Guitar Lesson: Barre Chords

Barre Chords, tricky but really not that hard, the hardest part of Barre Chords for beginners is getting their hand acustomed to the position it must be in.

What is a Barre Chord?
Essentially a Barre Chord is when you use your first figner to form a clamp across all six strings, your remaining fingers then make the chord.


A Major Barre Chord

Tab Chord Chart Image 
E|--5--|
B|--5--|
G|--6--|
D|--7--|
A|--7--|
E|--5--|
Guitar A Major Barre Chord Chart Guitar A Major Barre Chord
Video File: A Major Barre Chord Video

Above to the left you will see the what tab will look like for a barre chord, as you can see the 5th fret shows up at the sixth string and the first and second strings. To the right is a chord chart for a barre chord, in this example I show the 1 on all strings, typically it would not show on strings three through five but this is a lesson!

In lesson 4 I covered how to play an E major chord. If you study the A Major barre chord above you will notice that it looks like an E major chord just played at the fifth fret. That is exactly what we are doing however our first finger will cover the 5th fret of all strings, the remaining fingers will form the chord.

Tip: Use the outer part of your first finger, towards your thumb. Also, be sure your thumb is located on the middle of the neck and not resting at the top.
Play the chord:
1. Place your 1st finger across all six strings at the fifth fret.
2. Place your 3rd finger on fret seven of string five.
3. Place your 4th finger on fret seven of string four.
4. Place your 2nd finger of fret six of string three.
5. Play the chord!

D Minor Barre Chord

Tab Chord Chart Image 
E|--5--|
B|--6--|
G|--7--|
D|--7--|
A|--5--|
E|--X--|
Guitar D Minor Barre Chord Chart Guitar D Minor Barre Chord
Video File: D Minor Barre Chord Video

Here we will play a D Minor chord but you'll notice that we are just moving are fingers down a string.

Tip: Use the outer part of your first finger, towards your thumb to barre the chord. Also, be sure your thumb is located on the middle of the neck and not resting at the top.
Play the chord:
1. Place your 1st finger across all six strings at the fifth fret but let the tip of your finger deadend the sixth string.
2. Place your 3rd finger on fret seven of string five.
3. Place your 4th finger on fret seven of string four.
4. Place your 2nd finger of fret six of string three.
5. Play the chord!



Barre Chord Transition

Tab 
E|--3---5--|
B|--3---6--|
G|--4---7--|
D|--5---7--|
A|--5---5--|
E|--3---5--|
Video File: G Major to A Major Barre Chord Video

If you have gotten to this part, then you are now ready to see the beauty of barre chords! The beauty is, they can played on any fret! For this part of the lesson we will start at fret 3 and move to fret 5. Once you get this down, go crazy, and play the chords on the 10th fret or 9th, etc.

Play the chord transition:
1. Play a G Major barre chord, it's just like the A Major, but we are on the 3rd fret.
2. Keeping your in the same position, slide it up to the 5th fret and play an A Major barre chord.