The E Shape: Your First Moveable Chord

Start with the E shape, because it is the one most players already half know — it is the shape hiding inside the F chord that gave you trouble when you started.

Play an open E major. Now play it again using your second, third and fourth fingers instead of your first, second and third, leaving your index finger free. That is the whole trick. Your index finger is now available to lie flat across all six strings and do the job the nut was doing.

Lay it across the first fret and you get F.

F

F major: the E shape with the index finger barring the first fret. Every note has moved up one fret from an open E.

Move the whole thing up two more frets, barre at the third, and the root on the sixth string is now G.

G

G major as an E-shape barre at the third fret. Compare it with the open G from the last lesson — same chord, different place, much fuller sound.

Some practical advice on barring, because this is where people give up. Roll your index finger slightly onto its side rather than pressing flat with the fleshy pad, since the side is harder and has fewer creases. Keep your thumb low on the back of the neck, roughly behind your middle finger. Do not squeeze — most of the force should come from pulling back with your arm, not pinching with your hand. And position the barre close behind the fret, not in the middle of the gap.

If it buzzes, do not simply press harder. Find which string is buzzing and adjust the angle of your finger. Usually it is the second string, sitting in a crease at your finger joint, and a small roll fixes what more pressure will not.

Play the shape one note at a time to check every string is sounding.

The E-shape barre at the third fret, one note at a time

This is a G major. Play it slowly and listen for any string that thuds instead of ringing.

e
B
G
D
A
E

-----------------3--|
--------------3-----|
-----------4--------|
--------5-----------|
-----5--------------|
--3-----------------|

Now the part that makes it a system rather than a chord. The root of this shape is the note under your index finger on the sixth string. Whatever that note is, that is the chord. Barre at the fifth fret and the sixth-string note is A, so it is A major. At the eighth fret it is C. At the sixth fret it is B flat — which is the chord that stumped you in the first lesson, and you now own it.

So the E shape alone gives you all twelve major chords, provided you know the notes on the sixth string. That is worth drilling until it is instant.

Fretboard Note Trainer

Drill the sixth string until naming a fret is instant. That skill alone unlocks every E-shape barre chord.

A slow G major ballad — comfortable tempo to practise an E-shape G at the third fret without rushing.