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Learning Guitar - Lesson Seven
Part 2: Barre Chords
In the previous several lessons, we have learned three of the four essential barre chord shapes: major barre on the sixth string, minor barre on the sixth string, and minor barre on the fifth string. Let's review those shapes:

major chord root
on sixth
minor chord root
on sixth
minor chord root
on fifth
It is important to remember what we discussed in lesson five - the concept of using the above shapes (aka voicings) to play various chords. For example, a major sixth string barre on the third fret is a G major chord, whereas the same voicing on the eighth fret is a C major chord. To utilize these concepts well, you'll need to remember the sixth and fifth string note names.

Fifth String Major Barre Chord

We've left this chord shape until last, because it is probably the trickiest of the four to play. There are two commonly used fingerings for the fifth string major barre chord. The first involves using your first finger to barre strings five through one, while the second, third, and fourth fingers play the remaining notes. This is probably the best way to accurately play the chord, so that each string rings clearly.
A very common alternate fingering for this chord is the use of the third (ring) finger to play the necessary notes on the fourth, third, and second strings. The problem many people have with this fingering is the difficulty in getting the third finger to NOT fret the note on the first string. A common solution is to omit the note on the first string, since that note already exists elsewhere in the chord. Practice playing the chord using both fingerings - it will certainly be difficult at first, but, as usual, will get easier with time. Play the chord one string at a time, to be certain all notes are ringing properly.

Using Barre Chords

You have now learned the four most essential barre chords, and with them, you can play literally thousands of songs. You should be able to replicate all open chord songs you've learned (provided they contain only major and minor chords) using barre chords. Memorizing the fretboard and getting the chord to ring clearly will take time, but if you don't practice them routinely, it'll take much longer. Try and devote a little time to playing barre chords each time you pick up the guitar.

Things to try:

  • Learn all four chords well. Remember the shape, the type, and which string the root is on.
  • Call out a random chord (say Eb major). Now, see how quickly you can play it on the sixth AND fifth strings.
  • When playing songs, try moving to the closest voicing for the next chord. Eg. when playing G major to C major, don't slide from the third fret up to the eighth fret.
Now, let's move on to learning fingerpicking.

 

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