The Skool of guitar excellence
By now you will know how to play all the major and minor chords, now we look at how to play these chords in a way that will take us all over the fret board and allow us to play a larger variety of songs.
Unlike a standard chord, the bar chord is “moveable” so you get
different chords but the shape or pattern stays the same.
Not only that, but for all you real rockers out there who want to get on to power chords, this is the foundation for a proper understanding of how to play power chords, and to know their names and
positions….so take note!
This is not as difficult as you might think, and, when you understand and commit these shapes to memory, you can play almost any song you care to mention!
There are two basic shapes, one is based on the 6th string, the other on the 5th string. So to identify them they are called either
ROOT 6 BAR CHORDS or ROOT 5 BAR CHORDS.
This is because the chord is based on the ROOT note of either the 6th or 5th string.
THIS IS WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO LEARN THE NOTES ON THE 6th AND 5th STRINGS.
Once we learn the notes on the 6th and 5th strings, we can play any chord, major or minor , using these two shapes by simply sliding up or down the fret board to the appropriate root note.
Both the ROOT 6 and the ROOT 5 bar chords have a major and minor position, so in all there are two ROOT 6 and two ROOT 5 bar chord positions to learn
We will look at these four bar chord shapes that will translate into literally dozens of chords and a variety of ways and places on the fret board to play them.
These four chord shapes are the essentials in bar chords. Learn these, and you'll be able to play most of your favourite songs.
RockSkool: Bar Chord Introduction
