Easy Barre Chords – Cheat Sheet to Avoid Them Temporarily

Barre chords can be a pain where it hurts most. That being said, they’re well worth the time to learn all about and don’t take as much effort as you might think to get the hang of. If you want to take the challenge head on and learn them the proper way right now, go here! Otherwise read on! This post is about barre chords made easy – but not necessarily played precisely the right way!

First of all, you should know by now that there’s too main types of barre chords. These are E-based (six string) and A-based (five string). There’s no acceptable easy way to play E-based barre chords but there IS an easy alternative for A-based barre chords! Take for example the B Minor Barre Chord Below.

B Minor Barre Chord

|————I————————————————-| – e

|————I———M—————————————| – B

|————I——————–P—————————| – G

|————I——————–R—————————| – D

|————I————————————————| – A

|————————————————————–| – E

1st Fret 2nd Fret 3rd Fret 4th Fret 5th Fret 6th Fret

I = index finger, M = middle finger, R = ring finger, P = pinky finger

This is how you would normally play a B Minor Chord. Notice the way you have to barre those five strings – exactly what you’re trying to avoid right? Here’s the fun part! You can play this (and all A-based barre chords) a lot easier by lifting that index finger up and just using the fingertip on that A string. Here’s what I mean!

B Minor Easy Barre Chord

|————————————————————–| – e

|———————-M—————————————| – B

|———————————P—————————| – G

|———————————R—————————| – D

|————I————————————————| – A

|————————————————————–| – E

1st Fret 2nd Fret 3rd Fret 4th Fret 5th Fret 6th Fret

I = index finger, M = middle finger, R = ring finger, P = pinky finger

Remember, you can apply this principle to all A-based (five-string) barre chords – not just B Minor. The catch to doing this is that you now can’t hit that last “e” string or it’ll just sound awful. So basically you’ll strum the four middle strings and omit the two strings on either side. If this sounds a bit tricky, it can be for a beginner but it’s easier (for some) than dealing with barre chords all in one go. I recommend that you play easy barre chords like this while still working on playing them the right way! You can’t run forever!

And when you decide to take on the right way, check out my guide here!

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