E Barre chord on the 7th and D Barre on the 5th

lapua65

I am in the early stages of learning Barre chords and in general it is going quite well' however I cant get the hang of the A major shape in the 9th and 7th fret (barre on 7 and 5 respectively) I can just about get the A in the 7th using 3 fingers (but takes me 5 mins) but have to try using my ring finger on the 9th fret. Are there any tips as I am struggling even to get it right. Thanks in advance,

roberty

This guy's teaching is spot on. Better than I could ever try to explain in a forum post

Devil#20

Barre the A shape with your ring finger. If you mute the high E it doesn't matter but you can barre the D G B strings without muting the E with practice. Mute the low E with the tip of your index finger. I doubt many people use three fingers to make the A maj shape when barreing. It's too hard/impossible at the dusty end so just do as above in all positions. Practice your A maj cowboy chord using just your ring finger on the second fret. 

Stavros

I use my first finger to barre in the 5 and 7 and my third finger in the 7 and 9, lifting off the latter so the high E string sounds true.

roberty

One tip though is you can squeeze the strings into your left hand by squeezing the body of the guitar under your right arm. I think Justin will probably mention this in the video. He did in an older video

Devil#20

If you're just starting out on your guitar journey you could do worse than set up an account with Justin Guitar (as per the video above). He's quite highly regarded as a guitar tutor and (someone correct me if I'm wrong) his beginner, intermediate and advanced courses are all free. Not sure how he makes his money. He does have books to back it all up so maybe that way. You don't need them though I don't think. He gets some big name players' recommendations too. 

Rocker

Use your little finger to form the "A" barre part, muting the high E string is not a big concern. I find that the A string can be pressed with the index finger, muting the low E string with the tip of your index finger at the same time.  The DGB strings barred with your little finger form the major triad on their own, the addition of the A string adds power to the sound.  But then what do I know about these things........

Roland

Justin is the man to listen too when you’re starting out. 

What I will say about A shape bar chords (and this is a comment about arrangements rather than technique) is that it’s the notes on the D, G, and B strings which stand out. If I’m playing with a band then I normally use fingers 2, 3, and 4 to fret the A shape on strings 2, 3, and 4, and let the bass player deal with the bass note.  

If you are playing solo then you’ll probably want to play a bass note yourself. Depending on the song this could be an open E on the 6th string, an open A on the 5th, or using the tip of your first finger to fret a D or E on frets 5 and 7 of the 5th string.

The only time I worry about using my first finger for a full barre is when I’m picking or arpeggiating the full chord. If you concentrate on fingers 2, 3, and 4, rather than the barre, then the first finger will eventually sort itself out.

Tannin

All useful comments above. You can also work around the issue (and get some nice musical effects along the way). Instead of playing an A-shape barre, for an E:

* play an E power chord



* play a barre E7  - this gives your fingers more room and leaves one finger free (which is often handy). Sounds nice in many contexts too. It does need more effort of the barre, but is easier for the other fingers.




* play a barre Emaj7. Doesn't fit everywhere but is surprisingly a lot easier to play than a straight E.




* or still with a maj7, leave the first string open (i.e., don't barre). This often sounds better and is easier still.




* Finally, these two:





These are Eadd4 and a plain E triad. You can get a nice groove going switching back and forth between them, which is as simple as moving your ring finger up and down a string. (For the plain triad, if you rotate your wrist a little so that your fingers  are a bit flat on the fretboard, your ring finger will mute the 3rd string nicely. For most of the other chords - and most other chords in general - it is better to have your fingers more upright so as to avoid unwanted muting.)

All of these chords work for the D as well, though you need to be a little careful with what open strings you include. In general, you want to leave the open low E out but you can quite often leave the high E in - as part of a D chord it makes a 2nd (giving either Dadd2 or D sus2) and as part of a 7th or maj7th it makes a 9th, which almost always sounds good.

There are lots and lots of other alternatives but I'll restrain myself to just one more - the really, really useful E9



You can move this one around at will (down to the D for example), including or excluding the high E as you please. 

Tannin

Ooops! I forgot to say the most important thing, which is to treat all the previous comments above my post as the main course, and mine as just a desert. Yes, there are lots of fun alternatives to barre chords and in time you'll want to learn them all, but doing the hard grind of learning to barre effectively is essential. 

BillDL

When playing full Root 6 barre chords (i.e. the open E shaped one with the root on the 6th string), you have to get your thumb down on the back of the neck for support.  A common issue with beginners is tilting the guitar back to look down and see what they are doing.  This puts too much of an angle on your wrist and makes it much harder to hold down a barre chord.  Lean the guitar forward into a vertical position and even raise the neck a bit so that your wrist is at less of an angle going under the neck.

Justin Whatshisname teaches people to fret a Root 5 barre chord (the open A shape) using the 3 free fingers crammed together into the same fret side-by side at a slight angle on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings.  I find that very difficult to do even for an open A chord where I have to fret the 3rd string with my index finger in behind the ring finger on the 2nd string and the middle finger on the 4th string in a triangle shape.  Obviously that would be impossible in a barre chord, so it is a good idea to make your Root 5 barre chords using only your 1st finger across the width of the neck covering all strings, and your ring finger forming a partial barre across the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings.  It takes a bit of practice to bend the tip section of your ring finger at this angle, but it is worth the perseverance because your pinky is freed up to play the extra note for a Suspended 4th or 7th chord.

Try just playing an Open A chord using ONLY your ring finger to form the partial barre and leave your 1st finger hovering over the fretboard or nut somewhere.  Once you get the feel of that, try playing an open E chord with your middle and ring fingers and pinky only, while still leaving your 1st finger hovering.  Now try and switch from the Open E to the Open A using your ring finger to barre the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings.

Now move up to about the 5th or 7th frets where the spacing is closer and it takes less pressure to fret the strings, and substitute your 1st finger for the nut and try and do the same chord changes.  Practice changing from a full Root 6 barre chord to a full Root 5 one just by "rocking" your hand down and dropping your ring finger into that partial 3-string barre while STILL keeping your middle finger on the 3rd string behind the partial barre.  Leaving your middle finger in place there means you can rock your hand back up again and fall right into place on the Root 6 barre chord again.

It takes time.  Quite often people learning to play barre chords are actually using unnecessary pressure without realising it and this can hurt the base of your thumb that is having to squeeze the back of the neck too tightly.  If you are getting buzzy or dead strings, try and readjust your hand position rather than trying to press down harder.

tone1

Rocker said:

Use your little finger to form the "A" barre part, muting the high E string is not a big concern. I find that the A string can be pressed with the index finger, muting the low E string with the tip of your index finger at the same time.  The DGB strings barred with your little finger form the major triad on their own, the addition of the A string adds power to the sound.  But then what do I know about these things........

Yep, I use my pinky to form the ‘A’ part 

roberty

I use my 1st and 3rd for A shape barre chords. I think that's the most common way

prowla

1st finger barre across all strings at 7the fret, little finger mini-barre across the G/B/E strings on the 9th fret for the "A" shape.

As a side effect, this also makes it easier to swap to an "E" shape barre chord, as your little finger is already in place on the string and you just need to arch it as you place your second & third fingers; swapping back & forth between the chords is almost like rolling your pinky flat/arched.

PAL

I teach guitar and I suggest to anyone learn to be adaptable with your fingers and fingering .
  Try to play open chords without using your index finger when you can do this all you need to slide the shapes up the neck
  until the root note is played on the low E or A string then use your index finger for the barre position.
  You don't always need to play a full barre chord as three notes from the chord will work but it's best not to avoid using
  barre chords because you want to build adaptability and strength into your fretting hand. Hope this helps.

Roland

PAL said:

  Try to play open chords without using your index finger when you can do this all you need to slide the shapes up the neck ...  You don't always need to play a full barre chord as three notes from the chord will work but it's best not to avoid using barre chords because you want to build adaptability and strength into your fretting hand.

That’s how I used to teach it.

CaseOfAce

roberty said:

I use my 1st and 3rd for A shape barre chords. I think that's the most common way

Me too. Job done. Leaves the little finger available for sus4 duties as well (very important).

I don't worry about the high e string being muted (there are VERY rare occasions where a song requires it at which point I have to reassess).

BigPaulie

I can play the A shaped barre with first and third fingers and bend the top section of the third finger backwards so that the top string rings out clearly.

That said, it's not a deal-breaker if only strings 5, 4, 3 & 2 ring out cos the top string is a 5th in this shape and there's already a 5th on the 4th string.

blobb

Move your elbow away from your body until you develop the wrist angle.

roberty

blobb said:

Move your elbow away from your body until you develop the wrist angle.

That's true yeah. Wis'd