Here we show you how to do barre chords on guitar ("barre" is the proper term, though many are naturally inclined to say "bar"). Many beginners find that barre chords can be a difficult hurdle to overcome, and hopefully this article will help you to play them with ease.
There are two problems that barre chords present to beginners: first is the basic concept of how barre chords work, and second is the initial difficulty in playing them due to the perception that it is hard to hold the strings down properly, due to lack of strength in the fingers.
We will address the strength issue first: The simple fact is, when first learning how to play barre chords, you are using muscles that have hardly ever been used, to do something that they have never ever been used for before. Don't feel bad if you find that your finger is too "weak" at first; even a big badass muscle man like Arnold Schwarzenegger would have the same difficulty! You are not inferior! You are not weak! You are mighty!
Finger Strength Exercise
Here is a simple exercise to build the necessary finger strength: Place your index finger across all of the strings at any fret, and play each string to see if it rings properly. If there is buzzing, or no sound at all, you need to make finger adjustments until you can get each and every string to ring out clearly. Be mindful that playing these notes in this fashion will not produce a "musical" result at all, but that does not matter right now. The purpose of this exercise is to build strength in your barre finger. Do this at different frets up and down the guitar neck. It may be very difficult at first, but if you do this strength exercise for about 5 minutes each day, you will notice rapid and steady improvement, and it should only take about two to three weeks to build up enough strength to hold the barre down with ease.
The Barre Chord Concept Explained
There are two keys to understanding how barre chords work. The first key is to understand that anything that falls into a pattern on the guitar fingerboard can be moved up and down the neck to play the same thing in different keys. The second key to understanding is to view your index finger (the one you use to hold down the barre across the strings) as if it were the NUT of the guitar, albeit moveable. When playing moveable barre chords, this finger will essentially serve the same purpose that the nut does when playing chords in the open position
Now let's get ready to make our first barre chord!
Here is a tab diagram of the E major chord in the open position.
To make this chord shape into a barre chord, place your finger across all of the strings at the first fret; one fret higher than the nut. Now pretend your index finger is the nut, and emulate the shape of the E chord shown above by fingering the notes one fret higher:
Voila! You have now made your first barre chord! Because this is the same shape as the E major chord, but one fret higher, it is an F major barre chord. Remember what we said about patterns on the guitar neck being moveable to play in different keys? We just moved the open E chord shape pattern up to make it into an F. The root note is on the sixth string. If you move this same shape up to the fifth fret, you have an A major chord. If you move it to the third fret, you have a G major, and so on.
Demo video of finger placement for moveable "E-shape" barre chords:
Want to play a minor instead of a major chord? This and other alterations are easy.
Just as the E major chord in the open position is made into a minor chord by using a flat 3rd:
Start with your index finger across all of the strings to produce the barre, and use the ring finger to hold down the second, third, and fourth strings. This can be very tricky at first so don't get discouraged; it may take several weeks of daily practice to be able to play this chord form cleanly:
Now you have an A# or Bb major chord (A sharp and B flat are the same note/key). As the root note of this chord shape is on the fifth string, when you play it at the third fret, you have a C major chord, at the fifth fret you have a D, and so on.
All other open position chord shapes can be converted to movable barre chords in this manner, but some of the shapes are quite impractical to use as moveable forms. The two forms shown above are the most widely used.
Now you're ready to rock out with some barre chords. Practice them until you are comfortable with playing them, and then come back to fretwizard.com when you are ready to learn some more good stuff!
