Fundamentals of the Barre
By Donald Bustell
Barre chords are often discussed, more often cursed, and frequently avoided. This paper will attempt to analyze the factors necessary for successful barres and offer a technique which can make barre chords both easier and more powerful.
Contents:
- Guitar Setup
- Holding the Guitar
- The Secret Technique
- Advantages of the Secret Technique
- Right Hand Notes
- Postscript
1. Guitar Setup
In order to have any success playing barre chords, your guitar must be properly set up. The factors to consider in the setup are:
 | neck angle |
| action |
| string gauge |
Neck angle is the relationship between the fretboard and the top of the guitar. Basically, they must be nearly flat in relation to each other; no curves or twists.
Action is the height of the strings above the frets. It is usually measured at the 12th fret or where the neck meets the body of the guitar.
Together, neck angle and action have important effect on the quality and difficulty of barring chords. If the action is too low, barre chords will "buzz" and if action is too high, barre chords will be difficult to play at all. The neck angle must be set before the action and can usually be adjusted by the truss rod ( if present). More serious problems occasionally require that the neck be reset. Action is then set by adjustments to the nut and saddle. Style of playing must be considered when setting the action. Generally, action will have to be higher for aggressive players; a hard driving flat picker will require higher action than a fingerpicker with a light touch.
String gauge selection is also dependent on playing style: the more aggressive player will usually want heavier gauge strings. Heavier gauge strings effect action in two ways: diameter and tension. Heavier gauges are physically larger and therefore will tend to lower the action by being closer to the frets. However, their higher tension will pull harder on the neck and tend to raise the action. These offsetting tendencies may cancel each other out making changes in string gauge have no net effect on the action.
The lighter the string gauge, the easier they are to barre. The tradeoff is that lighter gauge strings produce less volume. Therefore, to make barre chords as easy as possible, choose the lightest gauge string which suits the style, attack, and volume requirements of your playing. Then set the neck angle and adjust the action as low as possible; just make sure that there is no buzz with your most aggressive attack and a full barre anywhere along the neck.
While making these adjustments to your guitar are not particularly difficult, it would probably be worthwhile to scrape together the cash to pay a good luthier to do it for you. Be sure he knows the gauge of the strings you will be using and how aggressive your playing style is. The fee should be nominal and the job will be done right. However, when it is done the cost will be worth the enjoyment and ease of playing a well adjusted guitar.
One final note: changes in the humidity of your guitar usually first became apparent in the action. This is more noticeable in solid wood guitars than in plywood guitars. If the strings seem to suddenly start buzzing or if the action seems higher, change in humidity is the most probable cause. The bottom line is, keep your guitar's humidity constant: keep the guitar in it's case when not in use; keep it away from direct sources of heat; and use a case humidifier during the winter when the house is being heated. For a more thorough discussion there is an excellent white paper on humidity and guitars available in the Tech Sheet section of the Taylor Guitar web site.
2. Holding the Guitar
In order to play barres, it is important that your hands are in no way involved in holding your guitar; they must be free to play it.
Get into your playing position and completely relax both hands. Let your left hand (if you play right handed) hang down along your side. If the guitar feels secure and comfortable, you are OK. If you are uncomfortable relaxing your hands, or the guitar starts slipping, you need to refine how you hold your guitar.
If you use a strap, tighten the strap so that the guitar is held in it's playing position without using your hands. If you do not use a strap, sit so that the leg on which the guitar rests is level or slightly raised. If you play right handed and the guitar is on your left leg, you will be going toward the 'classical' position. If the guitar is on your right leg, you will be going toward a neck flat position like that used by Delta blues players. In either case, the guitar is secured in position against your chest by your right forearm.
Overall, you should be completely relaxed; there should be no tension anywhere in your body. Without getting into a sermon on holding the guitar, let me just note that the technique which follows is somewhat easier if the neck is up from the horizontal and the closer it gets to 45 degrees, the easier it is to employ. However, I use the technique in all positions; I move the neck up and down because I find that different styles of music are easier to play with different neck positions. But that is a different discussion.
3. The Secret Technique for Perfect Barres
Most beginning guitar players start out trying to play a full barre F chord in the first position. Quite simply, this is THE most difficult chord to barre because it is right next to the nut. That said, here is the secret:
Great barre chords are played with the BACK, not the hands.
This is much more difficult to explain than to demonstrate, so please stay with me.
Step 1.
Put down your guitar or anything else in your hands. Keeping your back erect and
straight, raise your arms so that your elbows are level with your shoulders and your hands
are in front of your chin. Now move your arms back as if you are trying to fold in half
and make your elbows meet behind your neck. Note the feeling in your shoulders. This
feeling should be that of trying to make your shoulder blades touch.
Step 2.
Put your arms down to your sides. Repeat the motion with just your shoulders:
pull your shoulders back and try to make your shoulder blades touch. Relax then pull back
again. Do this several times and become familiar with the feeling.
Step 3.
The next thing to consider is the left index finger. (This assumes a right handed
player. Left handed players reverse left and right hands in this and following steps.)
This finger must be taught to lie perfectly flat on the fingerboard. To get a sense of
this position, make a fist with your right hand a place it against the palm of your left
hand so that your forearms are perpendicular. You should look like a kung-fu fighter about
to go into battle. Now fold the fingers of your left hand down so that the left index
finger is laying full length along the back of your right hand while your right fist stays
flat against your left palm. It may be necessary slide your fist slightly down toward the
heel of your palm in order to get the finger flat. Carefully holding the left hand in its
position, remove your fist and look at your left hand. This position, with the index
finger perfectly straight and perpendicular to the palm, is how the barre should be held
against the guitar.
Step 4.
Pick up your guitar and get into playing position. Get your left finger flat as
you just learned and place it at the 5th fret. Now, you are going to pull all six strings
down with that finger using the motion learned in step 2. Using the left hand by itself
will make the guitar neck come back and the guitar start to leave your lap; to counter
that, balance the pull of your left hand by pulling with the inside of your right forearm
where it comes over the guitar. The complete motion, then, is pull the shoulders back,
pulling on the guitar with your left forefinger (the Barre) and your right inside forearm,
as if you are trying to break the guitar across your chest. Leave the other fingers of the
left hand off the fingerboard for now. Keep the left thumb relaxed; at the most it should
rest lightly on the back of the neck. Strum across all six strings and see if each string
plays clean and clear. Relax your back and arms.
Repeat this step several times. Carefully check that the barre finger is straight. Pull back evenly with both arms using the muscles in the middle of your back. The guitar should not move when you pull the barre. There should be no tension anywhere in your body except the middle of your back, your left index finger, and the inside of your right forearm. Do not use your left thumb to squeeze the barre. Using your arms and back to pull the barre finger against the fingerboard, you should be able to make all six strings sound clear without your left thumb even touching the back of the neck.
The most important single thing to remember is: Relax Your Back When You Are Through!
If you forget to relax, your back will cramp. Relaxing will become automatic with practice but you must consciously do it at first.
Step 5.
Add fingers to the chord. Make an E chord. Usually this will be played with the
first three fingers: index finger at the first fret of the third (G) string, middle finger
at the second fret of the fifth (A) string, and the ring finger at the second fret of the
fourth (D) string. Now change your fingers so that you are using the second finger on the
G string, the third finger on the A string, and the fourth finger on the D string. You are
now holding the moveable E chord form. Slide your fingers up to the sixth and seventh
frets and use your index finger to barre the fifth fret. Pull the chord in with your back
and arms and strum. You should hear a nice clear six note A chord.
Relax and slide the barre down to the third fret. Pull the chord in with your back and arms and strum. You should hear a nice clear G chord. Remember not to use the thumb; at most, rest it lightly on the back of the neck.
Continue practicing this chord form, sliding it up a down between the third and eighth frets; the barre chords are easiest in this range. Once you can play all of these cleanly, start working down to the third, second, and first frets; soon you will be able to play the dreaded full-barre F chord. Also work as far up the neck as you can; how far you go will depend on your guitar type, cutaway etc. In the higher positions the issue is not so much string tension as closer fret spacing.
This may seem like a tremendous amount of muscle involvement to get a barre. However, one of the fundamental principles of guitar playing is economy of movement and effort: do not lift your fingers any higher than necessary to clear the strings and do not press any harder than necessary to produce a clear note. The same applies to this technique. Once the motion is understood, it should be very subtle; a slight tightening of the back and arms. After some practice it becomes automatic and unnoticeable.
Remember to keep the left thumb relaxed, the left index finger straight, pull with the back, and relax your back when releasing the chord.
Practice the technique using other movable chord forms.
4. Advantages of the Secret Technique
The power of this technique lies in the physiology of the forearm. If you squeeze a barre with your left thumb and index finger, all of the muscles of the forearm are tightened and the freedom of motion of the remaining three fingers is severely limited. Try it. Squeeze a barre with the thumb and index finger; then wiggle the second, third, and fourth fingers of your left hand. Notice how sluggish they feel. Relax the thumb and pull a barre with your back and arms; wiggle your fingers again. Notice how much freer they feel.
With the ease of motion thus gained, chord changes in a barre are much easier. It will also be very easy to play scales under a barre.
All of the notes of the C major scale in the first position are:
E string: open, 1st fret, 3rd fret
A string: open, 2nd fret, 3rd fret
D string: open, 2nd fret, 3rd fret
G string: open, 2nd fret
B string: open, 1st fret, 3rd fret
E string: open, 1st fret, 3rd fret
Practice this scale up and down using the second, third, and fourth fingers of the left hand. Now pull a barre at the fifth fret using the Secret Technique. Play the pattern above where the 'open' notes are played at the barre and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd frets become the 6th, 7th, and 8th frets. Remember to keep the left thumb relaxed.
The full potential of this technique should start to become evident. Play with it. Explore the possibilities. As with anything new, give it time. Practice slowly and make each note ring clear and clean. And most important, remember to relax your back when you release the chord.
5. Right Hand Notes
I am a fingerstyle player and I know this technique works because I have used it for over twenty years. However, I have never learned to use a pick. I can foresee some complaint that the Secret Technique won't work for pickers whose picking motion is a strum that originates from the elbow since they would be required to pull in with the forearm while moving it up and down. This may be true. However, I would suggest that they investigate moving their picking motion from the elbow to the wrist; the Secret Technique would then work because picking would be done by rotating the wrist while holding the guitar with the forearm during a barre. Since I have no personal experience in this area, I can only point to Les Paul. Les' right elbow was irreparably damaged in a motor vehicle accident. He directed that the elbow be set at an angle that allowed him to play the guitar. He has lived and played for many years with his elbow fixed in one position and all the picking motion coming from the rotation of his wrist.
6. Postscript
I have been playing the guitar for approaching thirty years at the time of this writing. I learned the back technique from my classical guitar instructor after I had played for about five years. I consider it the single most useful piece of information I have learned in all those years. Thank you Anna, wherever you are.
I am releasing this paper without copyright. I only ask that credit be given where credit is due if it is reproduced.
Please address questions, comments, and corrections to DBustell@aol.com.
Version 1.0 - September 14, 1999
Version 1.1 - September 17, 1999: Added paragraph on economy of motion.
Donald Bustell