Bar Chords ( barre chords)

Bar chords may seem hard at first when learning them, but give it time and they become just as easy as open chords. These type of chords are also known as moveable chords. When making bar chords usually the index finger will press across 3 or more strings. When your index finger cover across the entire fret board it takes the place of the nut of the guitar just moved up further on the neck. So when you play the bar chords, they take the shape of the open chords. Your free fingers are placed on the neck above the bar in order to produce the desired chord. The cool thing is once you play a bar chord you can move it up and down on the neck without changing your fingering and that will change the key of the chord. The most important note to know is the root note because that names the chord. When playing bar chords holding across all six strings with your index finger, its a good idea to learn and memorize all the note names on the sixth string. Knowing these note names will help you to be able to name the bar chord you are playing. The same idea goes for the 5th string also, although eventually is a good idea to learn all the notes on the fret board.

Bar Chord Shapes

The most important two types of bar chords to learn at first are the E shaped and A shaped. If the bar chord is using the E shape then the 6th string (e) will be the root note. If the bar chord you are playing is the A shape chord then 5th string (a) will be the root. Notice in the F chord below you can see the (E shaped chord) the same for the below C chord you can see the (A shaped chord) If you any additional questions on bar chords please ask them in the forum and we can get a discussion topic started on them.

Below is the E shaped bar chord and a (A) shaped bar chord.