Beginner Barre Chords

Beginner Barre Chords is a free lesson for beginning guitarists by Peter Vogl. You will learn several techniques that will make barre chords easier to play. A barre chord is a chord where the first finger is barring across several strings. Proper placement and technique can help eliminate muted notes or extra stress on your left hand. We'll cover four different shapes of barre chords by learning how to play G, Gm, C, and Cm. You can move the shapes up and down the neck to play chords in different keys.

We'll start with the G major barre chord. The trick to learning barre chords is to put the other fingers down first. Once these are in place, put your first finger across all the strings. Notice my first finger is parallel with the fret and it is rolled back on it’s side. It is also very close to the fret. Also notice my thumb placement on the back of the neck.

There are four barre chord shapes you should learn.

Barre chords take patience. Your hand needs to develop strength to press down the bar. Practice these a lot, doing them like push-ups or working out. You’ll soon have them.