So why should a guitar player learn how to play bar chords? Here are some of the more important reasons.
Top Reasons to Learn Bar Chords
- Bar chords opens up the rest of the neck to the guitar player.
- Using bar chords, you can play all six strings all the way up the fretboard.
- Switching between bar chords usually require less finger movement (in many cases that’s true).
- Barred chords sound different than open chords, and that is another great reason to use bar chords.
As a beginner who wants to learn to play guitar chords, you should first learn open chords and then move onto barre chords. The good thing about barre chords is that you only need to learn a few shapes (as they are moveable chords – up and down he fret-board). The same chord pattern is used and you just have to move along the guitar neck to start on any root note (with practice you will be able to do it easily).
Bar chords may seem tricky at first, but once you get used to them, you’ll be able to play several guitar chords that you can use to play hundreds of songs.
Move up the Fretboard
Using Barre chords will open up the rest of the neck to you. Though open chords are great, if you want to move up the fretboard, with open chords you either need to use a capo, or you need to be skillful to know which strings you’re pressing. If you want to strum, this often means using either — advanced left hand muting technique or just the top or bottom few strings, both of which leads to a less complete sound.
With bar chords however, you can play all six strings all the way up the fretboard.
Switching Chords Can Be Easy
But are Barre chords not for the advanced players, and difficult to play? It does take some practice but ironically, these can make certain songs easier to play!
While playing most songs, another complicated aspect is that you need to switch from one chords to the other with faster speed; but with bar chords, switching between chords can require less finger movement.
Make the Guitar Sound Different
That’s correct! You can make your guitar sound different using bar chords. Every new location you pick has a slightly different tone to it. Barred chords generally have a “different voice” compared to open chords (not necessarily good or bad, its just different). And most experienced players like that flexibility to add freshness while playing songs!
Here’s a video that discusses the common problems that guitar beginners face when they learn to play Bar chords.
Here’s another video that demonstrates How To Move a Bar Chord on Guitar
The B Bar Chord (Guitar Lesson)
Beginners hate the ‘B bar chord’ because its the hardest to nail. Here’s why its difficult to play, and how to master them.
The B chord is essentially a “kink” bar, also called a double bar. This makes it hard, because you have not one, but two fingers that have to create bars, which takes more strength than regular bar chords.
Additionally, because of the kink component, you have to really kink your middle finger up sharply in order to let the first string ring out as part of the chord. If you do a mistake here, the chord falls flat and it doesn’t sound very good.
Another problem is that the B bar chord, at least the root 5 version, is very low down on the fretboard, rooted on the second fret. The closer you get to the nut (ie fret #0), the farther apart each fret is from the next. This means that to span multiple frets, your fingers have to stretch further than they do at say the fifth fret to make the same chord shape.
Should you skip learning the B bar chord?
Not really! No doubt, the B bar chord is difficult to play, but it’s also extremely useful. B is the V chord in the key of E, and E is one of the more commonly used keys while playing the guitar.
To Conclude
Bar chords are important but requires some patience to learn. These are also easier to play a bit up the neck, rather than on the first fret. Also, these chords can be comparatively difficult to play on nylon strings as opposed to steel strings.
KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
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