[solidwalnut]

Barre Chords for Beginners and Beyond

It's time to create a lesson-thread where all folks of experience can help our brothers and sisters who are new to learn and play and use barre chords. Such a dirty word at times and hard work for those who are starting out. But fear not! We're glad to help. Here ya go.

What are Barre Chords?

They are chord formations that can move up and down the fretboard. Stop here and open this lesson to check out the basics of them.

Keep that lesson open so we can take advantage of the great graphics that Kirk has on his lessons. Notice the first graphic you see: The E chord form moving up the neck two frets. This is what it's all about. At this point, we're only going to concentrate on two forms: The E major and the A major forms. The variations follow these easily but we need to get a grip on the basic principles first. We need visual anchors.

Let's use the fretboard map for both anchors. Keep this fretboard page open for reference, but for simplicity sake I'll repeat the E and A strings here.

0........1...........2..........3..........4..........5..........6..........7...........8...........9..........10.........11........12.........13........14.........

A ||-A#/Bb-|---B---|---C---|-C#/Db-|---D---|-D#/Eb-|---E---|---F---|-F#/Gb-|---G---|-G#/Ab-|---A---|-A#/Bb-|---B---|--

E ||---F----|F#/Gb-|---G---|-G#/Ab-|---A---|-A#/Bb-|---B---|---C---|-C#/Db-|---D---|-D#/Eb-|---E---|---F----|-F#/Gb|--

If this doesn't translate well for you in your monitor, just refer to the E and A strings on the fretboard map page.

The E form Barre

Starting with the top string or the low E, the open string is of course an E note. This is the bass note of the open E chord and the visual anchor for the E form barre chord. When you first learn to play the open E chord, you usually learn it by using the index, middle and ring fingers and it looks like this:


022100

Now play the same chord using the middle, ring and pinky fingers.


022100

What happens if you slide this formation up one fret and barre your index finger across all of the strings? Well, what's the first fretted note of the E string? An F of course, so it's the F major chord. And so on up the neck.


133211

Now open up the E Form Major page and check out how the rest of the E form barre chords work up the fingerboard.

The A form Barre

Starting with the next string, the A is of course an A note. This is the bass note of the open A chord and the visual anchor for the A form barre chord. When you first learn to play the open A chord, you often learn it by using the index, middle and ring fingers.


x02220

This isn't always so, but go with me on this one for now.

Now play the same chord using the middle, ring and pinky fingers.


x02220

What happens if you slide this formation up one fret and barre your index finger across all of the strings to the A string? Well, what's the first fretted note of the A string? A Bb of course. So it's a Bb chord. And so on up the neck.


x13331

Now open up the A Form Major page and check out how the rest of the A form barre chords work up the fingerboard.

Ok, ok, there are variances on how the A and the A form barre chords are formed. Notice in the variations on the A form barre pictures below that I'm really only reaching over to the fret the A string and not barreing the rest. Work smarter, not harder! Sometimes your fingers just can't do any of these things. Here's another variation on the open A, and this is often used when playing electric.



And here's a couple of those variations on the A form barre.



"A form barre 2" comes in handy when you want to learn that rock and roll move.



To Sum it Up, Let's Talk...

Take a look at the photos...notice that I'm only barreing the strings that aren't covered by the other fingers. Take the E form barre for example, for a G chord: 355433. I only need to barre the 3's!! The middle, ring and pinky fingers are taking care of frets 5 and 4! This could make a difference in how you approach the form. For my hand specifically: as I barre across with the index finger, I go across as far as I can (see the third pic) so the B and bottom E strings are near the crease of the finger and hand. That way, I use the fleshy part of the finger to barre those strings. This leaves the fleshy part of finger near the tip to barre the top E.

Be sure to check out all the links under Chords and check out the chord pictorials and chord finders here at this site.

There's much to talk about as far as playing barre chords. One area you can work with is discovering that it's ok to play partial barre chords. There are many players who can't play full barre chords, and so they stick with partials. No problem. Often times partials are desirable. Let's talk about those.

Let's talk about the different ways you play the A forms. What are some of your tips on learning and playing barre chords? Where's the thumb supposed to be? Are there links to other threads from this site about barre chords? What happens when my hand starts cramping?

This lesson can also be found in my lesson forum. For a list of the lessons, click the Lessons for the Beginner and Beyond link below.

[newlite]

ok. so now i just need to learn what i know...

what about minors or sus4 or other funky notes? same thing of slided, or is it only for majors...?

then a 5th string Barre as x35553

or an 6th Barre as 8 10 10 9 8 8

what do you mean by barre. doesnt you finger make the barre on the fret your holding down. like the barre on x35553 is on the thrid fret?

[allthumbs]

Originally Posted by newlite

ok. so now i just need to learn what i know...

what about minors or sus4 or other funky notes? same thing of slided, or is it only for majors...?



what do you mean by barre. doesnt you finger make the barre on the fret your holding down. like the barre on x35553 is on the thrid fret?

Technicaly speaking yes but, the term is used interchangeably with barring strings like the 555, in your example. Do a barre at the 3rd fret with your index finger and barr the 3 strings at the 5th fret with your 3rd finger.
You can barre any chord that leaves your index finger free to make the barre with.

[Huge]

Hello,

I have begun learning to barre chords in the past couple of days. I can play the E, A, and Am forms okay(ish) but I have real problems with the Em form. When I take my finger off the G string it becomes muted instead of barred (especially on higher frets, 4+). That string seems to naturally fall in the knuckle for me. Does this sound like a finger strength problem, a technique problem, or could it be a guitar setup problem (the action is a wee bit higher than I would like it to be)?

Any input from anyone would be cool. Oh, for reference the only open chords that I can change to consistently is E, A, Em, and Am. I got my guitar for valentines day, is it too early to try and learn barres?

[allthumbs]

Originally Posted by Huge

Hello,

I have begun learning to barre chords in the past couple of days. I can play the E, A, and Am forms okay(ish) but I have real problems with the Em form. When I take my finger off the G string it becomes muted instead of barred (especially on higher frets, 4+). That string seems to naturally fall in the knuckle for me. Does this sound like a finger strength problem, a technique problem, or could it be a guitar setup problem (the action is a wee bit higher than I would like it to be)?

Any input from anyone would be cool. Oh, for reference the only open chords that I can change to consistently is E, A, Em, and Am. I got my guitar for valentines day, is it too early to try and learn barres?

Hmm. That should be one of the easier ones to do. Try moving your index finger slightly up towards the 6 string.

[Chris C]

Originally Posted by Huge

When I take my finger off the G string it becomes muted instead of barred (especially on higher frets, 4+). That string seems to naturally fall in the knuckle for me.

Hi,

My guess is that lots of people have exactly the same trouble (I certainly did). I reckon most of us don't quite get the finger in the right spot when we start. If you look at the pics above you can see the tip hanging a fair way over. So try these:

You can get around it in three ways.

1. As Allthumbs suggested, stick the index finger a bit further across the neck, so the tip overhangs more. The problem knuckle is then behind the two fingers which are fretting the A and D strings.


2. Play only the strings that are actually necessary for the chord Usually that means that it's only essential to have one or two barred notes working perfectly. So for the Em shape if the 4 thicker strings (the E,A,D and G strings) are all sounding OK then you have the root note (twice) and the other two essential notes once each. You only need the bar to be working on the E and G strings, and you can then decide not to play the two thinnest ones if they still buzz or mute.

3. Move it back the other way and only do a partial bar (in other words just bar the G,B and high E strings with the end of the index finger). Then don't play the bass E string. With this one, if you wanted the chord to start with the sound of its root note you could also skip playing the A string and just play the 4 thinnest ones.

So far the Bar Chord Police haven't dragged me off, so I figure it's all OK so long as you get the sound you want.

Sounds like you're really racing along after such a short time! have fun.

Cheers,

Chris

[newlite]

so if a song a c e, you could play it open chords a c e, or a c e in the a form, or a c e in the b form......?
or is it based on frets? playing an a on the 5 fret (form e), playing the b on the form which makes it on the 5 fret, the c on .....

could you play an a in a form, c in d form, and a d in e form? is it all interchangeble like that? how do you know what to play if the chords say a c e?

[si16]

Yes newlite, the chords are interchangeable. As for which chords to play it is generally up to the player although some songs would require particular voicings of chords to sound like the original piece.

[thedamon]

here are a few ways to play an A chord

X02220 (the most common way)
X02225 (fingered X01114, with first finger covering second fret's notes)
577655 (fingered 134211, first finger barre on fifth fret, others form an E style chord)

X
12
11 (this is like a C chord, but first finger barres the 9th fret.)
9 (can be played much easier using just the highest four strings)
10
9


here are a few ways to play a C chord

332010 (I added the G bass, good habits die hard)
X35553 or X3555X (easier) or X35558 (near impossible with small hands)
XX5558 (easy, but seldom used, me thinks)

8
10
10 (this is same fingering as the A {577655} but up three frets)
9
8
8

here are some ways to play an E chord

022100 (just as you learned)
X76454 or XX6454 (or since it is a E chord, 006454)
X79997 or X7999X (or use your pinky on the 12th fret for a high E)

This shows how each major chord can be played using each of the three base chords, A C E. An A chord can be played using an E chord form, barred at the fifth fret.

I know some of these will never be used by most players, but you should learn them as it only takes a few days to understand how each chord shifts up and down the neck. Then you can play an A as an E (577655), a C as an A (X35553) and a E as a C (076454).
have fun

[stalkofta]

How soon is too soon to start practicing barre chords? My first guitar lesson was last week and it was a barre chord lesson. That ain't no fun at all. Now I feel all dejected and uninspired because I might as well try to stick my big toe in my ear. How should I tell my instructor to 'dial it back' just a bit? Aren't there other more important things a beginner should be learning before barre chords? I want to be able to play barre chords eventually but I want to take it SLOOOOOOOOOW.

[Matty22]

Dont feel dejected. Barre chords are probably one of the trickiest things with learning guitar. Certainly the most hated.

Tell your instructor exactally what you just said. Ultimately you are the one paying the money, you should be getting taught what you want. Theres no point him trying to teach you to sweep and shred, if you want to play flamenco....

[danbhoy67]

Originally Posted by stalkofta

How soon is too soon to start practicing barre chords? My first guitar lesson was last week and it was a barre chord lesson. That ain't no fun at all. Now I feel all dejected and uninspired because I might as well try to stick my big toe in my ear. How should I tell my instructor to 'dial it back' just a bit? Aren't there other more important things a beginner should be learning before barre chords? I want to be able to play barre chords eventually but I want to take it SLOOOOOOOOOW.

I have been playing for 2 years now and I am just getting to grips with basic Barre chords. In my opinion learning to play open chords first is the way to go because you then know (kinda) what you're doing when you begin to barre. It may be an idea to learn to play the open chords with the middle ,ring, and pinkie fingers as these are required when playing the Barre chords.

[bry57]

Just tell him or her to cool it down and start the caged system in open strings which is the c-a-g-e-d chords then go from there

[Bluesyzep]

Just started my first barre chord (F) lesson tonight. Up until now the idea of quitting never crossed my mind.

Just want an idea of what percentage of barre chord playing is technique and what percentage is brute force?

I'm having thoughts of having to play something with several different barres and 16ths.

[si16]

It's virtually all technique BZ with just a small amount of pressure, not brute force, from the thumb on the back of the neck. Expect to spend several weeks, or more, before they start to become comfortable.

[felixdcat]

Well, in the beginning it seems like brute-force. But somehow, with time you get used to it. Just today I noticed that after some time I can press them with very little strength and they'll sound good. And five minutes before my wrist hurt a little. Hope this encourages.