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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → barre chords
Hi rene101 and welcome to chordie. The wonderful thing about barre chords is that they are moveable up and down the neck. The same fingering for F becomes a G 2 frets higher (and so on). Here's a chart that you may find helpful:
roger, topdown thanks for the advices.
topdown thanks for the chard, I really havent seen any of those fingerings before. can you please explain a little of how to read this im a little confused. thanks.
Well rene - you said you know the F and Fm shapes which are the 1st 2 shapes shown on the top row. Above that, you see the fret #'s that correspond to the root note / chord on the applicable fret. A "F" barre is commonly referred to as an "E" shape barre chord (the E being the open chord shape). As you move your index finger up the fretboard, the shape stays the same, but the root note / chord changes. So, with your barre on the 1st fret, the chord you are sounding is a F, on the 2nd fret, it is a F#, on the 3rd fret it is a G (this is noted on the little box on top).
The other fingerings in the first row are just variations on the chord. The 2nd box shows a Fm (133111). The same shape moved up a fret is a F#m, on the 3rd fret it is a Gm and so on. The other fingerings follow the same pattern.
The bottom row of chords are the "A" shaped barre chords. A "B" chord is formed with the A shaped fingering along with a barre on the 2nd fret. This shape is moveable up the fret board so that the same shape on the 3rd fret is a C and on the 5th fret it is a D, etc... The other fingerings are variations of the major chord.
These are the most common barre shapes (E and A), but all shapes are moveable (check out the CAGED system). Mortals such as me pretty much stick with the A & E barres, but if you have 12 or more fingers, you can barre a C D and G all the way up the neck in the same manner.
Here's Justin on the CAGED system
http://www.justinguitar.com/en/TB-030-C … temVid.php
Edit to add - Don't let this blow your mind - Like roger says, even attempting barres at 4 months is commendable. There is more to music theory than I will ever know, but there are experts here on chordie to assist. If I can help further, please let me know.
Barre chords are awesome!
Barre chords are awesome!
We can learn our barre chords while we take our depression medicine. How good is that?
We can learn our barre chords while we take our depression medicine. How good is that?
Not only good, but obligatory.
That chart up there is wonderful.
Barre's seem to be the Holy Grail for most fledgling guitarists... It's something everyone struggles with. I wanted to share my experiences with barre chords hoping that someone can learn from me.
First of all I'd like to disagree with those that say you should focus on your open chords first, and build hand strength, before attempting barre chords. In attempting to barre, you will build up the hand strength. My second reason is that with proper technique, you don't need nearly that much hand strength! I really battled with barre chords in the begin, I know all about the hand cramps!!! But I came accross a tip on this forum that changed barre chords for me. Instead of using a squeezing action with your left hand, release your thumb pressure, and pull back on the neck with your left elbow. At the same time push back on the body of the guitar with your right elbow, as if you trying to wrap the guitar around your body. That action takes alot of pressure off your hand, thumb and wrist as it places the joint into tension as opposed to compression. You can use your thumb to focus some extra pressure to any "dead" sounding spots to make the chord ring true and clear.
I started out with B#m and F#m in a few songs. But quickly have progressed to F, B, Bm, Gm, F# etc. But choose any song you like with one or two barre chords. And then practice till you nail it. Determination is 90% of the battle won. Doesn't matter which barre chord you learn first as the rest will come naturally.
And lastly just play as much as you can! Don't worry if it doesn't sound perfect, that comes in time. Just focus on playing.
I loved the sentiment in an earlier post: "If your fingers don't hurt, practice more!". And I'd like to emphasize this. Mastering barre chords will take considerable time and effort. Stick at it. Guts it out. And practice, practice, PRACTICE!!!
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → barre chords
