Barré chords

What are Barré Chords?

Now that we have ;earnt the 15 basic open chords, you may have noticed that some chords are missing. For example, we've learnt the 'A' and 'C' chords, but you may be wondering where's the 'B' chord? We've learnt 'Am' and 'Dm' , but why no 'Cm' chord? The reason is that these chord shapes do not use any of the open string, so they are not included in the open chords shapes. These chords consist entirely of fretted notes and the most efficient way to fret several notes at the same time is to use a barré. As 'C' 'C7' and 'F' chords section, a barré is when a finger of the left hand  - usually the first finger - is used to hold down two or more note, usually on adjacent strings.

 Barré chords have the ability to strike fear into the heart of many a novice guitarists. Why? 'cos they're very difficult. But don't worry keep practicing of barré the string. And at the some stage you'll be able to play barré chords easily.

You know the 'E' , 'E7' , 'Em' , 'A' , 'A7' , 'Am' chords shapes. These are the most commonly barréd chord shapes.
While playing Barré Chords your hand by which you holding the Barré Chord get hurt , and you will feel pain , But worry not keep on practicing , keep on increasing the time for holding the Barré Chords day by day.And one day you will be able to play the Barré Chords smoothly .

Barring the 'E' Chord
In order to barré the 'E' chord shape, 'E' must be re-fingered with fingers 2, 3, and 4 instead of the usual 1, 2 and 3. This would make the 'E' chord:
This fingering leaves the first finger free for the barré. Now move this chord shape with fingers 2, 3 and 4 up a fret, which produces the 'F' spanish chord, then place the first finger across all six strings at the first fret, thus:

 Remember to keep fingers 2,3 and 4 smoothly curved, and instead of placing the thumb behind the 2nd finger move it slightly closer to the 1st finger.Play through the chord one note at a time and listen to each note - we want each note to sound clearly.

 Similarly , move this shape up another fret so the lowest note is the bottom string 3rd fret and you have produced a 'G' chord, in the same fret if you shape your fingers like 'A' major chord , then that chord is 'C' major chord, thus:

Guitar is very complex and interesting instrument. You can play any chord in many places on the fretboard if you know the notes of the chords.

Now compare the sound of the opoen 'G' chord and barré 'G' chord. Both chords consists the same notes G B D.and thus have a similar overall sound. However, there is a difference in 'texture' and 'tone'.

 Do same with the 'C' major chord. Both open 'C' major and barréd chords consists of the C E G notes,and the sound is same.

 You can continue moving this shape up the fretboard, producing a different major chord at each fret. Since there are 12 different names for notes, you can produce 12 different chords from one chord shape. This is the beauty of the barré chords.

When you moved up the fretboard with barré chords it will became easy for you to play as the frets became closer together. So, for practice we'll look at the chords progression using barré chords higher up the fretboard, namely the 'A' and 'B' chords.

Barréd 'A' major chord play on the 5th fret. Barréd 'B' major chord play on the 7th fret. Same fretted shape as of the 'F' major chord.

E///|A///|B///|A///:||E

This is very common chord progression and appears in various forms.

'E7' and 'Em' Barré Shapes

The 'E7' shape is played with fingers 2 and 3 when barring. As we did with the 'E' chord shape, start with 'E7' at the bottom of the fretboard then move fingers 2 and 3 up by one fret, to frets 3 and 2 , respectively, on strings 5 and 3. Barréd at the 1st fret, this produces an 'F7' chord. Move the chord up the fretboard one fret at a time, naming each chord as you play it - remember , this chord takes its letter name from the lowest note in the chord, that is, the notes on the bottom string. As with the 'E' chord barré shape, this chord gets slightky easier as it is moved up the fretboard and the frets gets closer together. Opposite you can see the 'F7' , 'A7' and 'B7' barré chords.

 E7///|A///|B7///|A7///:||E7

The 'Fm', 'Am' and 'Bm', 'Gm' Barré Shapes

Here's a chord progression using these chords.

Em///|Am///|Bm///|Am///|Gm///|:||Em

The 'A7', 'A#7' and 'E7' Chords

By now, the principle behind barré chords should be clear. The two remaining shapes to barré are 'A7', and 'Am'. Open 'A7' has to be refingered with finger 3 and 4 instead of 2 and 4 in preparation for barring. Here's the chord refingered in preparation for barring, followed by 'A#7' and 'E7' barré chords using the 'A7' shape.

Similarly, here's the refingered 'Am' chord in preparation for barring, followed by 'A#7' and 'Dm' barré chords using the 'Am' shape.

Finally the chord progression bringing together these 'E7' and 'Dm' shapes. Start with the 'Am' barré chord based on the 'Em' shape.

Am///|Dm///|E7///|Dm///:||Am

'Cm' Barré Shape

Cm///Gm///Am///|:||Cm

Practice this chord progression,play all down strokes 4 times. You know the 'Gm' barré shape,move that shape up the fretboard leaving one fret , means move up whole step. I told you before that whole step means  covering 2 frets.

Résumé

You should now understand the principle behind barré chords. You should practice the barré chord shapes based on the open shapes of 'E' , 'E7' , 'Em' , 'A' , 'A7' , and 'Am' , starting at the bottom of the fretboard and moving up one fret at a time, naming each chord as you play it. Since barré chords are easier to play when the frets are closer together , practice the chord progressions covered in this section.