Create a barre with your first finger on any fret.
Pretend your finger is the nut of the guitar. Now use
your remaining 3 fingers to play an E chord like in
the Major chord below. The fingering is a little bit
different, but the form is the same.
E Major Open
E Major Barred
(audio example is F major, root on 1st fret
6th string)
Fret/Chord Chart
Depending on the fret your 1st finger barres determines
what chord you are playing. For example, in an open
E chord the open E string is the root. The E chord
barre on the 1st fret is an F chord and so on. This
is where learning the names of the frets comes in handy!
Fret
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Chord
F
F#/Gb
G
G#/Ab
A
A#/Bb
B
C
C#/Db
D
D#/Eb
E
Exercise
Play the E major barre chord on the 1st fret, then
the 2nd, and continue up the fret board all the way
up to the 12th fret. Then go all the way back down
to the open position. The exercise is performed in
the audio example below.
