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Barre Chords (Bar Chords) on Guitar: E-Shape & A-Shape

How to play barre chords on guitar — the E-shape and A-shape that unlock the whole fretboard, F major and B minor, common mistakes, and exercises.

By ChiyeUpdated

Barre chords are the gate between beginner and intermediate guitar. They feel impossible for a few weeks, then one day the F chord just rings — and the entire fretboard unlocks with it.

The reason is simple: two shapes, moved anywhere on the neck, give you every major and minor chord in every key. That is the whole payoff, and it is why this is worth the frustration.

Why barre chords matter

Open chords live in one position. Barre chords are moveable: slide the same shape up the neck and it becomes a new chord, because your index finger acts as a temporary nut. Two shapes give you every major and minor chord in existence.

Put differently, the five open shapes cover five major chords and a handful of minors. Two barre shapes cover all 24. There is no other place in guitar learning where a single skill multiplies like that.

The E-shape barre (root on the low E string)

The E-shape is an open E major played with different fingers: your index finger barres the fret where the nut would be, and fingers 2, 3 and 4 play the A, D and G strings two frets higher. At fret 1 it is F major — the classic first barre — at fret 3 it is G, at fret 5 it is A.

The shape slides to every root on the low E string:

Fret Major (E-shape) Minor (Em-shape) Dominant 7th (E7-shape)
1 F Fm F7
2 F# F#m F#7
3 G Gm G7
4 Ab Abm Ab7
5 A Am A7
6 Bb Bbm Bb7
7 B Bm B7
8 C Cm C7
9 C# C#m C#7
10 D Dm D7
11 Eb Ebm Eb7
12 E Em E7

Three variants, one barre. Flatten the third and the major becomes minor; lift two fingers and it becomes a dominant seventh. That is how players who look like they know a hundred chords actually know about six.

The A-shape barre (root on the A string)

The A-shape barres the top five strings with the index and frets the D, G and B strings two frets up — often with the ring finger barring all three. At fret 2 it is B major, at fret 3 it is C, at fret 5 it is D.

Fret Major (A-shape) Minor (Am-shape) Dominant 7th (A7-shape)
1 Bb Bbm Bb7
2 B Bm B7
3 C Cm C7
4 C# C#m C#7
5 D Dm D7
6 Eb Ebm Eb7
7 E Em E7
8 F Fm F7
9 F# F#m F#7
10 G Gm G7
11 Ab Abm Ab7
12 A Am A7

The A-shape covers the same 12 chords as the E-shape but in a different register. That matters more than it sounds: when a song jumps from F to Bb, playing Bb in the A-shape at fret 1 keeps your hand near where it already is, while the E-shape version at fret 6 sends it halfway up the neck.

The fixes for a clean barre

  1. Roll the finger. Barre with the bony side of your index finger, not the flat pad. The pad is soft and has a groove down the middle that swallows the middle strings.
  2. Thumb low. Keep your thumb behind the middle of the neck, pointing up, roughly opposite your index finger. A thumb hooked over the top pulls the whole hand out of position.
  3. Pull, don’t squeeze. Use the weight of your arm and a slight pull from the fretting hand instead of a death grip. The pressure that makes a barre ring comes from the arm, not the hand.
  4. Get close to the fret. A barre two centimetres behind the fret wire needs far more pressure than one a millimetre behind it.
  5. Strum one string at a time. Find the dead string, adjust, repeat. This diagnoses 90% of problems in 30 seconds.
  6. Start high. The frets near the nut need the most pressure. Practise the shape at fret 5 or 7 first, where it is easier, then slide down toward F.

The strength myth

Almost nobody fails at barre chords because their hand is too weak. Players with small hands and light frames play F cleanly all the time, and the fix is nearly always one of three things: the index finger is flat rather than rolled, the thumb is too high, or the barre is too far from the fret wire.

Test it yourself. Play a barre at fret 7. If it rings cleanly, your hand is strong enough, and the problem at fret 1 is position, not power. If fret 7 is also dead, start there and work down.

A four-week progressive workout

Week Daily drill Goal
1 Barre at fret 7, strum, release, repeat 10 times Get any clean sound at an easy fret
2 Same drill at fret 5, then fret 3 Keep it clean as the frets get wider
3 Barre at fret 1 for 10 reps, then change F to C and back Survive the hardest fret
4 Play a song with an F in it, slowly, all the way through Use the chord rather than practise it

Two minutes a day for a month, and the F chord stops being the thing you avoid in every song. The full chord-change drills are in the easy chords guide.

Songs on this site that need a barre

This is where the work pays off. Every song below contains at least one chord that has no open-position version:

Song Barre chords in it Shape
Let It Be F E-shape at fret 1
Hallelujah F E-shape at fret 1
Creep B, Cm A-shape at fret 2, A-shape minor at fret 3
Hotel California Bm, F# A-shape minor at fret 2, E-shape at fret 2
Someone Like You C#m, F#m A-shape minors at fret 4 and fret 9
Hey Jude F, Bb, Eb E-shape at fret 1, A-shape at fret 1, A-shape at fret 6
Let Her Go Bm A-shape minor at fret 2
Unchained Melody F, Fm E-shape at fret 1, E-shape minor at fret 1

Creep is the best first target. It is four chords, the tempo is slow, and the B and Cm both sit in the A-shape at frets 2 and 3 — so once you can hold the shape, you have most of the song.

Common mistakes

What happens Why Fix
Middle strings buzz, outer strings ring Index finger pad is flat and grooved Roll onto the bony side
Whole chord is sharp Squeezing so hard the fingers bend the strings Ease off and use arm weight
Hand cramps after 20 seconds Thumb hooked over the neck Move the thumb behind the middle of the neck
Clean at fret 7, dead at fret 1 Normal — the nut end needs more pressure Work down one fret at a time
Works alone, fails in a song You are practising the chord, not the change Drill the transition, not the shape

Where to go next

If the full barre still feels far away, power chord shapes are the same movable idea with two notes instead of six — the fastest route to playing songs while the barre builds up.

Once the two barre shapes are comfortable, the next step is not another shape but seventh chords and slash chords, which are the same barres with one finger moved. That is the point at which the neck stops being a set of positions and starts being one instrument.

Common questions

What is a barre chord?
A barre chord is a moveable chord shape where your index finger presses down several strings at once, acting like a movable nut. The same shape produces a different chord at every fret.
What is the hardest chord for beginners?
F major is the chord most beginners struggle with, because it is usually their first barre chord and requires holding all six strings with the index finger while fretting three more notes.
How long does it take to learn barre chords?
Most players get a clean E-shape barre within 4–8 weeks of daily practice. Strength builds gradually; the shape usually clicks suddenly once the thumb position and finger roll are right.
What are the 2 main barre chord shapes?
The E-shape (root on the low E string, like F major) and the A-shape (root on the A string, like B major). Between them you can play every major and minor chord in every key.
Why can't I get all six strings to ring on a barre chord?
The usual cause is the index finger lying flat across the strings. Roll it onto its bony side and move it closer to the fret wire, and check that your thumb sits behind the middle of the neck rather than hooked over the top.
Do barre chords hurt your hand?
Fingertip soreness is normal for the first two weeks. Pain in the thumb joint or wrist is not, and usually means you are squeezing with the hand instead of letting the arm hold the chord in place.