E Shape Major

Intermediate Grade 4 E Shape Barre Chords
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Learn the E Shape Major and all my secrets to easily play barre chords!


View the full lesson at E Shape Major | JustinGuitar

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Justin, for mr the best part to learn to put the barre chord was when you have shown how to do this without thumb! After I learned that the pressure in my thumb disappeared. Great stuff!! Thx.

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Does anyone have any other song suggestions for practicing the e shape bar chords? I had a go at “Dreams”, it’s quite a workout!

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Glad its working for you @Adam3381
Cheers :blush:
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide & Moderator

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Hi @ijukes if you go here All Songs | JustinGuitar.com and then scroll down to filter by difficulty level intermediate 4 or even 5 you will find lots of songs, many of which will use barre chords. Plus, don’t forget, all the songs you have learned up to this point with A and C and G etc - all those chords can be played as barre chords instead of open chords. Dust off those old songs and trying playing them in new ways mixing up open chord shapes and barre chord shapes, going from one to the other between verse and chorus for instance for dynamic change and musical effect.
Cheers :blush:
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide & Moderator

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I think I’m going to leave off the Shredded Wheat - recommendation of pulling back with elbow slightly bends the neck on my guitar and pulls strings sharp. Only slightly :slight_smile:

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Hi @ProggyMan Sounds like slightly is becoming stringly … :wink:
Ease up a little.
Cheers :blush:
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide & Moderator

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Hay everyone, I just wanted to ask how should I know that I should move on to the minor barre chords. And how much time does it take to learn them on an average basis?
Thank You.

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I have been playing Bob Dylan’s “One More Cup of Coffee”: Am G F E progression, playing all of them as barre chords, moving up and down the neck.

Here’s link to a sing-along track: [One More Cup of Coffee by Bob Dylan play along with scrolling guitar chords and lyrics - YouTube] (One More Cup of Coffee by Bob Dylan play along with scrolling guitar chords and lyrics - YouTube)

Enjoy!

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all along the watchtower is a good one if you got minor barre’s its just Am-G-F then back down. all on E string barres.

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I was just thinking of that one. Time to dust it off and try a barre version. Fun strumming too.

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and also fire on the mountain by the grateful dead is just B and A

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Just got a new guitar which is properly setup and playing barre chords is easily 100% easier now. With my old guitar it felt like I was trying to rip the neck off to get a good sounding chord. I wish I could of told myself 6 months ago that I was suffering needlessly.

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Good to hear mate, and congratulations on your new guitar. Time to rip those barre chords now!

Cheers,
Shane.

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I’m having quite a bit of pain in my thumb joint with these. Is this normal in the beginning?

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I wish to heck I could figure why it is that one day I can’t get a barre chord to sound like anything that resembles music, and the next day they all sound completely beautiful? Frustrating as hell, to be honest :neutral_face:

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Thanks for this. Does this song has some odd time signature?

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depends on where on the thumb it hurts. Just A side(slightly off topic). Justin points to the extensors of the wrist when he talks about “Carpal Tunnel” , which actually involves the flexors on the other Side of the forearm(ventral or plamer side)

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The wrist being straight is a bit of a doozy. I entered this lesson thinking I already had barre chords pretty much down, with some minor improvements to be made, but this totally changes things. Feels like I am learning them from scratch again when my wrist is straight

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Take Me Away by Blue Oyster Cult is super fun and, aside from the opening riff that repeats occasionally, is all a simple 3-chord barre progression played with a few different rhythms.

Cumbersome by Seven Mary Three is all barre chords and open E, but involves at least one A-shape barre you could play as an E-shape higher up if you want.

Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson is involves both E- and A-shape barre chords as well as some variations such as 7ths, but again you could probably play it with all E-shape barres and consider it close enough for now, then revisit it when you’re more comfortable with the various shapes.