Learning To Play Barre Chords

A barre chord is basically a movable chord. This allows you to play chords higher up the neck, and unlocks lots of options. I guess they are called barre chords because you use your first finger to make a “bar”. Your first finger kind of acts like the nut of your guitar. Or if you’re familiar with a capo, its like using your finger as capo.

Moving on.

One of the benefits of learning barre chords is that once you learn a few shapes, you can use the same fingering to play many different chords, just by moving your hand up and down the neck. This has many advantages.

We’ll start by learning the two barre chord shapes for major chords. These shapes are based of the E and A chords (if that doesn’t make sense, you’ll understand in a minute). These are the two most commonly used barre chord shapes.

Here’s the “E-shaped” moveable barre chord:
-------------------1------------------------------ <-- High E
-------------------1------------------------------
-------------------1-------2---------------------
-------------------1-------------3----------------
-------------------1-------------4----------------
-------------------1------------------------------- <-- Low E

The numbers correspond to your fingers. The 1’s on every string represent your index finger. Knowing just this shape allows you to play every single major chord. Cool huh?

All you have to do is start with your index finger on the note name you want to play. For example, if your barre is on the third fret, you’ll be playing G major. On the 5th fret? That’s an A.

The next thing to learn is the note names for the E string and the A string, so you’ll know the name of the chords you’re playing.

-------------------1------------------------------ <-- High E
-------------------1----------2-------------------
-------------------1----------3-------------------
-------------------1----------4-------------------
-------------------1------------------------------
X------------------------------------------------- <-- Low E

This is an “A-shaped” barre chord. To name the chords you’re playing with this shape, you’ll use the A string.

Now let me explain how these chords are named. Firstly, chords are named according to the “root” note in the chord.

If you’re using an E shaped barre chord, the root is on the low E string. So to name the chord, you’ll need to know the names of the different notes on this string.

If you play the E string open, that’s E. (obvious, huh?) Then it’s simple (as long as you know the alphabet).

And then you just count up the musical alphabet (from A to G). And also remember to add the sharps and flats between each letter, apart from B & C, and E & F. There is no sharp or flat between those two.

Let me write the musical alphabet out for you to make this crystal clear (I’ll start from E):

E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E

Once you arrive at the octave (the twelve fret on your guitar) the cycle repeats itself.

With the A shaped barre chord, you start from the open A and work up the musical alphabet again. Like this:

A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A

That’s pretty much everything you need to learn to play any chord in the form of a movable barre chord.