Bar Chord Shapes

[Blues_Dude]

Ok so I think I have a good handle on the A7 mini bar chord.  It appears that the fingering for the root on the 6th string is the "E" shape and for the root on the 5th string is the "A" shape.  My question is on the C9 Or G9 mini bar chord.  Can someone help get it into my minds eye what shape to use when playing a mini bar chord for the root on the "6th" and on the "5th" string please?

By the way Griff, am truly enjoying your method of teaching, thanks so much!!!

 

[Terry B]

Not sure what course you're working on but Griff covers this in lessons 3 and 4 of BGU, and gives another way to approach this in lesson 7, the Stormy Slide.

 

[MikeS]

"9th" chords are movable, but I wouldn't call them Barre chords, because there are no first finger Barres involved when I play them. And depending on what you want them to sound like you may not even need the third finger barre.
I primarily use two "9th" chord shapes (Both taught by Griff in BGU lesson 7). They can be moved anywhere on the neck as long as you take care to mute or not strum the strings marked with an X.

 

[david moon]

The drawing that you have labeled "4th String Root" actually has the root on the 5th string.

 

[Momantai]

Craig, if you have the BGU course, there is a nice "Blues Guitar Chord Chart" almost at the end of the book (page 117 ? ).
In small print it says which strings you can leave out to get smaller chords.

 

[MikeS]

The drawing that you have labeled "4th String Root" actually has the root on the 5th string.

Hmmm., I pulled that from a diagram that I had. I'll fix it later.

 

[jmin]

I was actually looking at the same chord chart that Momantai referenced. If I understand what you're asking for is some way to look ("minds eye") at the chord shape and get a clue as to what you're playing. While I agree with what Mike S said about 9th chords, I was thinking it could be argued that the "C9," with the root on the 5th string, is a "C" shape (built by adding the 7th, and the 9th). And the way it is presented in the chart, the "G9" could be an "E" shape! But, I don't think picturing an "E" shape is very helpful to your minds eye! I think you really want to hold on to the "9th" shapes that MikeS shows.

 

[Silicon Valley Tom]

This looks like a nice Bar Chord!  As for shape, well, I will leave that up to you! 

http://www.barchordnyc.com/

Tom

 

[jmin]

Tom! That looks like one of the most useful bar chords I've ever seen! Thanks for sharing...every city needs a Bar Chord!

 

[david moon]

BGU lesson 12 has a version of a 9th chord I had never seen before. Not a barre, but interesting.

 

[Blues_Dude]

Thanks everyone.  I guess what was throwing me is that when looking at barre chord shapes, the bar appears to be always down the fret from the shape where as with the 9th chord the barre appears to be up the fret so as Mike S stated, the fingering isn't really a typical barre chord.  So as long as I can see the fingering is consistent with the location of the root, I can move forward.  Thanks everyone

 

[MikeS]

As David pointed out, the chord sheet that I have is incorrect. Here's the updated one:

 

[david moon]

So there are various chord forms that use a single finger to cover more than one string. But usually when we talk about barre chords, it refers to using the first finger as the "nut". And mostly the E or A form (and the minor versions).

You can bar the D7 form with the root on the 4th string. Not very common (but in BGU lesson 12). You want to avoid the 5th string and definitely mute the 6th string

 

[mountain man]

The A7 little chord that I learned in Griff's 52 Rhythm Fills and Variations is just a 3 string chord.  xx565x

 

[david moon]

The A7 little chord that I learned in Griff's 52 Rhythm Fills and Variations is just a 3 string chord.  xx565x

And typically the first finger would be barring across the 5th fret. That is just a subset of the big chord
575655.

 

[mountain man]

The A7 little chord that I learned in Griff's 52 Rhythm Fills and Variations is just a 3 string chord.  xx565x

And typically the first finger would be barring across the 5th fret. That is just a subset of the big chord
575655.

Very true.  The idea is to let the Bass and keyboards (and whoever else) play the root and embellish the sound. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

similarly, the movable 9th chords would be:

a 3 note C9 with a 5th string root would be xx233x

a 3 note G9 with a 4th string root would be xxx465

these are typically hybrid plucked