Just Started Barre Chords Today...

I usually practice barres this way, and I'mslowly improving.

Run both E and A shapes up and down the neck. THen do the the 7th variant. Then I practice going from open chords to a full barre. Never know when that might come in handy.

YMMMV :D

Run both E and A shapes up and down the neck. THen do the the 7th variant.

YMMMV :D

Kind of lost me on this one Twisted :? :? :?

I am just using the 4 basic chord shapes I found HERE and I don't know the "terminology" yet.

Sorry :oops: :oops: :oops:

I apologize Mike, I sometimes forget that not everyone is on the same page.
:oops:

An E shape barre is just like the G pictured there. {If you take away your index finger your other three fingers make the shape of an open E chord.}

An A shape would be like the C as shown on the link you gave.

And There is another way to do a 7th barre chord other than the C7 shown there, although that one is handy to know.

Make the Full barre for the G chord as shown there. Now lift your pinky finger off and you have a G7 chord.

Hope that helps some.

When practicing barres I go up and down the neck with the 4 standard shapes. (I don't lift my fingers, just release pressure and slide them)
and I practice going from one barre shape to another (leaving the barre finger planted)
Going from open chords to barre shapes and back I have only practiced for certain songs like "The Weight" which has a Bm in the progression.
I now realise that I may not be playing any barre chord completely clean. Up to now I have been strumming and they seem to sound good but a dead string can easily hide.
Now that I am trying a barre chord in a fingerstyle song the dead strings are rearing thier ugly heads.

Mike,
there are two basic shapes for barre chords - the E and the A shape.
Form an Emajor chord, but use the middle, ring and little finger to form it. Your index finger should hang over the nut. This, is like I said, an Emajor chord. By moving the fingers up one fret and putting your index finger behind the 1st fret (i.e. it acts as a movable nut), you are now making an F barre chord - F being one semitone higher than E.
Move it up one more fret and you have an F# chord - notice how the name of the chord mirrors the note that your index finger is fretting on the 6th (low E) string? Keep moving up the neck, following the new chord.
You can do the same with the A shaped chord - make an Amajor chord, by barring the notes on the D, G and B strings with either the ring or little finger (your index can droop lazily over the nut, like before). Now move your fingers up one fret and drop the index finger down behind the first fret - you now have an A# - this time (just like the Amajor chord) the root note is on the A (5th) string. Move one fret further and you now have a B.

Once you have grasped that, you can think about changing the barre chords, just like you'd change an A or E chord - make it minor, a "7" or whatever. Just change the shape of the middle, ring and little finger to correspond to the chord shape and move the "nut" (aka index finger with it).

Mike,
there are two basic shapes for barre chords - the E and the A shape.
Form an Emajor chord, but use the middle, ring and little finger to form it. Your index finger should hang over the nut. This, is like I said, an Emajor chord. By moving the fingers up one fret and putting your index finger behind the 1st fret (i.e. it acts as a movable nut), you are now making an F barre chord - F being one semitone higher than E.
Move it up one more fret and you have an F# chord - notice how the name of the chord mirrors the note that your index finger is fretting on the 6th (low E) string? Keep moving up the neck, following the new chord.
You can do the same with the A shaped chord - make an Amajor chord, by barring the notes on the D, G and B strings with either the ring or little finger (your index can droop lazily over the nut, like before). Now move your fingers up one fret and drop the index finger down behind the first fret - you now have an A# - this time (just like the Amajor chord) the root note is on the A (5th) string. Move one fret further and you now have a B.

Once you have grasped that, you can think about changing the barre chords, just like you'd change an A or E chord - make it minor, a "7" or whatever. Just change the shape of the middle, ring and little finger to correspond to the chord shape and move the "nut" (aka index finger with it).

Thanks for explaining that much better than I did greybeard.

Once you have grasped that, you can think about changing the barre chords, just like you'd change an A or E chord - make it minor, a "7" or whatever. Just change the shape of the middle, ring and little finger to correspond to the chord shape and move the "nut" (aka index finger with it).

Greybeard, Thanks for the explaination. Knowing the E string is the key for the name of the barre helps. So you're saying I shouldn't practice changing barre chords? Sorry for being ignorant but that was the "take home" message I got.

I usually practice barre chords by playing certain songs in drop D tuning. I can barre ever string in a fret because of it. It really helps, trust me. =P

My advice is to start slowly. Get the open fingerings (middle, ring, little finger). Get used to the feel - it's a bit odd to start with.
Then start with the basic chords, concentraing on getting the shape right - it doesn't matter to start with whether the notes ring out cleanly. You may find it easier to practice barre chords at the 5th fret and up , the strings will give more easily.
What seems to be hardest for some people is getting the index finger to bar cleanly. I've found the best way is to lay just the index finger across the fretboard and work at fnding the best way to fret the notes cleanly and, then, add the chord shape. I'm not saying it's the best way, it's just what works for me.

Knowing the E string is the key for the name of the barre helps

You probably already know this but E chord shaped barres do follow the notes on the E string so it is easy to know what chord you are on based on where your barre is in relation to the E string.
A shaped barre chords follow the notes on the A string, same principle.

Thanks missleman and greybeard for clearing that up. With the exception of the A shaped barres I can play all the barres cleanly and even move them up and down the neck with minimal muting (not as hard as I thought. But that darn A shape is going to be tough (I knew not doing the open A chord properly would come back to bite me! :oops: ).

I know tonaly you can move the barre chords all the way to the 22nd fret if you wanted to but NORMALLY what's the highest one would go on the neck with a barre chord? The reason I ask is that once I get to the 9th frett I have difficulty holding the barre because of the angle change. I assume I would have to angle the neck upward to assist with this but I really don't want to play with my guitar standing vertical! :lol: :lol:

Thanks

There's no real point in going beyond the 11th fret, because you're only hitting the E, one octave higher at the 12th fret.

It depend on what you are playing.
I watched the Eagles on TV last night and Joe Walsh played barres all the way to the end of the neck. (as well as some slide on a beautiful Rickenbacker)
Edit: but I agree with Greybeard, most of the time you wont need to go beyond the 11th fret unless you need to pick some notes higher on the high E string.

Thanks again guys! Now for my assumption of angling the neck up more...is that correct? Like I mentioned I am having problems on the 9th fret so I guess I am almost there!

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