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Guitar Bar Chords - The Secret Of How To Play E - Shape Bar Chord
I've been looking at a lot of advice on how to play bar chords, or barre chords (they're the same thing) and I have a secret to show you. If you're new to it, or just find yourself struggling and would like to crack bar chords once and for all, then I will show you how. It 's easier and much more satisfying and even by my own admission, this is a brilliant way to learn. Firstly, let me make something clear, the first chords I learned, nearly 25 years ago, were all barred chords. Don't ask me why but that's just how it all started for me. They are fantastic, bursting with so much energy and I get the biggest buzz off them even them to this day. If you've got a guitar, bar chords are the way forward. So, I hope you feel you are in safe hands. On with the show then! Very quickly, barre chords (or however you want to spell it!) are largely centred around the open E and open A shape. For the purpose of this part of the secret, we'll just look at the E shape. Step 1 : Guitar Bar Chords : E Shape : Laying the foundation. Grab your and play open E now, but don't use your index finger, just your 2nd, 3rd and little finger. If you look, you will see that the so called 'nut' at the base of the neck (the bit with the grooves that the 6 strings pass through) acts as a capo, or bar, across the neck. If you moved the whole E chord shape up one fret of the neck, with your index finger taking over the nut's job by laying it across the first fret, so that basically, your index finger becomes the 'bar'. Before you strum across the strings - I'll warn you - it will most likely sound muffled, damped, dull and generally not good. However, take the full shape - remembering to bring your index finger with you - and try the same thing on the 3rd fret, which could make it a bit easier as the frets are just a little closer together. This would be a 'G' chord. If it sounds just as bad, don't worry. This is where the genius part kicks in. Step 2 : Bar Chords : E Shape : Re-tune your guitar Don't panic, this only affects 3 strings as follows :- 6th string (the thickest one) stays the same 5th
string (the next thickest) re-tune from A up to B 4th string from D up to E 3rd string from G to G# 2nd string stays the same 1st string stays the same Done. Test it. Just strum an open chord (ie. don't use your chord hand) and it should sound like a perfect E chord. If it doesn't, just go back and retrace your steps until it sounds right to you. Step 3 : Bar Chords : E Shape : Bring on your index finger! Practise putting your index finger, in whatever way is comfortable for you, across all the strings on the 3rd fret again and strum, remember you are only using your index finger for the chord. Don't worry if it feels really un-natural or you simply can't get it to sound good first time, the strengthening of your thumb and index finger will happen automatically. I'll explain how I do it, to see if this helps you. If you look at the underside of your finger, there's your fingertip, then the fold at the back of the smaller first knuckle and then the fold at the back of the main knuckle. This second fold should be hugging the bottom edge of your fret board tightly. You should be able to bend this knuckle a little bit which should make it easier to give you the leverage using your thumb to get the required amount of pressure you need. See if you can manage to get all the strings to sound crisp - but again - it's not the end of the world if you can't. How you develop this technique now will become the backbone to every bar chord you play. The beauty of the retuning means that you are actually playing a full chord with just this one finger, so it's easier on the ear, meaning you will be able to put up with practicing it for longer! Remember, this is only Step 3 so there's more to come. I've run out of room here so for Guitar Bar Chords : the Secret of How to Play E Shape Bar Chord Part 2, just copy and paste the bold title into the EzineArticle search bar. Part 2 contains a Hot Tip to help with what you've already done and the remaining 2 tips for how to play bar chords - it's all free and you don't need to sign up to anything so move onto part 2 to complete the tips!
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