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The 4 Essential Barre Chord Shapes Every Guitarist Should Know
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The 4 Essential Barre Chord Shapes Every Guitarist Should Know

By: Jonathan Dykerman

The 4 Essential Barre Chord Shapes Every Guitarist Should Know

What if I told you that you could play every major or minor chord in any of the 12 keys with just 2 barre chord shapes? That’s a total of 24 different chords with just 2 chords shapes! What if I told you I could give you 2 more barre chord shapes which give you more flexibility in playing those 24 different chords? You can literally play all 12 major chords and all 12 minor chords with just 4 barre chord shapes with ease, simplicity and flexibility.

What Is A barre?

So where do we start? Well first, you have to understand what is meant by a “barre”. When you use one finger to fret two or more strings on the same fret, you are using what is known as a barre. Think of it as if you actually laid a bar across all the strings on one fret. Because a barre is used in the 4 chords I’m about to show you, they are called barre chords.

(WARNING: Barre chords can be hard to play for the beginner due to the fact that you need to fret all the strings with one finger. But with patience and a few weeks of practice your fretting hand will gain strength and these chords will become easier.)

Major Barre Chords With The Root On The 6th String

Let’s get to the first two barre chord shapes. These examples will be in the key of G. Place your index finger on the 3rd fret across all 6 strings. This is the barre. Then place your 3rd finger on the 5th fret, 5th string; your 4th finger on the 5th fret, 4th string; and your 2nd finger on the 4th fret, 3rd string. This is a G major barre chord.

How To Play Every Major Chord With This Shape

But how do you use this one chord shape to play any major chord in any key. Well the trick is to remember that whatever note is on the 6th string is the root of the chord. In this case the root is on the 3rd fret which happens to be the note G. To play a Bb major chord, use the same chord shape but move it so the root is on the note Bb.

Minor Barre Chords With The Root On The 6th String

The minor barre chord shape is really easy to learn once you have the major barre chord shape down. To play a minor barre chord, simply lift your 2nd finger off the 3rd string, that’s it (remember to keep that 1st finger barre on all 6 strings). Just like the major barre chord shape above, the root of this minor barre chord shape is on the 6th string, so simply move the chord shape so the root of whatever chord you want to play is on the 6th string.

After playing with these 2 barre chord shapes you will notice that you may have to make large left hand positional shifts when changing from one chord to the next. This is where the next 2 barre chord shapes come in handy. While the 2 barre chord shapes above had the root on the 6th string, the next 2 barre chord shapes will have the root on the 5th string instead.

Minor Barre Chords With The Root On The 5th String

Let’s first start with a minor barre chord that has the root on the 5th string. Interestingly, this shape is the same as a major barre chord with the root on the 6th string but moved up a string set. For example, whatever was on the 6th string moves to the 5th string, 5th to 4th, 4th to 3rd ect, while what was on the 1st string is discarded. Same exact chord shape, but moved up a string set. Now that the root is on the 5th string, to play a D minor chord for example, you would move this shape up to the 5th fret because the 5th fret on the 5th string is the note D. Also, it is not needed to play the 6th string anymore, you can continue to play it with your 1st finger barre if you like, but it is not needed.

Major Barre Chords With The Root On The 5th String

The last chord shape is a major barre chord with the root on the 5th string. The easiest way to learn this chord is to use the previous minor chord shape but move the note on the 2nd string up one fret and refinger the chord. This is how it should be fingered in the key of D. Place your 1st finger as a barre across all the strings on the 5th fret. Place your 2nd finger on the 7th fret, 4th string; your 3rd finger on the 7th fret, 3rd string; and your 4th finger on the 7th fret, 2nd string.

That’s it. Now with these 4 barre chord shapes you can play any of the 24 major and minor chords 2 ways on the guitar with ease and simplicity.

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Jonathan Dykerman is a professional guitar player and instructor. For more information on the 4 essential barre chords please visit Guitarwarp.com. This article may be reprinted providing the aforementioned link is included. Copyright 2008.

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