What Every Guitarist Should Know About Bar Chords

If you hate and avoid bar chords, today I want to share with you a lesson that just might change your mind…

In fact, learning this one concept can completely re-frame how you view the guitar neck.

Did you know the ENTIRE fretboard can be organized and mastered for RHYTHM and LEAD with bar chords?

Yup, the same old bar chords that many intermediate players call “boring”

Big mistake…

I dive deep into how this works in my CAGED guitar system program. But this is something you won’t learn on YouTube or anywhere online.  

But the masters know this…

Today I want to give you a glimpse into this new mindset.  

You’ve got to first start with how bar chords work

Then you can see how this powerful concept helps you crack the fretboard code.

So tune up, and let’s dive and see how bar chords are awesome.

Bar Chord Theory

The first step to mastering bar chords is understanding how they work. You want to see the theory behind them. This will help you in 2 big ways.

1. Crack the fretboard code that lets you play any chord you want and solo up and down the neck
2. This removes the overwhelming feeling of having to memorize and engages a concept I call “linking”.

“Linking” is a technique of relating what you already know and understand with something new.

So let’s see this in action. First, you need to understand that bar chords are simple just open chords moved up the neck. This means that as you play higher up the fretboard your brain can think about it in the same way as playing down the neck.

For example, let’s say we looked at the chord Em. The most common way to play this chord is in open position using all 6 strings like this:

While there are many fingerings. A common one is the middle finger on the 5th string, and the ring finger on the 4th string.

But let’s say we did an unusual fingering for this Em chord. And switched out the middle finger for the ring finger. And then put the pinky finger on where the ring finger was (2nd fret, 4th string).

Now, I would not typically use this fingering down here by the headstock of the guitar. However, this gives my fretting hand a big advantage.

It frees up my index finger to create a bar. This grip can then be shifted up the neck to any fret.

Let’s try it at the 7th fret:

The connection to make is that if fret 7 was the end of the guitar, or the nut the remaining notes in the grip would simply be an Em chord shape.

Now you are “linking” this new chord to something as common as an open Em chord.

This is a powerful concept that removes overwhelm. And, helps you learn faster, while also making the concepts stick in your brain easier. 

Let’s now take this a step further and talk about another very important concept which is…

How to find the root notes in bar chords

Chords are made up of multiple notes played together. The root note is the note that names the chord. Imagine building blocks – the root is the base block that all the other notes are stacked on.

Since our chord above was Em, the root note of this chord is the note E.

So that means on our guitar we need to find the note in the chord that is named E. 

Well, if you know how to tune your guitar, you’ll know the letter names of each string. It just so happens that the 6th string (the one closest to our face) is E.

This means that wherever we slide that bar chord grip up the neck the note name on the 6th string is the root.

For example, the “E minor” shape bar chord played at the 7th fret is now a Bm chord.

Yes, learning bar chords are tougher than simple open chords. However, you get more bang for your buck…because… just one shape can be played on every fret of your guitar.

This means that when you learn one bar chord, you actually learn 12 chords.

That’s 12 for 1.

Not bad huh

But it doesn’t stop there. The entire fretboard can be organized and mastered for RHYTHM and LEAD guitar using this same concept.

If you need help with that grab my fretboard guide below.

Let’s look at another example. Let’s do the same thing with a C chord. The most common way to play a C chord in open position is like this:

This chord is most commonly fingered: ring finger on the 5th string, middle finger on the 4th string, and index finger on the second string.

To make this chord moveable, we’ll need to free up the index finger. Take the same notes but change the fingering to pinky finger on the 5th string, ring finger on the 4th string, and middle finger on the second string.

This is another unusual fingering. But our index finger is now free to create a bar. This means we can now slide this chord up and down the neck and play it anywhere we want.

Give it a try here in 4th position:

Applying the same theory as what we did above with the “Em shape” the root note for this chord (that is closest to our face) is the note on the 5th string.

And voilà! Wherever we slide that chord anywhere on the fretboard, the note on the 5th string will name the chord. That means this shape on the 5th string is an E major chord. 

Built by using the concept of a bar and applying it to the common C shape to make it moveable.

Conclusion:

Now, we can take this concept very deep. In fact, it connects all the way to soloing anywhere on the neck.

But for this blog. That’s how bar chords work. So your assignment for today is to take any familiar open chord you’ve never done this with and APPLY it.

Make it moveable and find the root notes.

Then write me back or leave a comment and let me know how it went and which one you did. 

Thanks for reading,

–Jon 

And for more lessons on mastering the fretboard check out this guitar lesson on How to Play the Blues Scale on Guitar next!