This e-book/lesson will serve as a basic introduction to barre chords for latebeginner/early-intermediate

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2 INTRODUCTION Hello, fellow six-stringer! We guitarists spend the vast majority of our time playing chords also known as rhythm guitar so building a strong chord vocabulary is fundamental to our success. This e-book/lesson will serve as a basic introduction to barre chords for latebeginner/early-intermediate guitarists. If you are an early beginner, make sure to save this reference. You will need it after youʼve made your way through the basic open-position chords. Ready to rock? TABLE OF CONTENTS A QUICK BARRE CHORD LESSON 3 Moving a Chord Shape... 4 Root Notes... 5 Learning the Fretboard... 5 Another Way of Naming Barre Chords... 6 THE SIX ESSENTIAL BARRE CHORDS 7 Root- 6 Major Chord... 7 Root-6 Minor Chord... 8 Root- 6 Dominant 7 Chord... 8 Root- 5 Major Chord... 9 Root- 5 Minor Chord Root- 5 Dominant 7 Chord Helpful Links SIX ESSENTIAL BARRE CHORDS

3 A QUICK BARRE CHORD LESSON If youʼre new to the concept of barre chords, you may be wondering why you even need them. After all, youʼve got a nice vocabulary of open chords that you already know. Canʼt you just roll with that? At a certain point, the answer is no. It doesnʼt take long to find out that there are some chords that are just not available to you as simple open chords. And unfortunately, some of those chords are pretty popular. Take Bm as an example. There are ways of dumbing down a Bm so that you donʼt have to make a barre shape out of it: You could even dumb it down a little further:

4 It may seem like these are good options, but theyʼre not ideal. In both cases, you would have to be able to wrap your thumb over the low strings to mute them, which can prove pretty difficult. And in the case of the second example, you only hear three notes! A chord like Bm reaches its full potential as a barre chord. A barre shape will have a much more balanced sound than the previous examples and you will only have to mute string 6 (with the tip of your first finger): The same goes for chords like Gm and Bb and F#7. Some chords need to be played as barres to get the fullest sound. Moving a Chord Shape Although barre chords are more physically challenging than open chords, they do hold one distinct advantage: they are moveable. By moveable, I mean that you can hold a specific barre shape and, just by shifting that shape to another fret, create a new chord. That new chord will have a different pitch name, but the chord quality whether itʼs a major, minor or dominant 7 th chord will stay the same. So a major shape moved up the neck two frets will still be major. It will just have a different letter name. Example: a G major barre at fret 3 can be moved up to fret 5 to become an A major barre. 4 SIX ESSENTIAL BARRE CHORDS

5 Root Notes How do I know that I can move that G barre from fret 3 to fret 5 to transform it into an A chord? How do I even know that the G barre is on fret 3? The answer lies in the positioning of the root notes. You may already know that the root note is the note that gives the chord its name. So the note C would be the root note of a C major, C minor and C7 chord. The key to using barre chords effectively isnʼt just in knowing how to play them. Itʼs just as important to know where to play them. And we play them at their respective root note positions. Youʼll notice from the previous Bm example that finger 1 reaches across the strings to play the lowest note (bass note) in the chord. This bass note lies on either the 6 th string or the 5 th string (for Bm, it was the 5 th string). That is your root note. The verbal cue I use for my students is, Point to the root note. Simply put the tip of finger 1 on the root note you want effectively pointing at it and make the correct barre shape based on the chord quality you want. Example: if the song calls for a Gm chord, you would point at the G note on string 6/fret 3 and form the minor shape. The result is Gm. Learning the Fretboard A great by-product of learning barre chords is that it forces you to also learn the fretboard. Since you can only position these chords by their root notes, youʼll be stuck if you donʼt know where those roots are. Itʼs beyond the scope of this short e-book to talk about fretboard organization, but my easy how to guide will get you started. I promise that it will be an excellent investment of your time. Guitarist, Know Thy Notes: A How To Guide to Mastering the Fretboard

6 The Six Essential Barre Chords all have their root notes on either string 6 or string 5. For this reason, many people including me refer to barres as either root-6 or root-5 types. An example is root-6 Am. Hereʼs the naming process: Identify the string where the root note will be located (ex. string 6) Identify the letter name of the chord (ex. A) Identify the chord quality (ex. minor) Put those three things together and youʼve got a proper barre chord name. The Six Essential Barre Chords are comprised of all three chord qualities on both strings 6 and 5. Do the math and youʼve got six chords. 1) Root-6 Major 2) Root-6 Minor 3) Root-6 Dominant 7 4) Root-5 Major 5) Root-5 Minor 6) Root-5 Dominant 7 Another Way of Naming Barre Chords The term root- is my preferred way of identifying barre chords, but there is another way. Some teachers and method book writers like to call barre chords by a letter name, using the terms E shape or A shape. Although it is technically correct, I think thatʼs confusing for the average guitarist. Since chords are already named with letters like C or Am adding another letter into the mix just makes things even trickier. This is why I never tell my students, Play a C chord in an E shape. More advanced players understand that all the root-6 and root-5 barre chords are actually based on the open chord shapes E and A. Eventually this will be important for you to understand too just not at the beginning of your guitar studies. Once youʼve developed some skill in playing barres, you can go back and investigate the concepts behind the chords. 6 SIX ESSENTIAL BARRE CHORDS

7 THE SIX ESSENTIAL BARRE CHORDS All of the examples are presented here with a C root note. Therefore all the chords will have a C name C (major), Cm and C7. Youʼll notice that the root-6 C chords are on fret 8, while the root-5 versions are on fret 3. Refer to the link in the Learning the Fretboard section above for a more detailed explanation. Since barre chords are moveable, you can easily turn a C into some other name A, B, D, etc. simply by repositioning the root note. Root- 6 Major Chord This is usually the first barre chord that a guitarist learns. It will serve as the foundation for the other root-6 barres. With all fingers aboard, itʼs also typically the easiest one to play.

8 Root- 6 Minor Chord This minor shape is achieved by removing finger 2 from the major shape. Since you lose a decent amount of strength and leverage by removing this finger, be sure to lean your hand toward the headstock. (Tucking your elbow into your side usually helps with this.) The note under the barre on string 3 is the critical note that makes this shape sound minor. However, it is notoriously difficult to hear at first, so be patient with it. Root- 6 Dominant 7 Chord The dominant 7 chord is often just referred to as 7. Starting from the major shape, simply remove finger 4 to achieve the dominant shape. Again, youʼll have to lean into this one in order to hear the note on string 4. 8 SIX ESSENTIAL BARRE CHORDS

9 Root- 5 Major Chord This shape can be played in two different ways. The first, and most common, way is one of the trickier ones to execute because finger 1 is not actually barreing the chord; instead, finger 3 is using a partial barre. The key is to collapse the first knuckle of finger 3 while keeping the second knuckle elevated. This will create a clamping effect on the fretboard. Properly playing the partial barre usually results in muting string 1, and thatʼs okay. If youʼre one of those lucky folks who cannot collapse their knuckle past a straight line, then you may want to consider playing this chord with a finger 1 barre instead. This position is somewhat awkward, but for some guitarists itʼs necessary.

10 Root- 5 Minor Chord This chord shares the same fingering as the root-6 major; itʼs just moved over one string apiece to occupy strings 5-1. Root- 5 Dominant 7 Chord This shape takes away finger 2 and moves finger 4 back to string 2. Again, the removal of finger 2 takes away some leverage, so be sure to lean toward the headstock for this one. 1 0 SIX ESSENTIAL BARRE CHORDS

11 Helpful Links Unfortunately, itʼs beyond the scope of this lesson to try and explain how to make the barre chords sound good. Iʼve offered a few helpful ideas for each chord below, but I would recommend seeking out a competent instructor or a skillful guitar-playing friend for tips on applying pressure correctly, achieving the correct finger angles, etc. That said, here are a few links that may be of help: How to Play the Dreaded F Chord, Part 1 How to Play the Dreaded F Chord, Part 2 The Hidden Key to Better Barre Chords Rock On! I hope this e-book/lesson has helped you to better understand the essential barre chords that are so important to our guitar vocabulary! There are many more FREE guitar lessons at - Iʼll see you there! jb 2014 Jim Bowley, All Rights Reserved.