Tips25 May 2005 12:08 am
Barre Chord Basics | How to Play Barre Chords
I’ve decided to start sprinkling tips among my longer tutorials and articles. Here’s the first…
Barre chords are the scourge of the beginning guitarist. Like a bum knee, a prison record, the inability of matter to exceed the speed of light; barre chords hold us back. The next time an F minor chord messes with you, mess back with this:
- Check your thumb placement. Your thumb should be pressing against the back of the neck, on the fattest part, behind the area where the 2nd finger’s hanging out.
- Check your first finger placement. It should be parallel with the fret wire, so close it’s just barely touching the side. Roll your finger a bit toward the nut, so that the bony side of the finger is digging into the strings instead of the strings digging into what my student Casey calls the “chub.”
- Stop pressing so hard. That first finger’s only responsible for fretting some of the strings, so don’t try to press down on each string with equal force. For example, when playing a standard barred F chord, press hard with the tip of your finger on the 6th string, and dig your knuckle into the 1st and 2nd strings, but let the finger rest lightly over the other strings.
- Take heart. Often you can transpose a song to avoid barre chords. Also, some great guitarists never play barre chords–BB King, for example, played his way to greatness pretty much one note at a time. As he said in the U2 documentary “Rattle and Hum,” “I don’t do chords.”
Please comment if you’d like to add your own tips for playing barre chords. And if you’d like to submit a tip about some other aspect of guitar playing, email me.
May 25th, 2005 at 8:25 am
barre chord is definitely the hardest
it cripples my song when i’m playing as i have to pause to make sure the position. more tips appreciated…
May 26th, 2005 at 4:22 pm
I hate barre chords with a passion. They totally kill my songs and fingers…
Your tips totally rawk, though.
-TiTo
July 28th, 2005 at 12:04 pm
I’m still not sure what a barre chord is :(.
July 30th, 2005 at 2:36 pm
yeah barre chords sux…i’m just still very inexperienced with playing the guitar but barre chords really frusturate me and make me wanna not pick up that guitar and try to play that song….
August 1st, 2005 at 11:25 am
Jordan, here’s an article that defines barre chords. They’re basically chords that require you to fret a bunch of notes with your first finger, by laying your finger across the strings instead of just fretting one string with your fingertip.
Have fun!
August 28th, 2005 at 12:27 pm
Thanks for your tips. They really helped me with barre chords.
September 9th, 2005 at 1:24 am
I like to add that If you fret a A Major in 5th Position, try to put your thumb more in horizontal position. behind the neck. Pressure of all fingers should be nearly equal to avoid tensing all up.
December 17th, 2005 at 4:17 am
This is by far the best guitar learing resource on the web. Thaks a lot.
December 22nd, 2005 at 10:37 pm
Hey what do you think I am doing wrong if, when playing barre chords, the fleshy part of my hand (below the thumb) starts cramping up and hurting like the billyo? Am I pressing too hard or is it my finger placement or what?
Cheers
April 12th, 2006 at 3:42 pm
I’m just learning barre chords. They are difficult. I’m struggling with buzzing since I’m not doing it correctly. Just to keep my spirits up I stuck a band-aid across the two middle creases of my first finger. It seems to help until I get strong enough to do it without it. I suppose props are bad but it keeps my enthusiasm for these difficult chords up.
cx
May 21st, 2006 at 9:12 pm
ahhhhhhhh!
I’ve been playing guitar for 6 years now. All that I play is classical acoustic stuff…like you mentioned,and, WITHOUT touching 1 bar chorde. The other day a friend of mine said that i should learn them anyway. atleast for some knowledge, that way i would have a wider idea of chords and notes. I feel like i’m just learning again. I can’t play a single bar chord properly. I start to get lazy and play them with the tips of my fingers and give up using the ‘bar” method. I can’t even get my fingers into the right position and everything ends up contorted. I taught myself how to play, so my original idea on how to play is not like it should be(I think). I would greatly appreciate it if anyone can find anything for me that explains exercises to get my hands into the proper bar chord position.
I have a habbit of playing chords with all of my fingers but my middle one…my pinky and pointer seem to do the most work… =/ heeelllppp
June 17th, 2006 at 11:56 am
well for barre chords you should try keeping your fingers in the same postition and then hover down the fret boared and after a few weeks parctise you’ll get the hang of it.
Im only 12 and ive been playing guitar for about a year now so if I can do them then most people should (i think). I can learn to play mostly anything I would like to play so keep your spirits high and keep up that enthusiamsm of yours. :p
July 13th, 2006 at 12:10 pm
I feel ur shame about lettin my pinkey and pointer do all the work,nearly All smashing Pumpkins songs seem to involve chords where u can avoid use of ur middle finger completely. pS if somebody could give me a link to a sight that would show me thre value of a certain barre chord at each fret id be eternally Grateful. Love KG
August 18th, 2006 at 11:49 pm
Yeah but once you get used to the barre you find yourself just flying around! It took me months to get a basic barre, but well worth the work!
August 24th, 2006 at 7:42 am
today, for the first time, i have managed a couple of bar chords, i’m so happy!! i’m teaching myself, so sites like this are brilliant for me, thankyou!
1 question though- my guitar has a thinner neck than most (its a marshall rocket). is that better for playing bars or not?
August 24th, 2006 at 10:50 am
Hey Franz,
I’ve never considered the effect of neck size on playing barre chords. Hmmm. I would guess that it’d be a bit easier to play on a thinner neck. In general, thinner necks are easier to maneuver on, and it looks like thin necks don’t require quite as much bent wrist (the bane of guitar players) as thick necks.
I’d like to hear other players’ opinions on this.
August 29th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
I’ve just started on barre chords after resisting them for years. A great song for learning them (although my left hand is in agony throughout and after) is La Isla Bonita(Madonna)or Golden Brown (Stranglers)intro which both mix barre chords with the welcome relief of normal chords.
Is it right that any chords a to d sharp will be played in the A bar position and e to G sharp in the E bar position. Thats what I’ve had in my head to help me remember.
September 3rd, 2006 at 3:35 pm
barre chords are killing me! The B and e strings never seem to ring clearly. If I focus more on the bottom strings my pointer finger seems to let up off the E string. Very frustrating. Any tips for getting the bottom strings to ring clearly?
September 3rd, 2006 at 3:48 pm
Aside from my recommendations in the article, you may want to look at lowering the action on your guitar, getting lighter strings, or trying an electric guitar (which would mean lower action and lighter strings by default).
Thankfully, there are lots of ways of getting around barre chords in the meantime. I often avoid them by using a capo (another good article topic!)
September 4th, 2006 at 2:23 pm
surely using a capo doesn’t make any difference because it can’t move, so you would be in exactly the same position but just playing higher up the neck,playing in a different key?
September 4th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
Good point. I meant that if you wanted to avoid a barre chord but stay in the same key, you could use a capo in combination with changing the chord shapes. For example, if you were playing a song in the key of C, and wanted to avoid the F chord, you could capo 5th fret and use key of G chord shapes.
September 24th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
What an amazing website! I’m loving this. I am new to the guitar, (one month), but I’ve found a great instructor who is actually employed as a guitarist with a local theater company. Since I’ve only had one lesson I’m not playing barre chords yet, but at least I’ve discovered, (here), that barre chords have nothing to do with bars - the drinking establishments. Maybe I’ll visit one before I try. I’m really happy to find this site. Thanks Rob.
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:40 pm
I injured my left index (string) finger when I was 13 on October 30,1969, 22 stitches and tendon damage. I only was able to play guitar for a few years because of pain and numbness from the injury. Because the finger was numb and I’ve only recently gained most of the feeling back and almost full extension, I started playing again after 25 years of not playing. I can finger individual strings fine. I can play some great old tunes like “From the Beginning” by ELP, some Zepplin and Metalica. All this is on my acoustic, btw. Getting an electric in 2007. OK here’s the problem. I can finger D7M (lower 3 barred)w/o any problem. This is a barre chord from “Ventura Highway” by America. However it is freaking impossible for me to barre D7M with my injury. Heck that chord is almost impossible, period. If anyone has suggestions as how to finger D7M, please post it. I would like to be able to play it.
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:44 pm
Mistake, sorry. The chord that I cannot finger, nor barre is F#M. If you know how to finger it, please post. Or if there is a “cheat” let me know. And dudes, yes the finger still hurts after all these years, I can play for about 45 minutes to an hour, then I have to stop. Sucks.
November 21st, 2006 at 3:25 pm
well i think its a nice way of telling me how to put my hands but its the hole what key is what key and stuff.
December 15th, 2006 at 4:39 pm
These - as they are to everyone else - continue to kill me.
I tried playing Boulevard of Broken Dreams, but most of the chords in that are Barre Chords. I went to a Chord Finder online, and found another way to play the chord, but honestly, I don’t think I’ll be a ‘well-rounded’ guitarist without learning these.
Thanks. Some other ‘helpful’ articles are:
About.com : http://guitar.about.com/c/ht/00/07/How_Play_Barre_Chords0962934244.htm
eHow.com:
http://www.ehow.com/how_7024_play-barre-chords.html
Ultimate-Guitar.com
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/chords/barre_chords_forms.html
Dansm’s Guide to Barre Chords:
http://www.geocities.com/mike_mccracker/chguide/barre.htm
Thanks,
December 26th, 2006 at 8:10 am
what are the fingers for D7M..yea, stupid question, but help please.
December 28th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
Hey, Eric! Might I suggest that you just try a three-note F#m? Take your Dm chord and move it up four frets. Or, it might be easier for you to barre further up the fret board. Barre the ninth fret and make an Am chord under it. Either will result in a F#m chord. When you get an electric, make sure the guitar has a thinner neck on it and low action. Consider my situation: all my performing life I have used righty stringing yet played lefty! I have always had to create my own fingering and there are some chords (mostly jazz chords)I can’t play!
Good luck!
January 10th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
I sucked at barre chords for a long time, but after endless practice I now have them down pat, so don’t give up hope! A problem I’ve had when playing barre chords standing up is my left thumb gets numb after awhile. It’s no trouble when I’m playing but feels a bit funky when I’m not and it’s still numb. I figure I’m just gripping the neck too hard.
Learning scales is now my next mission. Having played chords for so long it’s been an effort to get my fingers moving one note at a time - any tips for that? Just practice and more practice I guess. I almost have the Am pentatonic down though.
April 15th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Cool site! Moving index finger close the fret wire does help! The b string still a tough one (E form) I use mediums.I will give lights a whirl.
Thanks
April 24th, 2007 at 7:32 pm
for F#m, try a power chord verison:
(EADGBE) x442xx (so its similar to the barre, but rather than barring all of fret 2, you only play the 3rd string…)
April 30th, 2007 at 11:10 am
I love bar chords! They’re free to play any chord I want to!
June 4th, 2007 at 5:20 am
To be honest i’ve only played guitar for 9 months, but had a guitar teacher.
And Barre chords are simple if you put the effort in to learn them Day in Day out.
Best thing to do to train them is to do a A Major natural then do a Barre chord and keep switching.
Hope this helped anybody also.
June 13th, 2007 at 3:40 am
what is a good website for beiginners im in year seven and they teach it at school but i want to lern my self im an individual so i want to know a good website for beguinners
thanx
June 13th, 2007 at 6:22 am
Hey Princess,
It depends on what kind of music you like, but try the lessons at http://www.guitarnoise.com/
Have fun!
July 30th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
This tutorial has given me a new lease on guitar life.
Thanks
July 30th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
Cool, Raihan! Thanks for writing!
August 6th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
I also pretty much taught myself to play and can fly through basic chords pretty well but barre chords stress me out and i don’t feel like i’m a true guitarist if i don’t learn them. How long does it take to get ‘em down and be able to move aimlessly up and down the frets.
August 16th, 2007 at 9:37 am
I still have a hard time with those chords..
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:26 pm
Some of them can be cheated and sound pretty good, B minor or b major for example will sound good if you make the Am , or the A shape on the fourth fret and by just pressing the e string on the second fret, same thing for C minor, by starting at the third fret…Also you can write pretty damn good songs by using the chords you know and learning the scales…Music is something you feel in your heart and not an atlethic performance, so learn them in time you will get them , but I belive a strong sense of melody is more important than how fast you can change from F to F#…Just discover what sounds good and mess around.
October 12th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
i have had a guitar for two years but only started playing recently, teaching myself. i sing lead and am trying to be able to sing and play back up guitars, which means lots of chordssss. i tried playing barre chords the normal correct way but i can only get the lower three stings to sound good, the higher-note strings dont play because i’m not able to press them down hard enough and press the bottom three. i tried learning idividual chords, but tht became too much thought so i tried something new. i tuned my guitar e, b, e, b, b, e. the e’s are octaves apart, and the first two b’s are octaves apart, with the third b being the same note as the second because my string was going to break if i tried a different note. with this tuning all i have to do is press every string down with my index finger on one fret, and then slide around to make different chords. i know its wrong, and probably seems like a disgrace to a better guitarist, but it has enabled me to play and sing, and now i actually want to play songs by my favorite bands like cartel and coheed and cambria. even though i can play songs with this tuning, i am still trying to play natural barre chords, but if you are like me and need to be able to play your favorite songs because you need to be more interested then i hope this trick will help you. be careful though because this tuning may cause worn strings to break.
October 22nd, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Here’s one my teacher told me. When going from the E major to a Fm or F#m or any barre chord minor, I use my middle finger for the G# (3rd string, first fret) and my 4th finger for the B (5th string 2nd fret) and the pinkie for E (4th string 2nd fret). Now when I move up the neck to play a barre chord minor, my 4th and pinkie fingers are all ready in position so I just slide up the neck and barre with my index.
October 27th, 2007 at 10:21 am
i have just taken up the guitar [less than a month] and struggled with barre chords. i still do, 1 piece of advice you be when you barre it place your finger ac
November 17th, 2007 at 12:39 am
i just stared playing barre notes today and they already sound perfect =] maybe im just lucky well i could just not hear de g string ring so i put my index finger al little higer and now all the notes sound excelent!
and thanks for the tips!! =]]
December 4th, 2007 at 3:50 am
Finally all my barre chords “ring true” it took me about 6 months of dedication to master them. However the problem i have now is to place them quick enough in a tune..Say if you go from a C to a Fmaj i lose the rhythm when going to the F chord…guess that will come with time..I practice and just try to change as quickly as possibly but my finger memory is not perfect yet..
January 27th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
barre chords annoy me more than Kate Nash. I can play the Stairway to Heaven solo, november rain, sweet child o’ mine…etc but when it comes to barre chords..its taken me 2 months to get them perfect but next comes changing from barre to regular chord and back to barre, i completely lose the rhythm. My thumb positioning is shocking, i have quite long fingers so have never really needed to control my thumb when it comes to simple chords or solo’s!
I am also looking for a new acoustic, any advise on which one i should get?
thanks!
February 22nd, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I found a book called Idiots guide to learning Guitar (Nice, huh…) and about 10-15 pages in, and about 3 chords learnt, they introduced the F chord… THE F CHORD! I had just picked up the guitar and learnt how to play Yankee Doodle Donkey when they introduced this thing… It stopped me playing for a year, because I thought I just couldnt play guitar altogether…
These tips are spot on! I still cant do barre chords well, but then i’ve only just started (again) and I can barely play anything!
I am DEFINITELY looking back to this for reference! Merci!
March 12th, 2008 at 9:38 am
After reading some of the comments you guys made it seemed that some people were very confused about what the bar cords purpose was. I’ve only been playing for a few months and just recently started playing bar cords. When I started I couldn’t even fret a barre cord for longer than a few strums before my hand started to cramp up and hurt. I played through it and in about a week or two I was able to play whole songs using barre cords. My advice just keep at it and like the open chords you learned first the bar cords will become second nature also.
To popsypops: your question about cords reminded me of a revelation I had when I was practicing them when I started. Working with the E and A forms, meaning the E and A strings, the root note that you start on is the cord you are going to play. So if you fret the 3rd fret in an E, major barre shape you would be playing a G since the low E string third fret is a G. You can continue all the way up the neck in this fashion playing any cord you want. Same with the A shape, not fretting the low E string. To help with learning this as I was playing a cord in the E shape I would sing to myself the cord that I was playing. This really helped me learn the low E and A string notes up and down the neck. I’m still not great at it but I seriously helped me. It gets confusing though when your talking to somebody and they say play an A which is in the E shape on the 5th fret but your mind might be thinking the A barre shape which would be all the way on the 12th fret. Working with barre cords also helped me with the concepts of the chromatic scale, sharps and flats and differentiating chord forms which are seperate such as major, minor, dom 7th, minor 7th ect. Before this my brain just kinda mushed everything together. It really helped me understand that you find a note or key you want then work with the forms inside that like your minor and 7th’s. Hope this helps. I’m a total noob to guitar but as difficult as they were to start learning they have paid off so far.
April 23rd, 2008 at 3:49 am
I’m a beginner who’s been playing about 2 months
and like most of you, I’m having a real hard time learning to play barre chords. It feels physically impossible to play them. However, I’m going to keep practicing and maybe they’ll sound ok someday. Thanks for all the tips.
August 4th, 2008 at 5:32 am
Found placement of thumb a lot of help. Theres just some chords such as B, Bm, Cm that really do need to be done with a barre chord
August 17th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Barre chords are not hard… I have never understood that idea. The first chords i learned were Barre chords.
But if you guys want help learn reggae or ska guitar. you will be like, way way better with barres if you try hard at that.
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:09 pm
sideways finger helep alot
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:19 pm
I am 12 years old and have been playing guitar for 2 years going into my 3rd begining in march and yes barre chords are a pain in the butt at first (i learned them around my 3rd or 4th month) but now i know how important they are. Think of barre chords as scales they are a pain in the butt and annoying but they are so important when it comes to guitar. Also check out my guitar blog at guitarblog.edublogs.org(hey its free).
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Hey josh if your still looking for an acoustic(which i doubt cause its been a while) try the takimine g series(more information on my website under about.
March 2nd, 2009 at 1:00 am
I love you.
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:49 am
Put your elbow out away from your body. This helps especially for the ‘A’ form bar chords, but it helps with all of them.
April 30th, 2009 at 3:44 am
What’s with all the negativity around barre chords? The ability to rake a barre chord (mute all strings by removing pressure from the chord) is a great and easy way to make chord progressions sound funky and more interesting. Plus Barre chords can be worked out easily with only basic knowlege of the notes on a guitar and barre chord shapes. I presonally think that barre chords add a new great dimention to rythm guitar playing and I reccomend you stick at it =)
Much love.
May 28th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
barre chords: simple but not easy - but am gaining more confidence that they are do-able with perseverence. I found this site looking for tips on exectuting barre chords. (especially tips for small handed gals like myself) - got a lot of great info and encouragement that practice, practice, practice is the way to go. I just started taking lessons (lesson # 3 Tuesday) and just started barre chords. Daunting! But - reminding myself that two weeks ago I struggled with C Major chord and now I can play it(usually). How? Instead of looking for songs that didn’t have a C chord to play (kinda tough) I looked for a song that had as many as possible in combo with others to practice going back and forth! Funny how I forgot that when faced with the barre chords - my first instinct, avoid them at all costs! Thanks to everyone for their input!
May 28th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Wow, barre chords on your third lesson! You’re on the fast track.
June 8th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
I posted a comment about a year ago which detailed my hatred of barre chords. I was still a begginer but was great at solo’s for some reason. Now i have mastered barre chords (well about a week after i posted the comment!) It turned out i had been playing on a guitar with an action higher than tower bridge. I did not know this as i was a beginner. But as soon as i picked up a decent guitar i had absolutely no problems. But also as i played on a horrible guitar i have very strong hands which makes anything possible on a half decent guitar!
If anyone cares i went for a Martin D28, without a doubt the best money i ever spent.
July 1st, 2009 at 2:56 pm
My advice is skip the F major barre chord at first. Practice your barre chords between the 7th and 10th fret and slowly move up as you get a hang of them.
Music is about rhythm and if you pause to make the barre you lose the rythym. Fudge or cheat but keep the rhythm going. For instance use the small F chord, etc.
Keep at it. They will come. If you can’t get a good ring from the strings after lots of practice then go to a guitar store and try a few different guitars. Sometimes it’s the shape of the guitar neck, your hand & fingers just not getting along. Try lots of different guitar brands.
July 24th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
I am self taught. No teacher to guide me. I find them to be stress causing at times. The advice above works great. I am learning a very easy piece for classical guitar called “Romance” and have a couple of full bar chords to deal with. Sometimes I put my guitar down and rest when I am getting frustrated. When you are tense bad habits can be formed.
Take is slow and steady. Take breaks from it. Then go back to it like you are going to kick ass and you will.
July 26th, 2009 at 3:55 am
The only way to master barre chords is to play them a lot and be patient. Try to find songs that you can get barre chord workout, like, anything with a F# or G#. You WILL get eventually it. But when you start to get tired, bored, or your thumb muscle hurts, just stop. Don’t go back to it until the next day.
HERE’S ONE BARRE PRACTICE
FROM “I WANT YOU BACK” by J5
minor barre on 9 fret
minor barre on 4 fret
major barre on 5 fret
minor barre on 0 fret
(this is an E, but keep barre fingering)
minor barre on 2 fret
(this is an F#m)
major barre on 7 fret
modified barre: 07999x
ENJOY.
August 19th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
I have been playing guitar for 9 months now.I was able to completely avoid barre chords.And i had the attitude of “i dont need to learn specific chords,esepcially barre ones” ,but i ran into a wall with an ac/dc song…and was completely puzzled.I had to figure it out on my own and was thumping myself in the head for not realizing what it was and how to do it.This site helped me out on the specifics though.Thanks alot!
August 25th, 2009 at 6:38 am
If you want practice learning/using barre chords, try learning Jim Croce songs. I don’t know one of his songs that doesn’t use them heavily….
November 8th, 2009 at 12:30 am
this is incredible. I’ve been struggling with this for months and only today thought of looking it up. now i can play bm! thank you!