How to Play Guitar Barre Chords by Henre Lobus

Playing a barre chord is one of the areas where beginners have difficulty in learning. This chord can be easily recognized by looking at the guitar player's index finger barring or lying flat on all the six strings of the same fret and forming the rest of the fingers in E or A position except for the thumb.

It is good to work out the strength of the index finger by using acoustic guitar where the strings are bit rigid in order to easily place or form barre chords if you use electric guitars. It is in like manner that when you exercise your body feels agile thus making you do your chores quickly. Moreover,the stiffness of your fingers will play an important role in learning to form guitar barre chords.

Forming barre chords in E position

E form is one of the common barre chords. Let me illustrate below:

 1 x x x x 1
/ / / 2 / /
/ 3 4 / / /

Where 1 is the index finger, 2 is the middle, 3 is the ring, and 4 is the small or pinky.

If you want to form F chord then position your fingers in the 1st fret. Just move higher to transpose like forming it in the 3rd fret for G major chord. Notice that fingers 2 to 4 resemble E major chord. Thus, naming it E form.

Forming barre chords in A position

Another popular barre chord is in A form. See below:

 x 1 x x x 1
/ / / / / /
/ / 2 3 4 /

A form is done by barring index finger on strings 1 to 5 making 6 as "dead" while the rest of the fingers are placed on the 3rd fret counting from the index finger. See how fingers 2 to 4 form the A major chord.

Bear in mind, it does not take overnight to learn barre chords if you are a beginner. It takes constant practice to refine its sound.