How to Play Barre Chords
Learning Barre Chords can be a real challenge. For the beginning guitar player. In the immortal words of AC/DC, “It’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll.” Barre Chords are one of the first dragons you need to slay on the path to becoming a rock legend. The bottom line is that you must learn Barre Chords to become a guitar player; you will have to use them at some point.
Mastering barre chords is a journey that requires perseverance. It's true, they can be challenging to play and demand finger dexterity , but remember, Rome wasn't built in a day. Keep at it, and with consistent practice, you will conquer them!
There are two primary reasons people give up on Barre Chords, and sometimes give up on the guitar altogether:
1. It hurts your fingers
2. You need to know the notes on a guitar
I will probably get shot for this, but the easiest way to get over #1 is to ditch the acoustic and pick up an electric. The electric guitar has very light strings, which are much easier to press. It doesn’t hurt your fingers as much as a steel string acoustic. Don’t get me wrong - I love a good steel string acoustic, but pick it back up after you get comfortable with Barre Chords on an electric. You will learn faster, and the guitar will be more fun and less painful.
Memorizing the notes on the guitar may seem overwhelming, but we have a solution for you! Introducing AxeTape, a tool that makes learning the notes on the guitar a breeze. Simply apply it to your guitar neck, and the notes will be right in front of you. With AxeTape, learning the notes on the guitar becomes a piece of cake.
You have to get the positioning down, which just takes some practice. I recommend moving your elbow down so you can get a better position on the neck of the guitar and then pinching your thumb and index finger. Getting a clean sound won’t take much but a little practice.
Once you get over the finger-hurting aspect and have the positioning down, Barre Chords can be moved up and down the neck of the guitar without changing your fingering. The first note you play with your index finger is called a root note. These notes determine the name of the chord. You must know the root note, and AxeTape will help you.
Here are the 2 most common Barre Chords: the E and A forms. These can be moved up and down the neck to create new chords without changing the fingering. Just by learning these two shapes and the minors, with a 21-fret guitar, you can play over 76 chords!
Notice the root note is circled:
Mastering barre chords is a journey that requires perseverance. It's true, they can be challenging to play and demand finger dexterity , but remember, Rome wasn't built in a day. Keep at it, and with consistent practice, you will conquer them!
There are two primary reasons people give up on Barre Chords, and sometimes give up on the guitar altogether:
1. It hurts your fingers
2. You need to know the notes on a guitar
I will probably get shot for this, but the easiest way to get over #1 is to ditch the acoustic and pick up an electric. The electric guitar has very light strings, which are much easier to press. It doesn’t hurt your fingers as much as a steel string acoustic. Don’t get me wrong - I love a good steel string acoustic, but pick it back up after you get comfortable with Barre Chords on an electric. You will learn faster, and the guitar will be more fun and less painful.
Memorizing the notes on the guitar may seem overwhelming, but we have a solution for you! Introducing AxeTape, a tool that makes learning the notes on the guitar a breeze. Simply apply it to your guitar neck, and the notes will be right in front of you. With AxeTape, learning the notes on the guitar becomes a piece of cake.
You have to get the positioning down, which just takes some practice. I recommend moving your elbow down so you can get a better position on the neck of the guitar and then pinching your thumb and index finger. Getting a clean sound won’t take much but a little practice.
Once you get over the finger-hurting aspect and have the positioning down, Barre Chords can be moved up and down the neck of the guitar without changing your fingering. The first note you play with your index finger is called a root note. These notes determine the name of the chord. You must know the root note, and AxeTape will help you.
Here are the 2 most common Barre Chords: the E and A forms. These can be moved up and down the neck to create new chords without changing the fingering. Just by learning these two shapes and the minors, with a 21-fret guitar, you can play over 76 chords!
Notice the root note is circled:
Minor Barre Chords work the same way. You can use these two shapes up and down the neck using the root note to determine the chord. Notice the root note is circled.
Here are the two most common power chord shapes: these are noted in music by the number 5, or the 5th note. Such as the A5, B5, C5, etc. These can be used up and down the neck of the guitar using the index finger as the root. Notice the root note is circled
When playing scales, the root note determines the key of the scale. For example here is the Major Scale.
Notice the root notes are circled. Using the 6th string as your reference, the root note of C is on the 8th fret. This makes the C scale. Using the 6th string again, and the root note of D on the 10th fret, makes the D scale. The minor works the same way; just make sure the song is played in the minor key. Often a song starts and stops within the same key.
PENTATONIC
Here is another popular scale used in Blues and Rock:
Notice the root notes are circled. Using the 6th string as your reference, the root note of C is on the 8th fret. This makes the C scale. Using the 6th string again, and the root note of D on the 10th fret, makes the D scale. The minor works the same way; just make sure the song is played in the minor key. Often a song starts and stops within the same key.
PENTATONIC
Here is another popular scale used in Blues and Rock:
Let’s say you want to play the solo to Hotel California by The Eagles to tie this all together. This song is written using the key B minor. You can tell because all the chords fall within the key of Bm. If you want to play the solo to this song, you would play the Minor Scale. So you find the B root note and play the minor scale.