Easy Barre Chord Alternatives
Let’s face it, barre chords can be a real pain (both literally and figuratively). They provide us with a nice, full sound, but it comes at a cost. They can be fatiguing to play, particularly for longer songs that rely heavily on their use or if you are a beginner player. So what I tend to do in these types of situations is turn to easy barre chord variations or alternatives that still sound great, but provide for a much more pleasant playing experience. They can be inserted into your favorite songs and spare your hands the unnecessary fatigue.
Let’s take a look.
Common Barre Chord Shapes
We’re going to stick with the common major and minor barre chord shapes based on 5th and 6th string root notes for this lesson, but these shortcuts and alternatives can be used across others as well.
These chords require the index finger to barre across 5 or 6 strings, which is a lot to ask, especially of a beginner guitar player. It takes a good bit of strength to play these chords for long periods of time and in many cases it’s quite unnecessary. So let’s go through these shapes and look at some alternatives we can use that still sound great, particularly if playing in a band setting.
Barre Chord Alternatives
There are many alternatives to full barre chords. In many cases the alternatives are still barre chords, but they’re voiced in a way that makes them much easier to play. In some cases we can simply substitute triads that are found within the full barre chord.
With each of the barre chord variations, we keep the positioning of the chord on the fretboard rather consistent and mainly work with the notes of the original barre chord.
Let’s start with the major barre chord with the root on the 6th string, which may just be the most difficult to play.
Major Barre Chord – Root on 6th String
If we dissect this chord shape, we can get several alternatives that are much easier on the hands. The diagram below shows several of these options along with the recommended fingerings.
These options range from 4 & 5 note simple barre chords to give you a fuller sound to basic triads, and none of them require barring across all six strings. These variations are much easier to finger and play cleanly.
Depending on the setting and whether you’re playing with a group of people or just by yourself, some options will work better than others.
Minor Barre Chord – Root on 6th String
Now let’s look at minor chord options out of a 6th string root minor barre chord.
Again, we have six options, which include fuller 4 & 5 note chords as well as simple triads.
Major Barre Chord – Root on 5th String
Now let’s move on to the major barre chord with the root on the 5th string to see what options we have out of this shape.
With a bit of shifting, we can easily get four variations of 3 & 4 note chords out of this barre chord shape.
Minor Barre Chord – Root on 5th String
Finally we’ll look at the minor barre chord built from the root on the 5th string.
Out of this barre chord we get five options consisting of both 3 & 4 note chords.
Wrap Up
Heavy use of barre chords can be a thorn in a guitar player’s side, particular the beginner player. However, as we’ve seen in this lesson, there are many options to make the chords friendlier to the player, yet still sound great. These options can be used in place of the full versions of the barre chord, but you’ll need to consider the context when determining which would make the best option.
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