Barre chords are a crucial part of any rhythm guitarist's playing, but they're a little limited. They sound fine. They just sound a bit samey, and if you play every song you know with them, your playing is going to sound samey too.
So here's an option that isn't far from the barre chords you already know, but gives you way more room for creative choices. In my opinion, once you know how to play around with these, you probably won't go back.
Start with the two standard barre chord shapes ▶ 0:28
First you need the basic major and minor barre chords. We'll use G major and A minor.
For G major, barre the 3rd fret with your first finger across all six strings. Your third finger goes on the 5th fret of the A string, your little finger on the 5th fret of the D string, and your second finger on the 4th fret of the G string.
For A minor, move that up two frets and take the second finger away, so the barre is now sounding on the low E, G, B and high e strings: 5 7 7 5 5 5.
These sound fine. They just sound a bit blocky, and they lack dynamics.
The smaller shapes: just the top four strings ▶ 1:14
So in both cases, take only the four highest strings. You're essentially removing the power chord at the bottom.
You don't want to keep holding the full shape with two fingers missing, so change how you finger it:
- G major: third finger on the 5th fret of the D string, second finger on the 4th fret of the G string, and the first finger barring just the 3rd fret on the B and high e strings.
- A minor: third finger on the 7th fret of the D string, and the first finger barring the 5th fret across the G, B and high e strings.
There are a few reasons I almost always go for these shapes instead.
Free fingers for hammer-ons and melody ▶ 2:19
Look at the G shape. Your little finger is now free, and that's really important, because now you can add notes on top. Try hammering on the 5th fret of the G string with the little finger, or the 5th fret on the high e.
The A minor shape frees up even more. The little finger can add hammer-ons on the G string or the high e, and the second finger works nicely on the 6th fret of the B string.
Between those options, you've already started to bring in little melodic ideas. You could even argue you're changing what the chord is just by doing it.
Easier to get to from riffs and lead lines ▶ 3:15
The other big reason is how easy these are to get into. Full barre chords are very blocky and quite specific in their shape, and your thumb has to come round to the back of the neck to do them. With these smaller shapes you can be riffing around and quickly jump to the A minor or the G, then jump straight back out again.
That opens up so many more options for blending your lead and riff playing with your rhythm playing. This is the classic Hendrix thing. Think about "Little Wing". Once you start mixing little riffs in between the chords, it's immediately far more interesting than just strumming two barre chords.
Related shapes: F and D minor ▶ 4:15
There are loads of other similar shapes you can break down, especially triad inversions, which are a whole topic of their own. But here's a quick taste using what you've got.
From the A minor shape, just add your second finger on the 6th fret of the B string and you've got an F chord. If you only flick to it in passing, nobody would say you played an F, it just sounds like a melodic idea. But if you fully change to it, it's an F chord.
And if you take the A minor shape and move it up to the 10th fret, it's a D minor. Count it up from A: A, B flat, B, C, C sharp, D.
That D minor is the 12th fret on the D string with the barre across the 10th fret. So with tiny changes you can go A minor, F, D minor, and drop little ideas from your A minor pentatonic or A minor scale in between the changes.
Missing the bass? Bring in your thumb ▶ 5:23
If these feel like they're lacking a bit of low end, bring your thumb over the top of the neck. On the G shape, the thumb holds the 3rd fret of the low E string, where the barre would normally be. On the A minor, it's the 5th fret.
You're still missing the A string note, and you won't get it holding the chord this way. But you're not missing much without that one note. I use just the edge of my thumb to mute the A string so it doesn't come through, and the little finger is still free for those extra notes.
Also think about who you're playing with. If you're in a band, there's a very good chance the bass player is already playing, or at least highlighting, those root notes. So you might want them for a thick rhythm part in a chorus, but for something more decorative you don't really need them.
Using these shapes across a whole key ▶ 6:38
To use these in a full song, you need two things.
First, look up the scale for the key you're in, for example A minor. You should be able to see the 577555 barre shape in that scale diagram, the smaller 7555 shape on top of it, and all the notes around it. Those surrounding notes are what you can add on top. Depending on where you place each chord, you'll have different notes available.
Second, you need the chords in the key. Going up the neck in A minor, the barre chords are F major, G major, A minor, C major, D minor and E minor (plus a B diminished, which we'll skip). The major ones use the G shape and the minor ones use the A minor shape. F is just the G shape two frets lower, and D minor is the A minor shape five frets higher.
E minor up near the 12th fret with a full barre isn't a comfortable place to be, especially if you're stood up. That's another reason to go for the smaller shapes.
So pick a song you know, ideally a four-chord song (the Axis of Awesome four-chord medley is good inspiration), and see if you can play it with these smaller shapes. Then add a few little melodic ideas on top. If you don't know your scales too well, just try something and see what works. You might be surprised.
