Why Do We Even Need Barre Chords Anyway?

This post is a response to “Bar Chords: Do You Have to Learn Them” posted on another guitar-based blog called “Not Learning Guitar” by Gary Fletcher. I agree with alot of what is said in the post, but there are a few points I would have to clarify for anyone reading it (guitar-technique related points, I’m not out to “attack” anyone elses blog posts…).

The question posed on the “Not Learning Guitar” blog is that maybe barre chords are not a neccessary part of learning guitar, and this is where I would have to disagree. Do you have to learn barre chords to become a good guitar player? My answer is “Yes, even if you can’t play all of them you should at least know of their existance and know their shape.”. Not everyone can play a D Shape G chord in fifth position, but they should be able to tell you: 5th fret D string, 7th fret G string, 8th fret B string and 7th fret E string (at least if they want to be considered a “good guitar player”). What you really need to know is where the chord tones are (i.e. the notes that make up a chord) for each chord all over the neck.

Now, if you can’t do this right now, don’t worry, but you should aim to be able to do it eventually. For instance, did you know that their are five major chord shapes for each chord? Knowing all five of them will not only help you to play major chords, but are also invaluable to soloists as the chord tones are exactly the notes that you should target in a solo. Also, have you ever tried playing F major, or B major in standard tuning? If you have you’ll notice that there is no “open position” voicing for these chords. The result? F major is played as an E shape barre chord on the first fret, and B major is played as an A shape barre chord at the second fret. Now, maybe you can’t play all of the notes at once yet, but until then you can at least know where the notes are to take segments of the full chord.

Playing in a Band Situation

It is true that, when playing in a band situation, you may need to step back to go forwards, but this needn’t mean neglecting to learn barre chords! If you want to play less as a rhythm guitarist first learn your barre chords; then learn how to break them down into smaller segments so that you’re not overplaying (sometimes a full 6 string chord is overplaying!). Sometimes it’s a good idea only to play the top three or four notes of a chord (i.e. on the E, B, G and D strings) instead of all five or six notes of the full chord.

Finding that “Sweet Spot”

At the end of his post, Gary stresses that finding the “sweet spots” of each chord is much more useful, and musical than just blindly playing every note- and on this I could not agree more. He then goes on with this post explaining different ways of playing these barre chords (even though he presents them as alternatives to barre chords, they are mostly based off the A and C shapes). Something I recommend you try out for yourself is looking for the best parts of these chords- the “sweet spots” (provided, of course, that you know the shapes- this should be first on your list for chords). Nobody can tell you which part of the chord will sound best to you, you have to use your own judgement.

December 10, 2009 at 12:00 pm | Guitar Technique and Exercises, How to, Music News and Opinions | No comments

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