Songs to practice Barre Chords

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I wasn’t sure if I should post this here or in the song category. I have been learning barre chords and I am looking for suggestions for songs to practice barre chords. So far, I am thinking about Dreams, by Fleetwood Mac, Tennessee Whiskey by Chris Stapleton, and Last Dance with Mary Jane. I am looking for songs that use the E or A shape.

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Have You Ever Seen the Rain has one F barre chord. Good for switching to and from.
Proud Mary has a few barre chords.
You can also use barre chords instead of open chords in some songs you already know.

Cheers, Shane

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“All I’ve Got To do” by the Beatles

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Daphne, not to be flippant or unhelpful … but there are millions. Literally millions.
Plus, all the songs you already know and can learn using open chords - they can be played with barre chords too.

A major → E-shape at fret 5
B major → E-shape at fret 7 or A-shape at fret 2
C major → E-shape at fret 8 or A-shape at fret 3
D major → A-shape at fret 5
E major → A-shape at fret 7
F major → E-shape at fret 1
G major → E-shape at fret 3

For minor versions of the chords above you would play E-shape and A-shape minor variants.

I hope that helps.
:slight_smile:

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This:

The same goes pretty much for triads and power chords (in most cases).

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“Sittin’ on the dock of the bay” is a pretty classic one.

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That is a good point.

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I was thinking abut learning Proud Mary.

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I like that song.

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Yep, its a great classic, fun to play, with some good development stuff in there re barre chords, strumming etc.

Cheers, Shane

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exactly this;

Gradually try swapping out a 1 random, 2 random, 3 random, … open chords for barre chords in songs you know WELL.
Song you know well give you enough ‘auto pilot’ on the obvious stuff to give you a steady flow to land that particular barre here and there

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Thanks, that is a good idea.

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Last night, I decided to try what you and @Richard_close2u suggested and take songs I already knew and play them using bar chords. I found a couple of songs that work and had fun playing them. It also made bar chords more fun to play them in songs

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yes, exactly! feel free to exchange open and barre by random; mixing changes is great to keep it fresh and to practice a bunch of changes all at once.

I always try to incorporate training routines into songs instead of doing endless repetitions of an exercise, to counter boredom AND to fortify the actual repertoire.
This method fits that tactic gracefully ^^

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