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Learning Guitar - Lesson Six
Part 4: Barre Chord Basics
 More of this Feature
• Part 1: overview
• Part 2: chromatic scale
• Part 3: open 7th chords
• Part 4: barre chord intro
• Part 5: strumming patterns
• Part 6: learning songs
• Part 7: practice schedule
 
 Related Content
• Index of Guitar Lessons
• Buying Your First Guitar
• How to Read Guitar Tab
• Easy to Play Songs
• Guitar Chord Library
 
In lesson five, we took the big step of beginning to play barre chords, by learning a B minor chord. If you haven't practiced B minor recently, I'd suggest taking some time to try and master it before continuing. Knowing the note names on the sixth and fifth strings is also required to properly use barre chords.
The barre chords in lesson six will be somewhat similar to the shape we learned previously. These chords are difficult to play at first, but with practice, they will begin to open up whole new worlds in your guitar playing.

The F major barre shape

As with the Bminor chord, the key to playing this F major shape well is getting your first finger to flatten across the entire fretboard. Try rolling your first finger back slightly, towards the headstock of the guitar. Once your first finger feels firmly in place, try adding your other fingers to complete the chord. Playing this shape well requires much practice, but it WILL get easier, and soon you won't understand why these shapes ever caused you any problems.
As with the Bminor chord in our last lesson, this major chord shape is a "movable chord". Meaning, we can slide this chord up and down the neck, in order to play different major chords. The root of the chord is on the sixth string, so whatever note you are holding down on the sixth string is the letter name of that major chord. For example, if you were playing the chord at the fifth fret, it would be an A major chord. If you were playing the chord at the second fret, it would be a Gb major chord (aka F# major).

The F minor barre shape

This chord is very similar to the Fmajor shape above. There is only one slight difference... your second finger is not used at all. Your first finger is now responsible for fretting four of the six notes in the chord. Although it looks slightly easier to play than the major chord, many guitarists initially have a harder time making the chord sound correct. When playing the chord, pay careful attention to the third string. Is the note ringing clearly? If not, try and correct the problem. Playing these chords well will take time - don't allow yourself to get frustrated! It took me months to get them to sound as clearly as I liked. Try to keep that in mind.
Again, this minor chord is a movable shape. If you played this chord on the 8th fret, you'd be playing a C minor chord. On the 4th fret, you'd be playing an Ab minor chord (aka G# minor).

Using Barre Chords

Once you get the hang of playing these new shapes, you can start to use them everywhere. One of the best ways to practice barre chords is to try using them in songs you already know how to play. Simply use barre chords instead of the open chords you were using previously. Try playing Leaving on a Jet Plane using the major barre chord shapes, for example.

Things to Try:

  • If you're feeling overwhelmed, try playing any songs you know that use an F major chord. Play all other chords in the song with "regular" open chord shapes, but try the barre shape for the F major.
  • Make a sincere effort to learn note names on the sixth and fifth string. I can't stress enough how important this is to learn.
  • Play barre chords for just a few minutes every day - but play them EVERY DAY. You'll be surprised how quickly you learn them.
Now, let's move on to a new strumming pattern.

Next page > Strumming Pattern > Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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