[agent0064life]

Been practicing C shaped barre chords a bit after getting down the E shape and was just wondering what kind of music it's used in. When I look up tabs for songs I like to play I've yet to come across a C barre from what I remember.

[allthumbs]

Common in jazz I have been told.

[gary_ou]

It sometimes happens when you're playing a song with D# or Bb key which contains a lot of barre chords.You don't have a capo but you want to change chords as fast as you did in C key we often practiced a lot, the C shaped helps you to find the key of song quickly and you can find all the other chords quickly as well.

In my opinion, I don't think C shaped is common used in JAZZ since the chords in Jazz sometimes will be more colorful such as maj7,maj9. Besides, we often play partial parts of those chords to make pure harmonic.

[allthumbs]

Originally Posted by gary_ou

It sometimes happens when you're playing a song with D# or Bb key which contains a lot of barre chords.You don't have a capo but you want to change chords as fast as you did in C key we often practiced a lot, the C shaped helps you to find the key of song quickly and you can find all the other chords quickly as well.

In my opinion, I don't think C shaped is common used in JAZZ since the chords in Jazz sometimes will be more colorful such as maj7,maj9. Besides, we often play partial parts of those chords to make pure harmonic.

That is what a jazz player told me when I said the C shaped bar chord is one of the lesser used ones in the caged system. It could be just the way he personally approaches jazz though.

[Dewy]

Its used in Plush by Stone Temple Pilots for the Eb chord,
Its used in the intro for Under the bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, @ 2nd fret... Dmaj to F#maj
what else... Oh I use it in Every Breath you take for the Eb in the bridge...

Judas Priest uses it without the bar a bit... the "D" chord in Devils Child.

Oh yeah, I tried to learn the capo'd Landslide by Fleetwood Mac... and they do the song in Dmaj, capoing the guitar @ 2nd fret and opening with a Cmaj position... actually a D maj with the capo of course. I learned most of the song without using a capo and just doing the D with the C bar. Tricky, but makes it look harder than it really is.

[allthumbs]

Originally Posted by Dewy

Its used in Plush by Stone Temple Pilots for the Eb chord,
Its used in the intro for Under the bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, @ 2nd fret... Dmaj to F#maj
what else... Oh I use it in Every Breath you take for the Eb in the bridge...

Judas Priest uses it without the bar a bit... the "D" chord in Devils Child.

Oh yeah, I tried to learn the capo'd Landslide by Fleetwood Mac... and they do the song in Dmaj, capoing the guitar @ 2nd fret and opening with a Cmaj position... actually a D maj with the capo of course. I learned most of the song without using a capo and just doing the D with the C bar. Tricky, but makes it look harder than it really is.

It's the caged barre G that is as hard as it looks

[agent0064life]

Also got another question while I'm at it about Barre chords. Wha would an Asus barre chord be defined as and what are its uses.

[Fretsource]

There are several ways to play A sus as a barre chord, e.g.,
577755

But the 'A shape' Sus chord is X02230.

[allthumbs]

Originally Posted by Fretsource

There are several ways to play A sus as a barre chord, e.g.,
577755

But the 'A shape' Sus chord is X02230.

I was under the impression that If an sus chord was undefined, it was assumed to be a sus2. Sus4s always being indicated.
Therefore the Asus at the second fret would be X22200. That would be a movable barre chord on any fret, however due to the nature of how intervals are laid out on the guitar, that same shape with the barre at the 5th fret would be a sus4.. I don't think there is another way to do it as a full barre chord.
A sus chord is a chord with a suspended 3 interval. You can replace it with a 2 or 4 depending on how it is notated.

[Fretsource]

AT, As far as I know, early chord charts just called it sus and it was understood that the 3rd would be displaced by the 4th as was nearly always the case in classical suspensions (hence the name). Their use as a stand alone chord requiring its own symbol came mostly from jazz musicians experimenting with quartal harmony, which is based on fourths instead of thirds.

Sus2 chord symbols came later. And Sus 4 (instead of just 'sus') became more common so as to distinguish them from Sus 2 chords.
There's even a strong case for saying that Sus 2 chords aren't real chords, and that they're just inversions of Sus 4 chords.
For example, A sus 2 which has notes A B E is really E sus 4 which has notes E A B.
I don't go that far - I accept sus 2 chords as legitimate chords.

[allthumbs]

Originally Posted by Fretsource

AT, As far as I know, early chord charts just called it sus and it was understood that 3rd would be displaced by the 4th as was nearly always the case in classical suspensions (hence the name). Their use as a stand alone chord requiring its own symbol came mostly from jazz musicians experimenting with quartal harmony, which is based on fourths instead of thirds.

Sus2 chord symbols came later. And Sus 4 (instead of just 'sus') became more common so as to distinguish them from Sus 2 chords.
There's even a strong case for saying that Sus 2 chords aren't real chords, and that they're just inversions of Sus 4 chords.
For example, A sus 2 which has notes A B E is really E sus 4 which has notes E A B.
I don't go that far - I accept sus 2 chords as legitimate chords.

I knew you would jump in and set me straight about that. So a chord sheet with just sus indicated considered a 2 then in non classical chord sheets.

[Fretsource]

Originally Posted by allthumbs

I knew you would jump in and set me straight about that. So a chord sheet with just sus indicated considered a 2 then in non classical chord sheets.

No - if it's just "sus", it's considered 4, not 2.
But you've got me thinking. Tomorrow I'll have a look for an old jazz songbook with songs from the 40s and 50s that's around somewhere. If it shows chords as just "sus", the notation below it will tell me exactly if it's a 4 or 2.

[Kirk Lorange]

Back to the original question 'What are barre C chords used for?'.

Any chord shape can be used as a chord, of course, but they can also be used as a source of melody. Once you can see chords as entities that stretch the length of the fretboard, you'll always be seeing the open C shape (and the other 4 open shapes A-G-E-D) in the master template for major chords. You won't be barring it though, you'll be using its notes individually as primary melody notes.

[agent0064life]

Originally Posted by Kirk Lorange

Back to the original question 'What are barre C chords used for?'.

Any chord shape can be used as a chord, of course, but they can also be used as a source of melody. Once you can see chords as entities that stretch the length of the fretboard, you'll always be seeing the open C shape (and the other 4 open shapes A-G-E-D) in the master template for major chords. You won't be barring it though, you'll be using its notes individually as primary melody notes.

Yeah I've already had a few ideas from going to guitar to keyboard and back about using notes from chords... I can tell I'm just on the verge of making the next transition as a guitarist. Still don't have any speed but I guess that just comes with time. The more and more songs I've been playing the more I've been recognizing how they have similar patterns... then I thought about it and started to figure out what you're talking about. I remember reading your whole post on the CAGED system and it was like reading a foreign language. Guess I had to learn the long way.