Barre Chords

By learning three simple forms, you will be able to play any major, minor, seventh or minor seventh chord you want.

We will start with the E major shape.

e|—-0—-| B|—-0—-| G|—-1—-| D|—-2—-| A|—-2—-| E|—-0—-|

This is the basic E major shape. If you are using your index finger while fingering this chord, you must remove it. You must play this chord using your middle, ring and little finger. You should be playing it like this…

(1)=Index Finger (2)=Middle Finger
(3)=Ring Finger (4)=Little Finger

e|–0—–| B|–0—–| G|–1-(2)-| D|–2-(4)-| A|–2-(3)-| E|–0—–|

Now that you have your index finger free, move the whole position up a fret and put your index finger across the whole of the first fret. In other words, “barre the first fret”.

e|–1-(1)-| B|–1-(1)-| G|–2-(2)-| D|–3-(4)-| A|–3-(3)-| E|–1-(1)-|

By moving the chord up a fret, you have formed an F major chord. Now if you slide it up again, you have F#, then G, then G# and so on…

This technique works with any major chord, but E major and A major are the easiest to finger. Here is an example of what happens with the A major chord.

e|–0—–|–>|–1-(1)-|
B|–2-(4)-|–>|–3-(4)-|
G|–2-(3)-|–>|–3-(3)-|
D|–2-(2)-|–>|–3-(2)-|
A|–0—–|–>|–1-(1)-|
E|–0—–|–>|–1-(1)-|

Using these two chord positions, I will show you how to form a minor, a seventh and a minor seventh from them. I will start with the E major position…

e|–3-(1)-| B|–3-(1)-| G|–4-(2)-| D|–5-(4)-| A|–5-(3)-| E|–3-(1)-|

Here is the barre chord of G major (Based on the E major postition). To form a seventh, simply lift your little finger (4) like so…

e|–3-(1)-| B|–3-(1)-| G|–4-(2)-| D|–3-(4)-| A|–5-(3)-| E|–3-(1)-|

To form the minor, lift up your middle finger (2) from the original major position, like so…

e|–3-(1)-| B|–3-(1)-| G|–3-(1)-| D|–5-(4)-| A|–5-(3)-| E|–3-(1)-|

To get a minor seventh, raise both middle (2) and little (4) fingers from the original major postion…

e|–3-(1)-| B|–3-(1)-| G|–3-(1)-| D|–3-(1)-| A|–5-(3)-| E|–3-(1)-|

Now we shall look at the A major position. This is slightly harder…

e|–3-(1)-| B|–5-(4)-| G|–5-(3)-| D|–5-(2)-| A|–3-(1)-| E|–3-(1)-|

Above, is the barre chord of C major (Based on the A major position). To form a seventh, raise your ring finger (3) like this…

e|–3-(1)-| B|–5-(4)-| G|–3-(1)-| D|–5-(2)-| A|–3-(1)-| E|–3-(1)-|

To form the minor, you need to rearrange the position to look like this…

e|–3-(1)-| B|–4-(2)-| G|–5-(4)-| D|–5-(3)-| A|–3-(1)-| E|–3-(1)-|

And finally, form the minor seventh by lifting your little finger (4) from the minor position like so…

e|–3-(1)-| B|–4-(2)-| G|–3-(1)-| D|–5-(3)-| A|–3-(1)-| E|–3-(1)-|

This may seem complicated at first, but keeping working on it and you’ll get it perfect! This is enough information to get you going with barre chords. If you keep practicing, you will be able to discover a lot more for yourself.