A, A minor, A7, Am7, Amajor7, and A7sus4.

e-----0--

B-----0--

G-----1--

D-----2--

A-----2--

E-----0--

I'll throw out an example for people who are new to bar chords.

Lay your index finger behind the nut and pretend you are actually fretting the nut. I have to give credit to one of my students for discovering this. It really works well.

Once you understand the principle of taking an open chord and moving it up, there's really no limit to the number of chords you can learn.

E minor, E7, Em7, and E7sus4.

e-----5--

B-----5--

G-----6--

D-----7--

A-----7--

E-----5--

A bar chord is a chord that uses a bar (one finger laid across all the strings at a single fret). Note that 99% of bar chords will have other notes fretted as well. It's a bit like using your index finger as a built in capo - in fact it is exactly like that.

What Are Bar Chords?

Good luck learning how to play bar chords on guitar.

3) Move the shape up.

Some other easy open chords to turn into bar chords are:

Alright, now take that whole E major shape and move it up the next. You might think that it's easiest to only move up one fret, but it's not, because it requires the most pressure from the hand. I suggest moving up so that your index finger is now laid across the fifth fret.

Now, most beginning guitarists will finger this with their index, middle, and ring fingers. But we need to re-finger it so that the index finger is free to do the bar.

1) Re-finger the chord so the index finger is free.

The really cool thing about bar chords is that they can easily be moved up and down the neck (in more theoretical terms, transposed).

Remember,

2) Pretend you are "barring the nut."

How To Play Bar Chords On Guitar

So, you will end up with this:

You can also do this with chords that have a root on the A string, like:

Take a regular old E major chord. The one that looks like this:

Learning how to play bar chords can really open up your ability to play any song on the guitar. If you can master four basic shapes, and get familiar with the note names on the low E string, then you will be well on your way to becoming an all-around, go-to guitarist.

This is an A chord, because the root is the note A. This type of bar chord has the root on the sixth (low E) string.