Intermediate Bar Chords Bar Chord Extensions

Bar Chord Extensions - E Shape (Print Page)

Bar chords are broken into 2 parts,

• The Bar (this is first finger that covers either the five or six strings).
• The Extension (the fingers that make up the chord shape, 2nd, 3rd & 4th)

Any open chord that can be played using only 3 fingers can be transformed into a bar chord. In the first example you can se how moving the E shape up one fret turns the chord into a F chord. In the second example an E minor chord is played in an open position, by moving this shape up one fret you can then play an Fminor chord. By using the simple principle of bar chord placement, you could then play a G minor chord using the same shape but moved to the 3rd fret.

5 Main E Shape Extensions

Major

Minor

Seventh

Major Seventh

Minor Seventh

The five most common extensions I have come across are,

1. Major
2. Minor
3. Seventh
4. Major Seventh
5. Minor Seventh

Learn these common extensions first the you can move on to some more colorful ones later.

© Danny Poole, 2001