Need Help Switching From Open Chords to Barre Chords?

A while back, I had a really good session with one of my 1-on-1 students. She was having trouble switching to B minor (one of the more commonly used barre chords). She could make the barre shape decently, but when we tried to use it in context (in a song) she was having trouble switching to it!

Throughout our lesson I came up with a few exercises that ended up solving her problem and in this video I’ll be sharing those same tips with you.

Understanding Where The Barre Chord Comes From

One of the most important concepts to grasp, is that the barre chord is just an open chord + a barre performed by your index finger. The first step is to break the chord down this way, and learn to play our open shapes WITHOUT our first finger.

The Foundation of The Barre Chord

At the foundation of the barre chord (literally the bottom 2 strings of it) you will find a power chord. This shape is used in the exact same way as a barre chord, but doesn’t require us to press down with our index finger. It is an essential tool for getting our hand and wrist in the correct position to comfortably play barre chords.

Switching In Steps

A lot of people (myself included when I was getting started) try the “brute force” method of switching. They’ll keep making the switch over and over, every day, until it works.

This approach can be fine, but sometimes it never ends up working out, or takes years to do properly. I want to teach you how we can break down our switches into smaller steps, and work it out systematically to ensure switching success.