Bar Chords

When you play guitar and are ready to advance to some of the more dfficult chords, you need to have the ability to play bar chords with your left hand.

So what is a bar chord? A bar chord is a chord where two or more strings are covered by one finger (usually the left index finger) to play more complex sounds.

Bar chords are especially used for chords (minor keys, flats or sharps) that are not considered major chords. On guitar the most popular chords that you play are G-C-D-Em-Bm-A-Am. All of which can be played without using a bar chord. Interestingly many songs use these root chords as its basic starting point. Of course after a while these would get boring.

All of the chords mentioned above are played in the first four frets of the guitar. When you add bar chords to your skill set you open up a whole world of additional sounds.

Bar chords can be as simple as a two stringed bar chord to a full bar chord where you cover all six strings. In that case it works almost like a temporary capo. Take an E chord. Add a bar behind it and slide it up the neck of the guitar. With a bar on the first fret it becomes an F, when you slide it up to the 2nd fret it becomes an F#, 3rd fret-G and so on and so forth.

Another common full bar is using the root of Am(minor). A full bar on the first fret following by an Am fingering equals an A#m, on the second fret a Bm, on the third fret a Cm. You can slide this chord all the way up the neck and the chord goes up a half step.

So what is a half step? A half step is like the notes on the piano from white to black in order from left to right. When you add bar chords and you understand the notes as illustrated below you can more easily understand where you need to slide your bar chord to get to the chord you are looking to play.

A-A#/Bb-B-C-C#/Db-D-D#/Eb-E-F-F#/Gb-G-G#/Ab

Bar chords are a major part of a rhythm guitar players skill set to be successful. There are tricks to use to play them successfully. First though, get use to to the concept of what they are.