Barre Chords Made Easy

Barre Chords - made easy!

Struggling with barre chords? If you've been frustrated,here's a great free guitar lesson that reveals important tips you need to know. With a little practice these "moveable chord shapes" will be something you look forward to playing and using in your music.

I remember growing up as a teenager, being able to play them was some kind of a benchmark. "Can you play barre chord shapes?" - "Oh yeah..." I'd coolly respond ;-)

What's a Moveable Chord?

" Moveable chord" is just another name for barre chord - speaking of which, why is it spelled like that? I've heard that the spelling is from the French. Here in Canada, we have French on all the packaging. I learned to speak a little French from reading cereal boxes as a kid:-)

These moveable chord shapes that can be played just about anywhere on the neck of the guitar. The great thing about them is that they are symmetrical. Once you've learned one shape, you've got a whole bunch of useful guitar chords.

The most important thing to realize about barre chords(and possibly even music in general) is that there are 2 types: major and minor. See guitar music theory if you don't understand the difference between major and minor chords.

The second most important thing to know about barre chords is which string the root of the chord is being played on. For our purposes, there are 2 strings that the root could be located on. Some people call the root the bass note. As always, a picture speaks a thousand words, so check out the guitar chord charts below.

Are things making a little more sense now?

Do you understand how there are major and minor? Do you know what the root of the chord means? An excellent way to train your musical ear is to sing the roots of the chords while you play them. I strongly suggest investigating ear training further if you are serious about developing as a guitarist/musician.

LESSON ONE

place the index finger of your fretting hand in 5th position(5th fret)

barre the first two strings with this finger

check and see that both strings are ringing clearly

feel the "weight" - or pressure - that you're applying with your index finger. Make sure that your finger is as close to the fret as possible. This means you don't have to apply as much pressure, and you'll also produce a much better sound.

so far so good? OK, now place the 2nd finger of your fretting hand(don't count your thumb)on the 6th fret of string 3 while still barring the first 2 strings!

if you're still with me, relax your hand for a sec...shake it out a bit 'cos here we go with some more "finger yoga" :-)

Hold the first 3 strings down as described above. Once you have a good sound, place the 4th finger of your fretting hand on fret 7 of string 4. Got it? Good!!

Guitar Bar Chords and Free Online Video Guitar Lesson

Guitar Bar Chords...
There's more than one way to "spell" a chord

Frustrated with guitar bar chords? These clear instructions include a free online video guitar lesson that will heal any frustration you feel.

Electric Guitar

Acoustic Guitar

Before we go further, I'd like to point out that "barre" is the correct spelling. Just in case you're looking it up elsewhere. Now you know that its one of those words that gets spelled 2 different ways. I actually have a different lesson on "barre chords" under the "Articles" section. You may like to read it sometime. It doesn't include a guitar lesson video though.

If you want the quick start guide to making bar chords easier, go to the video now. If you aren't sure, or want to know more about these chords, read on!

Why even bother with guitar bar chords?

I'm glad you asked :-) Here are a couple of very good reasons...

Chords with roots such as "F" or "B" can only be played as some type of barre chord.

You'll have more options when playing songs or jamming with others.

You'll begin to see more patterns on the fretboard.

Electric or Acoustic?

This brings us to another important point. If you play electric guitar, you have no option. You really do need to get the basic barre chord forms under your fingers. Not only for the reasons listed above, but because learning them will truly begin to open the guitar up for you :-)

If you play acoustic steel string it can a little trickier. And it depends upon your goals. This is because guitar bar chords can be physically demanding to play on a steel string guitar. Also, open strings sound so much better on an acoustic!

What some players do to offset this is to use mainly open position chord shapes. If they want to play in a different key, they simply use a capo. A capo is the device that you clamp onto the neck of a guitar. This way, a guitarist can still have the effect of open strings ringing through.

Or some players will play in "open tunings". This means they tune the strings of their guitar to different pitches than the standard tuning. It also means they will need to use different fingerings for various chords. If you're fairly serious about your guitar playing and you're drawn to this type of playing, go for it. Otherwise, I strongly suggest sticking with standard tuning.

The best way for most players to improve their playing on acoustic guitar is to learn the basics really well. And that definitely includes guitar bar chords. Fingerpicking is also a good skill to learn. It can really take your playing in new directions. As always, stay focused. If you jump around too much with curiosity, you won't get anywhere. By all means experiment and do your research. Then, narrow you focus and practice! When you're ready to expand a little, you'll know. It's like building a house. Make sure you have a solid foundation in place. Then it won't matter what styles you want to learn.

Is it Major, Minor or Dom7?

Dom is short for dominant. The "C dominant 7th" chord would be named simply C7. Major will usually be written as "ma" or upper case "M". Minor will be "mi" or lower case "m". Sometimes they will be

Guitar Chord Lessons Show How To Add Flair to Basic Guitar Chords

Guitar Chord Lessons.
Add Some Flair to Basic Chords

So your can strum some basic chord guitar... now what? These free guitar chord lessons teach some cool techniques that add flair to basic guitar chords.They aren't difficult...just takes some patient practice.

If you know how to count and tap your foot while strumming basic chords, you're ready for this lesson. If you can't tap your foot and strum go to guitar strumming patterns. Work with the information in that lesson and then come back here. Bookmark this page so you won't forget :-)

All the lessons in this 'Acoustic" section of the website are connected. None of them are truly independent...but they each stand on their own. Certain techniques or concepts that are presented in other lessons will definitely help with the techniques or ideas in other lessons. Sometimes its important to understand material in one particular lesson before going to the next lesson. When that's the case, I mention it and include links. So once again, be patient and have fun. Explore.

What these Guitar Chord Lessons Cover...

It's not necessary to "give" the whole chord away. Breaking the chords up into smaller pieces sounds more interesting.

Dynamics... What? Playing soft to loud and in between. Makes a huge difference in how musical your acoustic guitar playing sounds.

Using some alternate picking to arpeggiate the chords.

Maintaining a steady sense of timing while doing this :-)

LESSON ONE

This chord lesson is on how to break up chords. Read through the instructions below. Everything is demonstrated in the guitar chord lessons video.

Grab a C chord in open position. The rhythm is in what's called a cut time feel. Don't worry, just follow along with the video.

The beats that fall on the numbers are downbeats and the ones that fall in between are upbeats.

Hit the root of the chord on counts 1 and 2.

Hit string 4 open on count 3. Hammer on with your 2nd finger for the offbeat.

On count 4 hit open G string with an upstroke.You'll also need A minor in open position.

You'll be counting 1 2 3 4 5 6 with the strong accent felt on 1 and 4. In other words, we're in 6/8. Again, it's demonstrated in the guitar lesson video.

This exercise will use alternate picking throughout.

On beat 1, pick down on string 5 while grabbing a C major chord.

On beat 2 pick up on string 3.

On beat 3 pick down on string 2.

Switch to G/B chord.

On beat 4 pick down on string 5.

On beat 5 pick up on string 3.

On beat 6 pick down on string 2.

Switch to A minor chord in open position.

On beat 1 pick down on string 5.

On beat 2 pick up on string 3.

On beat 3 pick down on string 2.

On beat 4 pick up on string 1.

On beat 5 pick down on string 2.

On beat 6 pick up on string 3.

Whew! That was a long list of instructions. Once again, watch the guitar chord lessons video. It'll help you to understand these instructions even better.

Any of the other ideas for these guitar chord lessons are in the free guitar lesson video on this page.

I hope these guitar chord lessons are helpful to you and your guitar playing. Thanks for joining me here and allowing me to play a small part in inspiring you to keep dusting off your guitar :-)