A Minor Shape Barre Chords Guitar Lesson

Chapter 1: (00:32) Musical Introduction Welcome back to the basic guitar series with Mark Lincoln! Get your guitar out and get ready to learn! Chapter 2: (07:37) Warm-up, Type 2 Minor Barre Chords Before moving on with the lesson be sure to review and warm-up by doing the following:

- Warm-up the hands.
- Stretch the wrists.
- Play the major and minor open chords.
- Warm up your strumming muscles by relaxing the wrists and letting the pick flow over the strings.
- Play the E major chord with the "new" fingering and play the type 1 barre chords.
- Play the A major chord with the "new" fingering and play the type 2 barre chords.
- Practice the "slanting A" technique.
- Practice the type 1 minor barre chords.

We are now ready to move on!

Okay! So we've been talking about the formation of barre chords, and you'll remember from last week that the Em chord is the central configuration for the formation of the type 1 minor barre chords. Remember to finger the Em in the "new" way to facilitate playing the barre chords. Now, play an Am chord in the "new way":

Am
E_0_
B_1_
G_2_
D_2_
A_0_
E_X_

Put your middle finger on the B-string first fret, your third finger on the D-string second fret, and your pinky on the G-string second fret. I don't think I have to tell you where we're going from here. Remember where your half a whole steps are, and away we go!

Move up two frets or a whole step in order to make the B minor chord:

Bm
E_2_
B_3_
G_4_
D_4_
A_2_
E_X_

Notice that the Am chord shape is present but on the third and fourth frets of this chord. Try to use the finger glue technique and simply slide the Am configuration up to the third and forth frets without pulling your hand off of the neck of the guitar. Also, because this chord is played on the A D G B and E strings, you’ll notice that the low E-string has an "X" beside it, indicating it should not be played at all. All of the type two barre chords, whether they be major or minor, are played in this fashion. Try to barre strings A D G B and E (the high E string) if you can. Otherwise, just play the high E string. You should notice at this point that if you play the Bm chord holding down just the high E rather than barring A D G B and E, it is identical to the chord that I initially showed you when we began talking about the open chords. Let's play the Cm now:

Cm
E_3_
B_4_
G_5_
D_5_
A_3__
E_X_

Once again, notice the placement of the Am configuration. This time however, it occurs at the fourth and fifth frets. Try to slide your hand up from the Bm chord into this new position without removing your hand from the fretboard. I hope you remembered that the change to Cm should only be a half step up or one fret from the Bm!

Here's Dm, which as you should know by now, is a whole step up from the Cm. It looks like this:

Dm
E_5_
B_6_
G_7_
D_7_
A_5_
E_X_

As usual, the numbers refer to the appropriate frets to be held down in case you get confused.

Chapter 3: (04:28) Exercises Exercise 1
Play Am in the "new way” leaving your first finger free to form barre chords. Use this strum: or "down-up down-up." Don't forget to use the "snap strum" technique. Envision your strumming hand as if it were on a giant rubber band. Play this chord until you become comfortable with the "new way" of forming it and also become more comfortable with the snap strum. After playing the "down up" strum, be sure to experiment and try strumming patterns of your own.

Exercise 2
Play the Am chord in the "new way" and then play the Bm, Cm and Dm chords without taking your hand off of the fretboard. Make sure you remember where the half and whole steps occur: between B and C and E and F (I know, I know, you're tired of me telling you that!). Play this exercise with this strum: or, you guessed it, "down down-up down." Make sure that you're making good contact with the fretboard and you're not producing too much fret buzz or muting sounds. Remember that you can check where the problem is coming from if you are having one by playing the strings individually. Try to keep your fingers as perpendicular to the neck as possible.

Exercise 3
Play the Am chord then the E major chord both in the "new way." Use the strumming pattern of your choice. Focus on making good contact with the fretboard and producing a solid tone. Play Am four times and then E four times alternating between the two chords. I'm hoping that you'll notice that the fingering configuration is the same between the Am and the E major - just on different sets of strings.

**Note: The configuration of the type 1 major barre chord and the configuration of the type 2 minor marre chord are the same. Watch what I mean.

Here is the type 1 barre for A major:

A Major
E_5_
B_5_
G_6_
D_7_
A_7_
E_5_

And here is the type 2 barre for Dm:

Dm 5th
E_5_
B_6_
G_7_
D_7_
A_5_
E_X_

Do you see that the configurations are identical except for the fact that the A is played on the E A D G B and E strings, and the Dm is played on the A D G B and E strings? Pay attention to this observation as it's easy to mix-up type 1 majors with type 2 minors. Watch which strings are being held down. If you get confused, go back and play either the E major or the Am as a reminder of where your hand should be.

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