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 fingers)
The first two animated examples below are showing the same idea two different ways. An open chord that can be played using only 3 fingers can be transformed into a bar chord. In the first example you can see how moving the E7 shape up one fret turns the chord into a F7 chord. By using the method of bar chord placement learnt previously, you could then play a G7 chord using the same shape but moved to the 3rd fret.
5 Main E Shape Extensions
These are the five most common extensions I have come across,
- Major
- Minor
- Seventh
- Major Seventh
- Minor Seventh
Learn these common extensions first, then you can move on to some more colorful chords later.
