How To Raise The BARRE Of Excellence

Raising the bar of excellence. Photo Credits

After spending a great deal of time learning the basic open position chords, we move on to the world of barre chords. It is already an achievement to be able to play the open position chords since almost all kinds of songs use them. However, open chords have limitations because you are only confined in playing chords up to the third fret. But there will be instances that you need to play chords which do not include open strings. In these situations, guitarists will often resort to playing "barre chords" or simply "bar".


The key to playing barre chords is developing the ability to "barre" (fret) all or most of the strings of the guitar with your index finger. This technique should be done cleanly to get a good tone out of all the strings. One of the key benefits of learning barre chords is the ease of moving them around the fret-board, in order to play different chords. Thus, barre chords are also known as movable chords.

Initially, you'll find barre chords very difficult to play and it can make you frustrated. Since everyone's index finger is shaped a little differently, you may have to experiment a little to get a good tone. But, don't give up if it doesn't sound great at first. It certainly will with enough practice. Learning barre chords will equip you with all the tools and skills you need to become excellent with your guitar!

Movable barre chords are either E-based, with root on the 6th (low E) string, or A-based, with root on the 5th (A) string. We will be talking about these types of chords in the succeeding posts.

Stay tuned...