Learning to barre on the guitar. Barre - how to play and play the guitar

In this article we will talk about how to quickly and correctly learn how to take a barre. There is a small and a large barre. Small is when you pinch several strings with your index finger, and large (in the figure) respectively, when all the strings are clamped

The two main problems are pain and fatigue. The first problem is easy to deal with - just practice placing your hand on the bar once a day.

This is done like this: you pinch all the strings with your index finger on the first fret and help it with the middle one, i.e. put your finger on your finger. Naturally, if you do this exercise, say, on the third or fourth fret, then the process of getting used to it will be much easier, but I advise you not to look for easy ways. Remember - the main thing is to “cope” with the first fret! After a few days, you will notice that your index finger no longer feels pain, this is a good sign, it means the skin of your finger has become rough and you are ready for a full-fledged barre!

First of all, you must pay attention to your seating position, you need to sit correctly, as shown in the picture. This, of course, is ideal.

The picture on the left shows a correctly held “F” chord. Pay attention to the index finger, it practically lies on the fret. This is the correct barre grip. If the finger were between the frets, the guitarist would need to make more effort.

Another very important point! Pay attention to the little finger and ring finger. The fifth string is plucked with the ring finger, the fourth string with the little finger, and not vice versa. That is, no “ladders” of fingers, remember this! If you get used to clamping incorrectly, you will lose dexterity and it will be difficult to relearn.

Important point! If, it would seem, when the barre is taken correctly, the strings sound dull, then do not try to pinch the strings even more, it is better to pay attention to how correctly you clamped them in general.

Now let's talk about hand fatigue. This is the next problem that a newbie will have to face. The simplest solution is to sign up for a bodybuilding class :) Just kidding, all you need to do is do push-ups once a day and your arms will become strong and resilient. Girls can be advised to train with a wrist expander (in the figure)

In conclusion, I want to give a couple more tips:

So, a few words about barre agility. There are no special techniques here. You just need to try to play, if you try, there will be progress. You can train like this: Am - F - Dm - E, your task is to develop dexterity and muscle memory.

Bare is a special technique of playing the guitar that involves plucking several strings. The guitar bar is divided into several groups: full bar - all strings are clamped, half bar - four strings, and small bar - three strings. This technique is used for any playing technique and is part of a huge variety of chords in both minor and major groups. Bare is used in all musical styles and is a fundamental technique for playing the guitar.

Problems with setting up the bar

Many beginning guitarists are faced with the fact that they cannot play the guitar bar. And since without this technique it is impossible to play complex melodies, often a person who encounters difficulties when using this element simply throws the instrument and does not return to music. To prevent this, you need to know how to play the guitar bar correctly. After all, if you do everything as experts recommend, no difficulties should arise, and you will easily master such a necessary technique.

How to get a bar?

In fact, doing this is quite simple, you just need to follow a few rules below.

So, let's learn how to clamp the bar on the guitar correctly.

To begin, relax your hand, shake it, and hold it in a hanging position for several seconds. Naturally, this procedure is only needed when you are still studying.

Try to press several strings as close as possible to the nut of the fret on which you want to play the technique we know. This will not only make your task easier, but will also make the sound cleaner, without unnecessary rattling and other interference. If you don't need all 4 fingers of your left hand for a certain chord, you can put your middle finger on top of your index finger, but don't get into the habit of doing this, because this way you can limit yourself in using the bar.

Bend your left arm at the wrist so that minimal tension is created. Find this comfortable position for yourself and remember it. First, bring your hand into it yourself, and after a while you will be able to do it automatically.

Also, some musicians advise starting to learn this technique by setting a small bar, then moving on to a half bar, and only then taking a full bar on six strings. However, this technique is not always justified: little is used mainly in classical melodies, which many beginning guitarists for some reason avoid. The chords mostly contain a full bar on six strings.

When you are learning to play a bar, make sure that your little finger does not go under. This sometimes happens involuntarily due to the strong tension when trying to play a chord. You don't need to be too zealous, otherwise you may ruin all your efforts.

Also, gradually try to play the bar on the guitar along with the required chord, this will help you not only practice the desired technique, but also improve your playing skills in general.

Practice, practice and more practice!

In fact, the only truly effective way to learn bar setting is practice. Only by practicing a lot can you easily master this technique. Practice, practice and more practice is what will help you become a real guitarist.

Do not despair under any circumstances, do not give up your attempts to play the guitar bar. Don’t think that you physically can’t take it, this basically doesn’t happen. Don’t look for excuses for yourself, but take it and do it! This is much more beneficial not only for improving your guitar playing skills, but also for willpower and spirit. Always finish what you start, no matter how difficult it may seem.

I hope you enjoyed this article and understand how to properly pluck the bar on your guitar. I wish you new creative success!

In this post we will talk about what barre is and how to play chords with it.
Barre- this is a method of playing the guitar in which the index finger of your left hand (if you are left-handed and pinch the strings with your right hand, then everything is done the same way, only for the right hand) pinch all the strings on a certain fret. I would like to say that there is also a so-called small barre, when 3 or 4 strings are clamped with the index finger. Barre on the guitar is difficult for beginning musicians when first mastered, but this is a very important technique because many chords can only be played with barre.

How to play barre? To master this technique correctly, first practice pinch all the strings on any fret with your index finger. Run your right hand along the strings. All sounds must be heard clearly. This will not happen right away, so practice thoroughly. Now let's move on to the chords.

In the previous lesson, we looked at the basic and placement of notes on the guitar fretboard. For example, now consider the F major chord (F). This chord is exactly played with barre.

Chord F

With our first finger we press all the strings on the first fret, the second finger on the third string on the second fret, the third finger on the fifth string on the third fret, and the fourth finger on the fourth string on the third fret. I remind you that the first note of the chord should be the tonic, that is, the note F (F). You can see that without the barre technique it is an E chord shifted one fret. This is where the interesting feature of barre lies. We seem to shift the upper threshold, for example, by one fret and our chord rises by a semitone. If you move the F chord one more fret, you get an F# chord.

Fm chord

It is created by moving the Em chord one fret.

Here are a few more commonly used barre chords. See for yourself what chords they are made from and how exactly.

Chord Hm

For greater clarity, here is a photo of how this chord is played on a guitar.

Chord H

Chord Gm

Chord Cm

Part 1

Bare(barre) is one of the main techniques of chord technique on the guitar. It consists in the fact that the index finger (and sometimes the middle, ring, and even little finger) clamps all the strings or several strings (2, 3 or four) on the fret. By the number of clamped strings, a large and a small bar are distinguished.

You know how to play bar F - you know how to play more songs

Many beginning guitarists who have mastered simple chords in the first position - Am, Dm, E, C and G - sooner or later begin to realize that the inability to play bar is a serious limitation in expanding their song repertoire.

For example.I liked the song, I want to play it and sing it, but there’s a catch: in the harmonic sequence, in addition to the already familiar and easy Am and Dm, there is also an F chord on the guitar (a stumbling block!). And without him there is no way... or almost nothing. No, of course, you can find an accompaniment option for some songs in a different key (for example, in Em - E minor), without a bar, but will it be convenient to sing? After all, it (the tonality) can easily turn out to be “high” or “low” for the voice.

But is the F chord on a guitar as scary and unattainable as beginning guitarists imagine it to be? Of course not - if you approach its study and mastery correctly.

Where to begin?

This article covers F major first position fingering for beginners. Sometimes it is also called the F chord on a guitar without a bar. Because the index finger only plucks two strings and not all six strings.

As you can see from the photo, this is an easier option compared to the standard fingering. It is ideally suited for the first acquaintance with bar technology.

The simplified fingering F sounds almost as good as the standard one. The only difference is that the sixth string is muted (does not sound). That is, for accompaniment such a solution is quite acceptable. The layout of the fingers on the fingerboard is suitable for both strumming and fingerpicking (the tonic of the chord on the 4th string).

Let's look at some simple exercises that will help you quickly learn how to play the small bar of the F chord on the guitar.

Guitar preparation

Before you begin analyzing the exercises, pay attention to the height of the strings above the fingerboard. In the area of the XII fret it should not exceed 2-4mm. Adjust the guitar neck if necessary.

If you don’t know how to do this, ask an experienced guitarist colleague, or even better, a guitar master. Otherwise, all your efforts aimed at mastering the F chord will have little or no success. Significant calluses will appear on the ribs (side part) of the index finger. And, as a result, any desire to “get involved” with the bar will disappear altogether.

Exercise No. 1: how to place your index finger

First of all, let's train the index finger: learn how to press the first two strings. This will be your first bar, even, to be precise, a minibar. By the way, this technique is actively used by experienced guitarists when performing not only accompaniment, but also solo.

Using the side of your index finger, press the first 2 strings on the 1st fret.

Control the position of your left hand:

the thumb should be located approximately in the middle of the back of the fingerboard;
press the first two strings (the thinnest - 1 and 2) with the side of the upper phalanx of the index finger (see photo); but at the same time, do not turn the hand too much, do not lay your finger flat (with a soft pad);
do not place the bar directly on the metal fret bridge (the chord will not sound!);
do not bend your “free” fingers (which do not press the strings) under the fingerboard (in this case, in order to play an F chord on the bar, you will have to make more efforts, and unjustified ones); Keep them over the bar!

Warning! Do not under any circumstances allow pain to appear in your left hand. At the first sign of fatigue, immediately stop playing the exercise. Then lower your hand, relax your muscles and lightly shake your hand several times. After recovery, you can start exercising again.

So what happens? If not yet, don’t worry, it will definitely work out. Let's now use our right hand in the exercise to make the minibar sound.

By the way, we will play it with a guitar backing track. Agree that this is a worthy alternative to the “boring” metronome (especially for beginner musicians who are not experienced in long lessons). And you, to some extent, will feel like a member of the group.

It sounds like this:

And here are the tabs/notes of the exercise:

On the small bar in the first position of the 4th measure, the same fingering is played - 3, 2, 1, 2 strings. It can be played with both fingers and a pick - it makes no difference. (Pick strokes are written above each sound.) At the end of the exercise, in the fifth measure, strike the first three strings down on the first beat.

Don't be confused by the intricate name of the chord - Csus4/G. You can concentrate on analyzing its sound composition later. At the moment, the priority is bar technology.

After you understand the musical notation, master the exercise at a slow tempo, start playing it to the accompaniment.

Here's the backing track:

Exercise #2: adding a middle finger

As you probably already understood from the title of the subtitle, we are mastering the F fingering on the guitar gradually. At this stage, in addition to the small bar, we will train the middle finger on the first and second strings.

Listen to how it's played:

Tabs and notes:

The picking is the same - on the first three strings.

1st and 2nd measures- this is exercise No. 1 without any changes;
3 and 4 t.- the middle finger is added to the minibar - third string, second fret;
5 t.- the final touch is a downward strike.

Before putting on a chord and playing it with a minus, sequentially disassemble and play each measure of the exercises. Don't forget to control the position of your hand and fingers! Don't overload your hand.

Backing track for classes:

Exercise No. 3: developing the little finger

Pay attention to the placement of the fingers of the F chord. Does it remind you of another chord in any way? Especially on the 5th, 4th and 3rd strings. You guessed it, no? Yes, this is nothing other than the already well-known E (E major) shifted up the fret along the fretboard. But in this case, when using the bar, it is no longer pressed with 1, 2, 3 fingers, but with 2, 3, 4. And the little finger, it must be said, by its anatomical nature the finger is weak, and can also cause certain technical difficulties when mastering the bar .

Therefore, we will work on this point separately. And the index finger will have a rest from the execution called “pressing several strings at the same time” :)

This is what the exercise for developing the little finger sounds like:

Now let's look at the musical notation:

Overkill: 5 or 4 (depending on the chord; look carefully at the tabs!), 3, 2 and 1.

1 and 2 t.- the middle finger (2) presses the 3rd string on the 2nd fret, the remaining strings (5, 2 and 1) are open;
3 and 4 t.- do not lift your 2nd finger from the fingerboard; press the fifth string with your third finger at the third fret;
5 and 6 t.- the little finger is added to the already placed fingers (“outlines” of the bare F fingering on the bass strings); the picking in bar 5 starts from the 4th string, and in bar 6 - from the fifth.
7 t.- repetition of 1 bar;
8 t.- repetition of 1 volume again (beats 1 and 2), on the third beat - the final downward stroke.

Backing track:

Exercise No. 4: play bar F!

Now is the time to assemble all the “components” of the facilitated F major fingering into a single whole. That is, practice playing it in the form in which it will be used in the accompaniment.

And again, a “step-by-step” exercise to help:

Let's look at the notes and tabs of the bar:

The search is the same as in Ex. No. 3.

1 and 2 t.- the index finger clamps pages 1 and 2 (the rest are open).
3 and 4 t.- the little finger (4) is added: fourth string, third fret.
5 and 6 t.- now middle (2): 3rd string, 2nd fret.
7 and 8 t.- and nameless (3): 5th string, III fret. Picking starts from the 5th string! Even though the 4th string does not sound, do not remove your little finger from the fretboard.
9 t.- here is the F chord on the guitar; Maintaining the position of your fingers on the frets, play the fingerpicking, starting with the 4th string.
10 t.- final beat; strike down on all strings except the bass sixth.

Minus:

How to practice?

Learning this fingering may take more than one day, or two, or even a week. And you must be prepared for this in order to protect yourself from hasty disappointments: from the frivolous “then someday I’ll learn this bar” to the fatal “no, no, this chord is not for my fingers... not for me.”

1. The key to success is daily practice and, of course, perseverance.

2. Learn the exercises gradually, do not try to learn all the exercises in one day.

Focus on results. The main thing is to achieve clean, clear execution. For example, if it takes you 2-3 days, or even more, to master and play exercise No. 1, then so be it. Don't worry about this. Slowly but surely walk towards your goal. But hurry up, anyway, all the flaws and unfinished moments in subsequent exercises will immediately “make themselves felt.”

3. Bare is not a “weekend chord”, it is a chord technique.

And mastering F (F major) is only the first tiny step in its study. But it must be done with confidence! Remember this. Great things await you ahead - a bar of dominant seventh chords, non-chords, diminished seventh chords and many, many more interesting things.

4. Standardize the length of classes according to the degree of hand fatigue.

Gradually, the hand muscles adapt to the “special type of load”, and the pain will go away, and, accordingly, the exercise time will naturally increase.

Plus, after 4-10 sessions, you can alternate exercise No. 3 with other exercises: at the beginning with No. 1 and No. 2, and then with No. 4. Because it is played without a bar (less load on the hand).

Good luck mastering the F chord on guitar!

P.S. And if anything is not clear, ask questions. Leave your notes in the comments.

How to barre on a guitar - general information

Many beginning guitarists ask questions: how to perform barre on the guitar, what exercises need to be done in order for this technique to work. The answer is simple - you need more practice playing the guitar.

Let's try to barre the chord F. To do this, the index finger pinch 4 (6) strings of the first fret, the middle finger rests on the third string of the second, the ring and little fingers - on the 5th and 4th strings of the third fret. Try hitting the strings with your right hand. As a result? Most likely, the sound will be muffled, because the index finger does not clamp the strings tightly.

Do not despair! Not all beginners can master the barre right away; some learn to hold the barre for weeks, while others take months! It all depends on the practice of playing the guitar.

What you need to do to learn how to do barre

We have already said above that in order to learn how to play barre on a guitar, you need to practice a lot. Hold down F and hold it until your hand gets tired. Rest a little and press again. Repeat this daily, several times (for example, spend an hour a day on this). Guaranteed - after some time, the sound will improve!