How to play Barre Chords on Guitar

Course: 'Intermediate Free Taster Module'

In this video

This video is made in support of Andy's intermediate Guitar course. Click the button below for more info!

Intermediate Course

See below a full video and writeup showing how to play every E and A share barre chord on guitar. These are the most common barre chord shapes used in intermediate level songs.

Here is a recap of the Root 6 barre chord shapes for major and minor barre chords. These are commonly referred to as E major shape or E minor shape barre chords, as they are these shapes but moved higher up the neck. 

​E major shape barre chord

E minor shape barre chord

String 6 root notes

This diagram shows all the note names on string 6 of the guitar neck. When playing either of the shapes above, 

The blue colour indicates the sharp notes, shown by the # symbol e.g. F sharp is written F#.

Every sharp note can also be called a flat too e.g. F# is the same as Gb (G flat) because in music these are enharmonic equivalents (same note that can have different names!)

Whether a note is called a sharp or a flat depends entirely on the key it is in, which we will look at in the jamming section of this course.

Here is a recap of the Root 5 barre chord shapes for major and minor barre chords. These are commonly referred to as A major shape or A minor shape barre chords, as they are these shapes but moved higher up the neck. 

A major shape barre chord

A minor shape barre chord

String 5 root notes

Same concept as the previous lesson, here are all the note names on string 5, which will enable you to play any major or minor chord with your A shape barre chords!

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This video is made in support of Andy's intermediate Guitar course. Click the button below for more info!

Intermediate Course

Next Up: Essential Music Theory for Guitar // Chords in a Key

Well done! Let's jump into the next lesson of the course.