Barre chords are moveable shapes on the guitar.

 

The difficulty with barre chords is getting comfortable with the barre, which is typically known as a technique of placing your first finger across multiple strings at the same time.

 

As the barre requires more left hand strength, it can require considerable practice to sound clean and without fret buzz. Flaws in technique could cause wrist strain or muscle fatigue, especially when you need to hold the barre down for a long song.

 

The origin of what we know as barre chords are open chords – they come as a sub category of moveable shapes. Each open chord can be taken as a moveable shape in its own right, when you move it, a barre is more than likely required but not necessarily so.

 

When we begin the study of movable shapes, we usually start with the Open E chord as a barre chord.

 

Technically this can be the most difficult to barre. The first finger of the left hand is straight like a pencil and lays across all six strings.

 

The Open A as a barre chord is the next one we learn. This goes across five strings. Some people mute the low E string with the tip of the first finger so it does not ring out.

 

So that’s it.

 

This is what people typically know as barre chords, but there is more to the story....

 

The open C and open G chords can be moved around the neck in the same fashion. In these instances the barre is used in the higher register rather than holding down bass notes.

 

The barre technique is different, rather than barring across 6 or 5 strings it barres across either two or three. The first finger is no longer straight - it requires a kink in the first knuckle and a backwards bend.

 

The open D chord as a movable shape requires no barre, but the movement theory is still the same and is a great flavour to have in your musical repertoire.

 

At the end of the day the barre is a method of holding down multiple adjacent strings with one finger. You can make barres with your first, second, third or fourth fingers to create all kinds of weird and wonderful chords.

 

Initially barre chords make playing the guitar much easier and more enjoyable, and further down the track they are a lifetime of study.