Lesson 10
Bar Chords
Using the same shapes at different points on the fretboard, chords in any keys can be played. This technique is at the heart of rock and other forms of music.
Getting Mobile
TIP
This lesson uses track 29 of your book as a backing track for you to play over. Be sure to locate the track on the CD so it will be ready when you need it.
One of the hardest aspects of learning the guitar is getting your fingers to “remember” the open-string chord positions automatically. So how would you like it if by learning one basic finger position you could play chords in any key? Don’t get too excited about it, but that is exactly what is possible using a technique called the bar chord.
The fundamental principle to bar chords is that you use the second, third, and fourth fingers of the left hand to form a chord shape, with the first finger (the bar) held behind them across all six strings. (You’ve already played a variation on this idea with the F major chord shown in Lesson Eight.)
There are several types of bar chords. Let’s begin with a look at the most common one, which is based around the open E major chord. To show how it works in principle, let’s examine how to convert E major into F major:
- Form a regular open E major chord, only this time use the third, fourth, and second fingers to fret the fifth, fourth, and third strings respectively. This leaves the first finger free.
- Keep the first finger poised above the nut, but clear of the strings.
- Now carefully slide the whole of the hand along the fingerboard so that the fingers move up toward the bridge by one fret.
- Press down the first finger firmly behind the first fret. Simultaneously apply extra pressure from the thumb at the back of the neck — if you look at the neck from the side, it should almost appear to be “clamped” between the thumb and first finger.
- Play across all six strings. The chord you have just played is F major.
To get started with bar chords, practice fretting the open-string chord shape, leaving your first finger free (photo courtesy of Dorling Kindersley Picture Library).
Fretting an E-shaped bar to make an F major chord (photo courtesy of Dorling Kindersley Picture Library).
More Pain
One of the most frustrating aspects of learning the guitar is getting the fourth finger of the left hand to do as it is told. This is absolutely critical when playing bar chords: because the first finger is needed for the bar itself, the responsibility for fretting the notes is left to one finger, meaning that the fourth finger takes over the notes previously held by the third finger.
As a consequence, within minutes of practicing bar chords, you’re certain to discover pains in muscles that you didn’t even know you had. It will be worst at the side of your hand between the fourth finger and wrist. The main problem you face is in making the fourth finger move in isolation from the other fingers. It’ll be rough at first, but you will get there.
Some people face an additional difficulty. Depending on the contour of your fingers, you may find your first finger in excruciating pain. When you form a bar, the finger MUST be held completely straight and with equal pressure across the fingerboard, so expect the strings to dig into your joints and the softer parts of the skin. Sounds great, eh? That must be what they mean when they talk about suffering for the sake of your art!
From E to Eternity
Like any other chord, you get the name of E major from its root note. In this case, it is the note E on the open sixth string. The beauty of the E-shaped bar chord is that as long as you know the names of all the notes on the sixth string, you can identify and play a major chord in every single key. The fingerboard diagram below shows the twelve different notes between open E and 12-fret E on the sixth string. Play all of the E-shape bar chords on those frets. Start with an open E major and move one fret at time up to the E major on the 12th fret.
This diagram shows the 12 different chords between open E and 12-fret E on the sixth string (illustration courtesy of Dorling Kindersley Picture Library). You can hear all these chords on Track 27 of the CD that accompanies your textbook.
Having worked through that exercise, you can probably see the value of learning by heart the name of every note on every fret position on the sixth string.
The Bad Bar
Using a first-finger bar is not the only way you can create mobile chords by moving a basic shape along the fingerboard. Some guitarists (Jimi Hendrix is a prime example) can be seen bucking the classical thumb-behind-the-neck posture in favor of wrapping the thumb around the fingerboard to fret the sixth (and sometimes even fifth) strings.
Guitar teachers don’t much care for this approach, to say the least. Still, there’s no denying that it does give you access to a wider range of chord types and playing styles, albeit without the support of the thumb at the back of the neck. An alternative F major is shown below.
Fretting an alternative E-shaped bar to make an F major chord (photo courtesy of Dorling Kindersley Picture Library).
The Double Bar
If your fingers are nimble, you can play a simpler A-shaped bar chord with just two fingers. Your first finger bars the first five strings; the third finger creates a smaller bar to cover the second, third, and fourth strings. You do need to be able to bend back the joint of your third finger so that it clears the first string — if that’s impossible, try playing only the middle four strings (it won’t sound as good though). This is illustrated on page 180 of the K.I.S.S. Guide.
The Mobile A Shape
You can also take the bar approach with a basic open A major chord shape. For starters, let’s convert an A major chord into a B flat major bar chord.
Form a regular open A major chord, only this time use the second, third, and fourth fingers to fret the fourth, third, and second strings respectively. Keep the first finger poised above the nut, but clear of the strings.
Fretting a regular A major chord (photo courtesy of Dorling Kindersley Picture Library).
- Slide the left hand along the fingerboard so that the fingers move up toward the bridge by one fret.
- Hold down the first finger on the first fret.
- Play across the top five strings. The chord you have just played is B flat major.
Using the A major chord position to play a B flat major chord (photo courtesy of Dorling Kindersley Picture Library).
Since the root note of an A major chord is on the fifth string, it follows that if you know the names of all of the notes on the fifth string, you can play this kind of chord in any key. Your next assignment is to learn the names of the notes on the fifth string by heart. Using the diagram on page 179 of your book as a guide, play through the chords from open A major to the A major bar chord on the 12th fret.
Bar Chords in Action
Now it’s time to put what you’ve learned into practice. The backing track (track 29 on your CD) uses a simple repeating sequence of G major, A major, C major, and D major. Turn to page 181 in your book for visual reference, and play this sequence over and over with the backing track as a guide.
There are two ways you can approach playing this sequence. The first time around, play the chords using only E-shaped bars — on the third, fifth, eighth, and 10th frets. However, a more economical way of doing it is to play the first pair of chords as E-shaped bars on the third and fifth frets, and the second pair as A-shaped bars on the same two frets. This way, your hand can remain in the same position on the neck. You could, of course, also use only A-shaped bars built on the 12th, 14th, 13th, and 15th frets of the fifth string.
Bar Chord Variations
Although the E and A shapes are used by nearly all guitarists, they are not the only bar chords that you can play. Variations are also possible using open G and C shapes. Both of these forms are challenging to play — even experienced guitarists can have problems getting their fingers around them.
The G-shaped bar is formed from the sixth string. You can only play the bottom four strings since it isn’t humanly possible to create a full voicing over six strings. The C-shaped bar is formed from the fifth string. This can be played over the first five strings — just like an open-string C major, in fact.
That’s It, Then
OK, we’ve come to the end of this brief course. I hope you’ve found it interesting, useful, and above all, fun.
Unlike most other music writers or lecturers, I see the guitar as less a means to an end than as a creative tool for self-expression. If this course has created in just one person the impetus to get together with pals and form a band, or to start writing their own songs, then I’ll be very happy indeed. (And let me know if you do that!)
Of course, over five weeks, we’ve only scratched the surface. The material covered here is roughly only a third of my K.I.S.S. Guide to Playing the Guitar (which itself is still just a beginner’s book).
Where to go from here? If it’s classical music that does it for you, I’d strongly suggest getting a teacher — there’s no alternative to one-on-one instruction, and you’ll also get a thorough grounding in music notation, which is critical in this sphere. Most other types of music can be learned informally, although a good grasp of theory and technique is necessary to play a lot of jazz.
For those who are less ambitious but still want to learn more, your next step should be to get familiar with other types of chords (sevenths, ninths, fourths, elevenths, and thirteenths). This will give your playing greater harmonic sophistication (and it will impress your friends to no end when you strum your guitar and say, “That was an E seventh augmented fifth, you know.”)
For soloists, get to those scales. It will also help to learn string bending, hammering and pulling, finger tapping, slides, and vibrato. By the way, did I mention that all of this is covered in my book?
If you’re interested, you can stay in contact or just keep up with my activities in the world of publishing (under my own name, Terry Burrows) and music (as Yukio Yung or the Chrys&themums) at http://www.orgone.co.uk and http://www.chrysanthemums.net, respectively.
Goodbye and Good Luck
You’re on your own. The last assignment will give you a great resource for finding some songs to get started. Now it’s all up to you! Your practice, imagination, and style are all that’s now needed to master (or at least get really good at) the guitar. Check back with the discussion board and find out what others are up to. You’re bound to find some good ideas.
Assignment: Bars and Beyond
Practice the mobile A and E bar chords.
Then for fun, here’s a way to try and combine everything you’ve learned. Visit http://www.olga.net . It’s a HUGE archive of guitar chords for nearly every type of music out there. Pick out a favorite song and give it a shot. Just remember: now matter how horrible you may think you sound, you can only get better! Good luck!
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Lesson 1
A Bit of History
A look at the way in which the guitar has evolved from its pre-Christian origins to the present day.
Our Textbook for This Course
Our textbook is a book I wrote for Dorling Kindersley’s Keep It Simple Series, K.I.S.S. Guide to Playing Guitar. This 432-page book includes chord charts galore, tips for buying your first guitar and gear (acoustic or electric), the basics of scales and keys, style tips for jazz, classical, country, and rock — plus an included CD that you can play along with as you get started.
The Popular Guitar
For much of the past 50 years, the guitar has been a major influence on the sound of popular music, and it’s easy to see why. Although the serious-minded student could spend a lifetime mastering the instrument’s nuances, just about anybody can invest a couple of days and learn enough simple chords to play along with some of their favorite songs.
If playing music is new to you, you may be surprised by how few chords are needed to play a whole lot of pop, rock, country, and folk music:
- Think about Elvis swinging his hips and thrashing out “Hound Dog” on his acoustic guitar. There are only three chords to “Hound Dog,” and you’ll be able to play them all by the end of Lesson 5.
- Think about John Denver singing and playing “Annie’s Song” (OK, it may not be the most pleasant thought). “Annie’s Song” features some neat finger picking (you’ll do that in Lesson 6) and some extra major and minor chords (which we’ll cover in Lessons 8 and 9).
- Now turn your mind to the rock anthem of the 90s, Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The bulk of this classic is based on four bar chords — you’ll come across those in Lesson 10.
We’re not pretending that within the space of four weeks you’ll be an Eric Clapton, a B.B. King, or even that guy with the funny rubber mask in Slipknot. But you will be armed with the basics to enable you to take your playing in any direction you choose thereafter.
This is a pretty basic course — we can only go so far in five weeks. But if you’ve already got a bit of guitar experience and are still not sure if this course sounds right for you, try telling yourself these three statements:
- I can play the chord G minor 9-5
- I am familiar with the Myxolydian mode
- I know that a compression pedal is not something I’d find under the hood of my Dad’s automobile
If you can’t say all of the above truthfully, then this course is for you. What are you waiting for? Let’s get this show on the road.
Tuning
The standard modern-day guitar has six strings tuned to the notes E, A, D, G, B, and E. During the 16th century, most guitars featured four courses of strings tuned to C, F, A, and D. Five-course instruments also existed, adding a lower G.
The Ud
The guitar’s most significant ancestor found its way into Europe via the south of Spain following conquests by the Moors around 800 A.D. This Arabic stringed instrument was called the ud. The ud evolved over the centuries, spreading throughout Central and Northern Europe, giving rise to instruments such as the lute and the gittern.
Ancient History
The origins of the guitar are shrouded in a mystery that has been further confused by disagreement among music historians. The oldest truly recognizable ancestors of the guitar can only be traced back as far as the 14th century. But how they evolved up until that point, we can only guess. We do know, based on archeological discoveries made over the centuries, that stringed instruments certainly existed before those times.
The earliest evidence of stringed instruments can be seen in Babylonian clay reliefs discovered in Asia Minor. Dating back around 4000 years, images depict groups of musicians playing instruments from which the guitar probably evolved. These instruments shared important features with their modern counterparts, such as a fingerboard, frets, the use of more than two strings, and a resonating body capable of projecting sound. It seems likely that the volatile cultural landscape of the region, as well as the movements of the early merchants and traders, are likely to have spread the use and popularity of these mysterious early guitars.
The First Real Guitars
The earliest true guitars appeared at the end of the 15th century, but these instruments were much closer in size to the smaller lute. The vihuela, an instrument about the same size as the modern guitar, was prevalent at this time. Even though most people today have never heard of the vihuela, during this period the guitar was viewed very much as its smaller, cruder relative.
Back in the 16th century, the 12-stringed vihuela was considered a superior instrument to the guitar (photo courtesy of the Dorling Kindersley Picture Library).
The early guitars looked something like their modern counterparts, but there were some striking differences. For instance, rather than featuring a series of individual strings tuned to different notes in the modern way, the strings on these early guitars were grouped together in pairs called courses (somewhat like modern-day 12-string guitars). Each pair was tuned to the same note.
More dramatically, however, the fingerboard did not have fixed metal frets permanently in place: they were made from pieces of animal gut, which the musician wrapped around the neck. The number and position of these frets depended on the nature of the music being played. This meant that before performing, the 16th-century guitarist would not only have had to ensure that each pair of strings were in tune, but that the frets were positioned for correct intonation. Thank goodness that all changed!
The Great Segovia
By the beginning of the 20th century, the guitar had become very popular, but was still looked down upon by the dowdy classical fraternity. It was largely through the efforts of one man — the self-taught Spanish virtuoso Andres Segovia — that the profile of the guitar escalated in concert halls throughout the world. Through his influence, some of the finest composers of the past century — Villa-Lobos, Ponce, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Rodrigo — have created seminal works for the guitar.
The Classical Guitar
By the 17th century, the guitar had become quite popular in the courts of Central Europe, replacing the vihuela as instrument of choice. Although Spain was home to the instrument’s major developments, Paris and Venice were by now the two most important centers of activity.
At the middle of the 18th century, the guitar began a period of transition. Four- and five-course guitars gradually gave way to six-course instruments. Over time the courses were replaced by single strings, and the now standard E-A-D-G-B-E tuning system was adopted. And, thankfully, the frets were finally fixed into the fingerboard.
In Spain during the following century, the work of Antonio de Torres Jurado (1817-92) turned the guitar into a serious and credible instrument. Torres experimented with construction and dimensions and created a template for the classical instrument that exists to this day. Torres became the maker of choice for the finest classical players of the second half of the 19th century. Among them was Francesco de Tárrega, who as a musician brought respectability to the guitar, and as a teacher created the foundations of the modern classical guitar technique. As far as the classical “Spanish” guitar goes, that’s pretty much the whole story in terms of the development of the instrument.
This 1876 Torres guitar was designed to carry 11 strings (including five bass strings). It has been restored to carry six strings (photo courtesy of the Dorling Kindersley Picture Library).
Who Was First?
There is considerable disagreement as to who actually invented the solid-body electric guitar, since there were clearly a number of like-minded individuals working along similar lines at the same time. One claimant is the well-known country-jazz guitarist Les Paul, who created his own guitar using a Gibson neck attached to a solid piece of pine on which the pickups and a bridge were mounted. For more on the history of the solid-body guitar, see pages 36-39 of the K.I.S.S. Guide to Playing Guitar.
Developments in America
Although the guitar is clearly a European instrument, its most significant developments over the past 120 years have taken place in America.
The first serious guitars to be made in the United States were produced by Christian Frederick Martin. The heir to a long and eminent line of instrument makers, Martin left his native Germany in 1833 to seek his fortune across the ocean. His flat-top instruments provided a template for the modern steel-string acoustic guitar. During the same period, a British migrant named Orville Gibson set up shop. His guitars had features more closely associated with violins, in that they had a curved arch top and acoustic f-holes. The companies formed by both men remained the most significant guitar makers until the beginning of the post-war period.
In spite of the growing popularity of the guitar throughout the jazz age, an acoustic guitar’s naturally low volume meant that in most bands it could only be used to provide rhythmic backing. This began to change with the development of the magnetic pickup. The earliest experiments in this area were conducted by Gibson engineer Lloyd Loar.
Fitting pickups to an acoustic guitar revolutionized music, but also resulted in one serious problem. If the sound coming out of the loudspeakers was too loud, the body of the guitar would vibrate, creating a howling noise known as feedback. The solution to this problem was to increase the body mass of the instrument so that it would not vibrate so readily. So it was that at the end of the 1940s, the first solid-body electric guitars were developed.
At this point we can bring in the single most important name in the history of the electric guitar: Leo Fender. In 1950, this Californian radio repair shop owner created the first mass-produced solid-body electric guitar — the Fender Broadcaster. A year later, Fender re-christened his groundbreaking instrument the Fender Telecaster. A year later Gibson replied with the famous Les Paul. And in 1952, Fender produced the Stratocaster — arguably the most famous instrument of them all.
Moving Forward
Now that we’ve taken in a brief history of the guitar, we’re ready to move on to the next lesson. In Lesson 2 we’ll cover some of the different types of guitar music and the great players from each genre. See you next time.
Assignment : Introduce Yourself
For your first assignment, visit the Message Board. Consider introducing yourself. Let the other students know where you’re from, how long you’ve been playing (or simply admiring) the guitar, and who some of your favorite players are. It’s guaranteed to get opinions flying.
If you’re interested in guitar history, flip through pages 28-39 in K.I.S.S. Guide to Playing Guitar for an illustrated history of the guitar through the ages.
