Master 6th String Barre Chords: Unlock Your Guitar Potential with Steve Stine’s Easy Guide!

Let’s dive into the beautiful world of barre chords. These chords are a fantastic tool for any aspiring guitar player, and mastering them opens up new worlds of music. Today, we’re going to have a close look at the E chord, along with the E minor and the E7 chord. By the end of this article, you’ll be zipping them up and down your guitar like a pro.

A question that I commonly hear from students is, “Can you move C, D, or G chords?” The simple answer is, “Yes!” All chords can shift around the fretboard. However, let’s not complicate things. We’re going to focus on learning how to move the E family of chords at first.

The E chord is an excellent starting point in understanding how to move chords around your guitar. To get into the meat of it, if I took the E chord and moved it up a single fret, it would become the F chord. Why? Because F follows E in the musical alphabet! Moving up on the fretboard heightens the pitch, a fascinating musical phenomenon. The tricky part is that when we move the E chord up a fret, only three notes increase in pitch, but the others don’t, leading to a conflict in sound.

We can resolve this issue by shifting the E chord up one fret while also moving the nut with the chord. Since the nut can’t move, we’ll simulate this shift by re-fingering the chord, meaning moving it up one fret and augmenting it with our first finger in a barre position. With one shape, the bar chord, you the can play a world of sounds across your fretboard.

The fun part about this is that the bar chord can move anywhere on your guitar! And with every move, you’re cutting down the fretboard and consequently increasing the pitch. This is E, then F, then F sharp, followed by G, and so forth up the fretboard. This way, you wind up getting all 12 of your major chords. Note that we have only 12 major chords, 12 minor chords, 12 seventh chords, and so on. While there might be hundreds of ways to play, let’s remember, there’s just one G chord, one A chord, and one C chord.

Once you master this system, all of the 12 major chords will be at your fingertips! By mastering the bar chord shape, you’re opening a world of possibilities. And here’s where it gets more exciting: If you lift one finger from the E bar chord, what you get is an E minor. Move that up, and you’ll get F minor, F sharp minor, G minor, and so on. What’s great? The name stays the same each time.

This technique means that you just learned to play all your major and minor chords with just two shapes by shifting them up and down the guitar with a bar in the front! So, your next homework is simple: explore a bit. Get comfortable with the notes on the 6th string. Understand how these E shapes move up and down the guitar. And don’t overcomplicate it with different chord shapes for now. We’ll explore those in due time.

Remember, when you’re moving your chords around, you’re not creating new chords, just different ways of playing the same thing. So go ahead and practice those bar chords. Happy strumming!
Let’s delve into the fundamental role of the musical alphabet in guitar playing. The musical alphabet’s understanding in conjunction with the notes on the sixth string can significantly improve your ability to maneuver through chords. Now, let’s get down to how it all works together.

You may recall from earlier lessons that moving the E chord up one fret results in the F chord. Why’s that, you ask? Well, in the musical alphabet, F happens to come right after E. But progressing in the musical alphabet isn’t as straightforward when we move this chord up the fretboard.

For instance, we might run into an unexpected issue – a discordance in pitch. Here’s what happens: When we move the E chord up a fret, only three of the six guitar strings increase in pitch. The rest will hold the same pitch. As you might guess, this results in a less than harmonic sound.

The solution to this problem is moving the chord and the nut up one fret. Since we can’t physically drag the nut up the guitar (that’d be quite the sight, wouldn’t it?), we simulate it by refinger the chord and adding our first finger as a bar.

Excitingly, this small change allows the bar chord to travel freely anywhere you want it to go on your guitar. With each move, you’re effectively shrinking the fretboard, causing the pitch to rise. E progresses to F, which then steps up to F sharp, followed by G, and so forth, all the way up your fretboard.

As this process repeats, something remarkable occurs: you access all 12 of your major chords! Moreover, these aren’t just for major chords. Apply the same method, and you can access all 12 of your minor chords, all 12 of your seventh chords, and so on. Yes, there may be thousands of ways to play them, but remember, there’s only one G chord, one A chord, and one C chord. So it is not as much about creating new chords as it is about playing the same chord differently.

Now, if you lift one finger from the E bar chord, you get an E minor. Move that entire shape up, and you acquire F minor, then F sharp minor, G minor, and so on. What’s cool here is that the chord’s name stays the same each time. If this note is G, and you introduce the bar there, voila, you’re playing a G major. If you remove a finger, you get G minor and then G7!

Remember, the exercise of exploring these shapes involves taking the E family – E, E minor, and E seventh – and moving them up and down the guitar with a bar. It’s about understanding the principles that underlie the fretboard, not worrying about all the other forms.

As you venture further down your guitar journey, remember that exploring these chord shapes and understanding how they interact with each other on the fretboard will significantly boost your skills and open new musical horizons for you to conquer. So practice those bar chords and immerse yourself in this journey of exploration. Happy playing!
Alright, let’s dive into our last topic: Using Chord Shapes and Exploration to Advance Guitar Skills. So far, we’ve discussed the E chord family and how to master moving it around the guitar fretboard. The next step is getting comfortable with this system and using it to understand how different chord shapes work.

When we begin, it’s common to ask, “Can other chords, like C, D, or G, also move?” Yes, they can. But, it’s essential not to overwhelm yourself trying to play everything all at once. Take small, steady steps. Start with the E family, understand how it works, and then proceed to other chords.

The key point here is not to worry too much about different shapes just yet. It can seem like there’s so much to learn, with so many shapes and ways to play a chord. But, the beautiful thing is, it’s not as complex as it appears. Even when you use different shapes and move them up and down the fretboard, you’re not creating new chords. The reality is, you’re only creating alternate ways of playing the same chord.

Let’s revisit the E family to understand this. When we take the E chord and move it up one fret, we get an F chord. That’s because F follows E in the musical alphabet. However, when we first move this chord up the fretboard, not all the strings increase in pitch, causing a distorted sound.

To fix this, we simulate moving the nut with the chord. This is done by moving the E chord up a fret, then using our first finger to add as a bar. This is the birth of our traveling bar chord. As we move it up, the pitch increases, and the fretboard’s size shrinks.

This one shape, moved up and down the fretboard, gives us 12 major chords. With just one bar chord shape, you have learned how to play all your major chords. What’s even more amazing is that you can achieve the same thing for your minor chords.

For example, when we lift a finger from the E major bar chord, we get an E minor. If we take this new shape and move it up a fret, voila, we have an F minor. This same principle holds true for every other chord.

Ultimately, starting with the E family and then using other shapes, you have a powerful tool in your hands. All the chords you can play on your guitar, from the majors to the minors, sevenths, and everything in between, are within your grasp when you learn how these shapes work.

Now, it’s time for explorations. You’ll need to practice these shapes and get comfortable with them. Live the chords, feel them, and let your fingers get used to the movements. And most importantly, don’t stress out about figuring out all the shapes at once. We’ll journey together, one chord shape at a time.

Remember, when it comes to learning guitar, practice, patience, and passion are your best friends. Absorb what you’ve learned, keep playing, and keep exploring. Who knows, you just might find a new favorite chord! Happy playing!

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If you’re specifically interested in building solid groundwork, you’ll find my lessons on basics and fundamentals truly helpful. And for those excited about giving their songs a unique flavor, step into the world of chords and progressions. Each step on this journey brings you closer to becoming the guitarist you aspire to be. Happy strumming!