Barre Chords
E Shape Barre ChordsChange Fingering First
Because barre chords are like creating a temporary capo with our index finger, this means we are playing a known chord with the rest of our fingers. The most common shape barre chord is the E Shape. Normally the E chord is played with fingers 1, 2, and 3 like this:
Free Up Barre Finger
But we need to “free up” our index finger to use as a temporary capo, so we will use fingers 2, 3, and 4 like this:
Slide Up the Fret
Next we will slide our new E chord shape up one fret, then place our index finger across all strings in the FIRST fret. This will give us the major chord that is one half step higher than the E chord, the F chord. Below is how we play the F chord as an “E shape barre chord”.
Follow the Chromatic Scale
We can take this same shape and ascend by one fret at a time, or half step increments. The pictures show how the E shape barre chord in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th frets create the F#, G, G# and A major chords respectively. Click on the navigation controls to see the different photos.
Modifying the E Shape
Any way we modify an E chord, we can modify the E shape, and alter the barre chord accordingly. By leaving off the finger on the third string, we change the E major to an Em. We can apply this to the E shape barre chords. Sometimes we will call this the “Em shape”. Look at the images:
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have been playing the leadguitar and the box for about 4months Now and pretty wholesome with my progress maybe a bit to my knowledge of the piano but still not satisfied because things have been pretty poor at times you have really explained how and what I know but couldnt apply thank you very much
Certainly! Glad to know this is helpful to you, Peter.
Images on this page are missing 🙂
Fixed. Thanks!