Resources > Lessons 9

Major Barre Chords

In lesson 5 you learnt how to play power chords on the E string. This time we are going to play Major and Minor Barre chords on the E string using the E Major and E Minor shapes. Barre Chords are very important to learn because they allow you to play chords that can't be played as open chords. Example 1 is a C Major chord. To play it, Barre your 1st finger at the 8th fret across all 6 strings. Now finger the E Major chord with your left hand using fingers 2, 3 and 4.

Tip - Keep your thumb in a low position on the neck for Barre chords.

Example 1

This chord is the E Major chord shape. Here it is played at the 8th fret (C) so it is a C Major.

Example 2

If you move the chord shape to the 10th fret the chord becomes D Major.

Example 3

The same shape played at the 3rd fret is G Major.

Minor Barre Chords

The Minor chord is very similar to the Major chord shape. Play a Major chord (E Shape) on the 5th fret, now take off your 2nd finger, your now playing the E Minor shape. Since the Root note is on the 5th fret the chord becomes A Minor. See Example 4.

Example 4

Example 5

This is the E Minor shape played at the 9th fret. Since the Root is C# (9th fret) the chord is C# Minor.

Left Hand Muting

In lesson 4 you were introduced to Palm muting. In this lesson we going to look at Left hand Muting which is often referred to as Percussive Muting. Try example 6. Play a G Major chord. Now release the pressure from your thumb and fingers but keep your fingers resting on the strings. Strum the G Major 8 times, on the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th times release the pressure from your left hand.

Example 6

Example 7

The strumming pattern below is a variation of strum pattern 3 in lesson 2. The difference is that this pattern plays the chords in Barre chord form and has Left hand Muting.

Note - play the pattern four times

Tip

1. Experiment by playing Pentatonic scales over different chord progressions. Use your ear to judge where the root note of the scale should be.
2. Use these licks in a similar way to the way I have, but play around with them, experiment with Slides, Pull-off's, Hammer-on's, Bends and the rhythm of the notes.

These are the Marshall Rock-Kit guitar and amp settings used by us for the sound file recordings that accompany this lesson.