 1. Lay the index finger (your first finger) across all six strings in the first fret. 2. Once you have done so, pick each string individually to make sure that each note is clear. Common Problem Encountered at this Step: For beginners, especially, a common problem with barring is that one or more strings will sound muted. Solution: Instead of laying the index finger flat on the strings, try rolling your finger a bit so that the outer edge is pressing down and not the soft part of your finger. You may have to adjust your wrist to be able to achieve this, but with practice, you will get the hang of it. Step 2: The Alternate E Major Chord 1. Remember the E major chord? Playing the alternate E major chord is very similar to that, except that we will have to move the positioning of the fingers. 2. Now, recall the shape of the E major chord. The second finger will take the first finger s place, so it will press down on the 3rd string on the first fret. 3. The third and fourth fingers will be positioned in the second fret, and these will be pressing down on the 5th and 4th strings. Common Problem Encountered at this Step: Sometimes, the fourth finger tends to overlap onto another string. When this happens, one or more notes of the chord will end up sounding muted. Tip for this step: Rest your index finger on the nut of the guitar. As for the overlapping of the fourth finger, this will take a bit of practice. Adjust the position of your wrist until you can position your pinky finger in such a way that it no longer overlaps on another string. Just keep practicing this, and you will eventually be able to overcome this little hurdle. Step 3: Putting It All Together 1. Play the alternate E Major chord be sure to pluck each string to make sure that each note is properly sounding out.

7 2. Now move that alternate E major chord one fret up your second finger will now be in the 3rd string on the second fret, while the third and fourth fingers will be positioned on the third fret, on the 5th and 4th strings. Once you have your fingers positioned, pick each string to be sure that all notes are sounding out properly. 3. Now lay your index finger across the first fret (keep in mind the tips we studied earlier to make that bar correctly). 4. Once you have your barre chord in place, pluck each string to make sure that there are no muted strings. Positioning your thumb: Now so far, we have only discussed the index, middle, ring, and pinky fingers. You may be wondering, What am I going to do with my thumb, then? Remember that your thumb should always be behind the guitar neck, and not on top of it. Your thumb basically acts as the support of the rest of your fingers when playing barre chords. The neck of your guitar should be sandwiched in between your thumb and the rest of your fingers playing the chords. Barre chords can be extremely difficult to master when starting out, so don t worry too much if you can t do them right now. They ll come with some time and practice.

8 Barre Chords Shape of A On the same picture above, you will see the A shape, and the index finger barring the open strings. The same basic concept that we have talked about with the E major chord applies here, so moving the A Major chord to another fret and using the index finger to act as the nut of the guitar, will let you attain a whole new chord. After our mini-lesson on playing the F Major chord (which is, as you remember, held in shape of an E chord), we will now move on to another chord, which is the barre chord held in the shape of A. The B Major chord is a basic barre chord held in the shape of A. As with learning the F major chord, learning the B major chord will be very useful because by simply moving the chord up and down the neck of the guitar, you will be able to play a wide variety of barre chords already.

9 The steps to playing this barre chord will be similar to those in the E shape chord, only with some minor changes. Step 1: Positioning the Index Finger 1. Lay the index finger across strings 1 to 5 in the second fret. 2. After doing this, pick each string individually to make sure that each note is clear. Common Problem Encountered at this Step: Just like in the F major chord, you may experience some difficulty when you bar your finger on the fret. The chord may sound muted when your finger is not properly laid out on the strings. Solution: Use the same technique mentioned earlier for barring roll your index finger a bit so that the outer edge is the part pressing down on the strings and not the soft part of your finger. Tip: To ensure the 6th(Low e) string is muted, simply use the tip of your index finger to touch the 6th string lightly. Doing this will stop the low e string from ringing. Step 2: The Alternate A Major Chord 1. Take a look at the A major chord in the picture. We will use that as the basis for the alternate A major chord. 2. Instead of using our 2nd, 3rd & 4th fingers to play the A major Chord, We re going to cheat a little by just using our 3rd finger only to lie across the 3 strings. To do this, simply lay your 3rd finger (Ring Finger) across the 2nd, 3rd & 4th strings. 3. Pick each string individually. (please note: the 6th (low e) string is not played. Common Problem Encountered at this Step: The chord may end up sounding muted, especially the 1st string (high e string) because of the overlapping that can be caused by your third finger. Solution: The easiest way to remedy this problem is roll your wrist downwards slightly. Doing this will position your 3rd finger slightly different so that it lifts up enough not to overlap the 1st (high e) string. Step 3: Put it all together

10 1. Now it s time to play the alternate A Major chord. Again, make sure you pluck each string to make sure that each note is properly sounding out. 2. Once that s done, move the alternate A major chord two frets up. The third finger will now be positioned in the fourth fret, on the second, third, and fourth strings, respectively. When you have positioned your fingers accordingly, pick each string to be sure that all notes are sounding out properly. 3. Now lay your index finger across string 1 to 5 in the second fret (remember the tips we studied earlier to make that bar sound right). When you have your barre chord in place, pluck each string to make sure that there are no muted strings.

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