In music, a Barre chord (also spelled bar chord) is a type of chord on a guitar or other stringed instrument played by using one finger to press down multiple strings across a single fret of the fingerboard (like a bar pressing down the strings).
Players often use this chording technique to play a chord that is not restricted by the tones of the guitar's open strings. For instance, if a guitar is tuned to regular concert pitch, with the open strings being E, A, D, G, B, E (from low to high), open chords must be based on one or more of these notes. To play an F♯ chord the guitarist may barre strings so that the chord root is F♯.
Most barre chords are "moveable" chords,[1] as the player can move the whole chord shape up and down the neck.[2] Commonly used in both popular and classical music, barre chords are frequently used in combination with "open" chords, where the guitar's open (unfretted) strings construct the chord. Playing a chord with the barre technique slightly affects tone quality. A closed, or fretted, note sounds slightly different from an open, unfretted, string. Barre chords are a distinctive part of the sound of pop music and rock music.
Using the barre technique, the guitarist can fret a familiar open chord shape, and then transpose, or raise, the chord a number of half-steps higher, similar to the use of a capo. For example, when the current chord is an E major and the next is an F♯ major, the guitarist barres the open E major up two frets (two semitones) from the open position to produce the barred F♯ major chord. Such chords are hard to play for beginners due to the pressing of multiple strings with a single finger. Mastering the barre can be one of the most difficult challenges that a beginner guitarist faces.
Etymology
The term barre comes from the method of using the index finger to form a rigid "bar" across the strings. The original spelling "barré" is French, translating to "barred". [citation needed]
Technique and application
The index finger locates the root note in the chord shape.
Note: notes of each chord are listed from bottom, thickest string (lowest in pitch) string to top (a standard six-string tuning of EADGBE, from lowest to highest-pitched string).
D♭/C♯ barre chord (left), difficult to reach in open position (right).
Guitarists typically use barre chords to voice chords in higher positions. Keys that don't have many open notes in standard tuning (hence few or no open chord fingerings) require many barre chords. The two most commonly barred notes are variations on the fingering shapes of A and E in first (open) position. The E-type barre chord is an E chord shape (022100) barred up and down the frets, transposing the chord. For example, the E chord barred one fret up becomes an F chord (133211). The next fret up is F♯, followed by G, A♭, A, B♭, B, C, C♯, D, E♭, and then back to E (1 octave up) at fret twelve.
E A E-------------0---------------5--- B-------------0---------------5--- G-------------1---------------6--- D-------------2---------------7--- A-------------2---------------7--- E-------------0---------------5--- Guitar tablature of an open E chord and an E-shape A barre chord.
The "A" type barre chord, occasionally called the double barre, is the A chord shape (X02220) moved up and down the frets. To barre the A chord shape, the guitarist puts the index finger across the top five strings, usually touching the 6th string (E) to mute it. They then barre either the ring or little finger across the 2nd (B), 3rd (G), and 4th (D) strings two frets down, or one finger frets each string. For instance, barred at the second fret, the A chord becomes B (X24442). From fret one to twelve, the barred A becomes B♭, B, C, C♯, D, E♭, E, F, F♯, G, A♭, and at the twelfth fret (that is, one octave up), it is A again.
A D E-------------0---------------5--- B-------------2---------------7--- G-------------2---------------7--- D-------------2---------------7--- A-------------0---------------5--- E--------------------------------- Guitar tablature of an open A chord and an A-shape D barre chord.
Sometimes the guitarist leaves out the highest note in a double barre chord. Most variations of these two chords can be barred: dominant 7ths, minors, minor 7ths, etc.
Minor barre chords include a minor third in the chord rather than the major third (in "E" and "A" shaped barre chords, this note happens to be the highest 'non-barred' note). Example:
F Fm C Cm E--------1--------1--------3-------3------- B--------1--------1--------5-------4------- G--------2--------1--------5-------5------- D--------3--------3--------5-------5------- A--------3--------3--------3-------3------- E--------1--------1------------------------
In addition to the two common shapes above, barre/movable chords can also be built on any chord fingering, provided that the shape leaves the first finger free to create the barre, and that the chord does not require the fingers to extend beyond a four fret range. Examples:
D A E--------2--------5----- B--------3--------2----- G--------2--------2----- D--------4--------2----- A--------5--------4----- E-----------------5-----
The above shows D major in open "C" shape form and A major in open "G" shape form. In the example above, the "C" shape offers an alternative voicing to the open D major and to the "A" shaped D major in fifth position. Variations of the basic major and minor triad chords can also be formed using the barred chord as their foundation. For example, the open Cadd9 shape can be used in its C shape barre form up the guitar neck, as desired.
The CAGED system is an acronym for the chords C, A, G, E, and D. This acronym is shorthand for the use of barre chords that can be played anywhere on the fret board as described above. Some guitar instructors use it to teach students the open chords that can work as barre chords across the fret board. By replacing the nut with a full barre, a player can use the chord shapes for C, A, G, E, and D anywhere on the fret board to play any major chord in any key.
CAGED is also a mnemonic for the sequence that a chord appears in as it moves up the neck; for example, C Major can be played as an open C-shape chord at the nut, as an A-shape chord barred at the third fret, as a G-shape barred at the fifth fret, as an E-shape barred at the eighth fret, and as a D-shape barred at the 10th fret.[3] Similarly, G Major can be played as an open G-shaped chord and the next shape in which the chord appears is as an E-shape (barred at the third fret), followed by the D-shape (barred at the 5th fret); the CAGED pattern then begins again with a C-shape barred at the 7th fret, an A-shape at the 10th fret, and so on.
The same cycle can be applied to all other chord types. Learning the five movable C-, A-, G-, E-, and D-shapes of, say, a dominant 7th chord in effect allows the player to learn 60 chords, since each of the five shapes can be positioned so that any of the 12 chromatic notes is the root note.[4]
This system also provides a way to remember scale shapes, though some debate the usefulness of this teaching method due to potential technical problems.[5]
The use of the leading-tone imperfect authentic cadence (VII-I) in popular music is often attributed to the ease of sliding a barre chord up two frets.[6] In the context of classical music, Fernando Sor recommended using barring and shifting sparingly. His principal reason for avoiding barre chords is that they require more effort—but he acknowledges that they are frequently the best or only solution for playing some passages.[7]
Partial barre chords
F F E-------------1---------------1--- B-------------1---------------1--- G-------------2---------------2--- D-------------3---------------3--- A-------------3------------------- E-------------1------------------- An F-shape "great bar" chord and an F-shape "small bar" chord.
Guitarists[1][8] distinguish between the "great bar"/"grand bar" or full barre chord and incomplete or "small bar" chords such as the half barre.[9][10][11] The small bar or regular F chord is easily obtainable, but "Being able to play the Small Bar chord formations does little towards developing the technique required to play the Great Bar chord formations."[9]
The 'simplified version' on the upper three strings is "useful in playing solos," and may be played with any of the first three fingers.[8] The minor seventh chord whose root is located on the first may instead be considered an added sixth chord whose root is located on the third string, in which case one may consider the Gm7 a B♭add6.[8]
Diagonal barre chord
Diagonal barre chord: major seventh chord on G. Play The first finger frets both the second fret on the first string and the third fret on the sixth string.
A diagonal barre chord is a "very rare chord" involving "the barring of a couple of strings with the first finger [diagonally] on different frets."[12]
Notation
Standard music notation indicates the barre technique with one of two letters, "B" or "C"—followed by a positional indication via an Arabic number or Roman numeral. Examples: BIII, CVII, B2, C7.
The two abbreviations "B", "C", represent the terms barre or bar, cejillo or capotasto, the later being Spanish and Italian terms for capo. The choice of letter is an editorial decision that reflects the style adopted. Roman numerals are more prevalent than Arabic numbers to avoid confusion with other fingering indications and common chord symbols (but not figured harmony). Roman numerals without the "B" or "C" indicates fingerboard position only.
Editorial style also affects partial barre indications. A vertical strike-through of the letter "C" commonly indicates a partial barre—the number of strings to barre depends on context and performer choice. Other editorial styles use superscript fractions (e.g., 4/6, 1/2) indicates the number of strings to barre in addition to the letters B or C. In some notation styles (particularly classicalstaff notation), the letters "B" or "C" are omitted altogether, with the number of courses to barre (from the highest-tuned downwards) written as an index (superscript). For example: on a guitar, VII4 indicates a barre on the 7th fret over the highest four strings (D, G, B, and E). There is no rule for whether to write full barre chords with indices (e.g., "6" for a standard guitar) or without. It is a matter of the editor's personal taste.[13] It is customary to place the barre sign above the staff, with a spanning line to mark duration.[14]
The barre is often signed on tablature as "C" with the fret number as Roman numeral, such as
CVII CVIII CXII CII E--------7--------8--------13-------2------- B--------9--------8--------15-------4------- G--------9--------8--------14-------2------- D--------9--------10-------12-------4------- A--------7--------10-------12-------2------- E--------7--------8--------12-------2------- E Cm Dm B7
Barre chord notation in classical music uses Roman numerals with indices (see left).
The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted and typically has six or twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strings against frets with the fingers of the opposite hand. A guitar pick may also be used to strike the strings. The sound of the guitar is projected either acoustically, by means of a resonant hollow chamber on the guitar, or amplified by an electronic pickup and an amplifier.
A power chord, also called a fifth chord, is a colloquial name for a chord on guitar, especially on electric guitar, that consists of the root note and the fifth, as well as possibly octaves of those notes. Power chords are commonly played with an amp with intentionally added distortion or overdrive effects. Power chords are a key element of many styles of rock, especially heavy metal and punk rock.
A capo is a device a musician uses on the neck of a stringed instrument to transpose and shorten the playable length of the strings—hence raising the pitch. It is a common tool for players of guitars, mandolins, mandolas, banjos, ukuleles and bouzoukis. The word derives from the Italian capotasto, which means the nut of a stringed instrument. The earliest known use of capotasto is by Giovanni Battista Doni who, in his Annotazioni of 1640, uses it to describe the nut of a viola da gamba. The first patented capo was designed by James Ashborn of Wolcottville, Connecticut year 1850.
Scordatura is a tuning of a string instrument that is different from the normal, standard tuning. It typically attempts to allow special effects or unusual chords or timbre, or to make certain passages easier to play. It is common to notate the finger position as if played in regular tuning, while the actual pitch resulting is altered. When all the strings are tuned by the same interval up or down, as in the case of the viola in Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra, the part is transposed as a whole.
Drop D tuning is an alternative form of guitar tuning in which the lowest (sixth) string is tuned down from the usual E of standard tuning by one whole step to D. So where standard tuning is E2A2D3G3B3E4 (EADGBe), drop D is D2A2D3G3B3E4 (DADGBe). Drop D tuning, as well as other lowered altered tunings, are often used with the electric guitar in heavy metal music. It is also used in blues, country, folk (often with acoustic guitar), and classical guitar.
Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking. The term "fingerstyle" is something of a misnomer, since it is present in several different genres and styles of music—but mostly, because it involves a completely different technique, not just a "style" of playing, especially for the guitarist's picking/plucking hand. The term is often used synonymously with fingerpicking except in classical guitar circles, although fingerpicking can also refer to a specific tradition of folk, blues and country guitar playing in the US. The terms "fingerstyle" and "fingerpicking" are also applied to similar string instruments such as the banjo.
In music, a guitar chord is a set of notes played on a guitar. A chord's notes are often played simultaneously, but they can be played sequentially in an arpeggio. The implementation of guitar chords depends on the guitar tuning. Most guitars used in popular music have six strings with the "standard" tuning of the Spanish classical guitar, namely E–A–D–G–B–E' ; in standard tuning, the intervals present among adjacent strings are perfect fourths except for the major third (G,B). Standard tuning requires four chord-shapes for the major triads.
Guitar tunings are the assignment of pitches to the open strings of guitars, including classical guitars, acoustic guitars, and electric guitars. Tunings are described by the particular pitches that are made by notes in Western music. By convention, the notes are ordered and arranged from the lowest-pitched string to the highest-pitched string, or the thickest string to thinnest, or the lowest frequency to the highest. This sometimes confuses beginner guitarists, since the highest-pitched string is referred to as the 1st string, and the lowest-pitched is the 6th string.
The Russian guitar (sometimes referred to as a "Gypsy guitar") is an acoustic seven-string guitar that was developed in Russia toward the end of the 18th century: it shares most of its organological features with the Spanish guitar, although some historians insist on English guitar descent. It is known in Russian as the semistrunnaya gitara (семиструнная гитара), or affectionately as the semistrunka (семиструнка), which translates to "seven-stringer". These guitars are most commonly tuned to an open G chord as follows: D2 G2 B2 D3 G3 B3 D4. In classical literature, the lowest string (D) occasionally is tuned down to the C.
Open D tuning is an open tuning for the acoustic or electric guitar. The open string notes in this tuning are : D A D F♯ A D. It uses the three notes that form the triad of a D major chord: D, F♯ and A.
An extended-range bass is an electric bass guitar with a wider frequency range than a standard-tuned four-string bass guitar.
Open C tuning is an open tuning for guitar. The open-string notes form a C major chord, which is the triad (C,E,G) having the root note C, the major third (C,E), and the perfect fifth (C,G). When the guitar is strummed without fretting any strings, a C-major chord is sounded. By barring all of the strings for one fret, one finger suffices to fret the other eleven major-chords.
In music, 41 equal temperament, abbreviated 41-TET, 41-EDO, or 41-ET, is the tempered scale derived by dividing the octave into 41 equally sized steps. Each step represents a frequency ratio of 21/41, or 29.27 cents, an interval close in size to the septimal comma. 41-ET can be seen as a tuning of the schismatic, magic and miracle temperaments. It is the second smallest equal temperament, after 29-ET, whose perfect fifth is closer to just intonation than that of 12-ET. In other words, is a better approximation to the ratio than either or .
In music for stringed instruments, especially guitar, an open chord is a chord that includes one or more strings that are not fingered. An open string vibrates freely, whereas a fingered string will be partially dampened unless fingered with considerable pressure, which is difficult for beginner players. In an open chord, the unfingered strings are undampened, and the player is able to exert maximum pressure on the fretted strings, to avoid unwanted dampening. On a regular six-string guitar, an open chord can have from one to six open strings sounding. In contrast, all of the strings are fingered for a barre chord, which requires greater technique to be allowed to ring freely. To dampen a barre chord, a player simply needs to relax the fingers. Fully dampening an open chord requires the player to roll the fingers of the left hand over the open strings, or else dampen with the right hand.
Open B Tuning is an open tuning for guitar. The open string notes in this tuning are B-F♯-B-F♯-B-D♯. It uses the three notes that form the triad of a B major chord: B, the root note; F♯, the perfect fifth; and D♯, the major third.
Among alternative tunings for guitar, a major-thirds tuning is a regular tuning in which each interval between successive open strings is a major third. Other names for major-thirds tuning include major-third tuning, M3 tuning, all-thirds tuning, and augmented tuning. By definition, a major-third interval separates two notes that differ by exactly four semitones.
Among alternative guitar-tunings, regular tunings have equal musical intervals between the paired notes of their successive open strings.
Repetitive tunings are a type of alternative tunings for the guitar. A repetitive tuning begins with a list of notes that is duplicated, either at unison or at higher octaves.
Among alternative tunings for the guitar, an overtones tuning selects its open-string notes from the overtone sequence of a fundamental note. An example is the open tuning constituted by the first six overtones of the fundamental note C, namely C2-C3-G3-C4-E4-G4.
References
1 2 3 Alfred D'Auberge and Morton Manus (1968). The New Guitar Course, Book 3, p.39. ISBN0-7390-1779-9.
↑ Moore, Allan. "The So-Called 'Flattened Seventh' in Rock", p.200n17, Popular Music, Vol. 14, No. 2. (May, 1995), pp. 185-201.
↑ Mead, David (1999). Guitar Workout for the Interminably Busy. Sanctuary Publishing Ltd. p.174. ISBN1-86074-239-4. Of course, it works for every chord. If you wanted a dominant seventh chord for every occasion and key, all you have to do is look up the shapes for C, A, G, E and D. [...] Another 60 chords with little or no effort!
↑ Del Mar, Norman (1981). Anatomy of the Orchestra. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press. pp.482–484 (1987 paperback edition). ISBN0-520-05062-2.
↑ Yates, Stanley (1998). "Arranging, Interpreting and Performing the Music of J. S. Bach". Six Unaccompanied Cello Suites Arranged for Guitar. Pacific, MO: Mel Bay.
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