Guitar · Chapter 17 of 23
Movable Chords Up the Neck
A barre chord has no open strings, so you can slide it anywhere. Two shapes and the notes on two strings give you every major and minor chord.
The full F chord is the open E shape moved up one fret, with finger 1 playing the part of the nut. Slide the whole thing up two more frets and it becomes G; up to the 5th fret and it’s A. The chord takes its name from the note under the barre on the lowest string: the root.
The E shape: root on string 6
To name it, find the note on string 6 under your barre. Here are the natural notes on string 6:
Lift finger 2 (the note on string 3) and the E shape becomes minor, like Em: Fm, Gm, Am. Lift finger 4 instead and it becomes a seventh chord, like E7.
The A shape: root on string 5
The open A shape moves the same way, with finger 1 barring strings 5 to 1 and the other fingers (or a small barre with finger 3) two frets higher. The root is on string 5 (the paler marks above): at the 3rd fret it’s C, at the 5th fret D.
Power chords
Rock and blues players often use just two or three notes: the root and the fifth above it, with no third, so the chord is neither major nor minor. Finger 1 on the root (string 6 or 5), fingers 3 and 4 two frets higher on the next two strings (the fifth, and the root an octave up). Written G5, A5 and so on.
Remember
- E shape: root on string 6. A shape: root on string 5.
- The name comes from the note under the barre on the lowest string.
- Minor: lift the 3rd. Power chords: root and fifth only.