Barre chords are just phenomenally useful. The trick, of course, is
remembering them. Well... assuming you can get your fingers to stretch in such unnatural ways. Everyone I have tried to teach the basics of
guitar to has had trouble making
pretzels out of their fingers and asked me to show them something else. This is a shame, because barre chords are so versatile. You can figure out almost any
chord you need to know as long as you know the
chord forms.
Most people who are unfamiliar with barre chords do not realize that they are already playing one or two of them. The standard forms of E, A and D, their minors and all the variations thereof are barre chords, but the nut is doing the tricky part, barring the fret for them. By holding down all the strings further up the fretboard, the relationship between the strings stays the same and you no longer have those nasty-sounding open strings. This is, in effect, the same as placing a capo on the guitar, but the capo is far less mobile than one's finger. All the same chord forms applied further up the fretboard with your index finger barring the appropriate fret will result in most any chord you could possibly wish to play. There are three basic forms of barre chords: those whose tonic notes are played on the 4th, 5th and 6th strings.
Punk rockers make liberal use of barre chords, usually the more basic ones, but you will find some sort of barre chord in most guitar music. There are even a number of essential chords that are almost never played as anything but a barre chord, such as Gm and a great many B and F# chords. People who avoid these are missing out on a lot of great songs like The Eagles' Hotel California, Led Zeppelin's Fool In The Rain, and Steely Dan's Do It Again. That's the tiniest fraction of a fraction of a percent of the songs that make use of them, so clearly they are quite handy to know.
The following is a list of most of the more common chord forms. The chord type is written at the top of the diagram, which is a representation of the fretboard of a guitar with the high E on the right and the low E on the left. The "o" indicates a position where you should place a finger, while the "x" indicates a string that must be muted (touched lightly so that it will not sound when strummed). There are certain conventions regarding finger placement, though the effect is the same if you can pull it off some other way. I would have used numbers to indicate finger placement, but it tended to make the diagrams harder to read and you can do it whichever way you like, anyway. Bear in mind that these forms are all relative and must be moved up and down the fretboard. On the right of each section is a list of the frets which you must barre to produce a chord with the corresponding tonic.
major minor 7th min7th maj7 6th
o||||o o||ooo o|o|oo o|oooo o|||oo string
|||o|| |||||| |||o|| |||||| ||oo||
|oo||| |oo||| |o|||| |o|||| |o|||| 0 = E
|||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| 1 = F
2 = F#
6th min6th aug5 sus4 7sus4 3 = G
o||||o o||o|o ox|||o o|||oo o|o|oo 4 = G#
|||o|| |||||| |||oo| |||||| |||||| 5 = A
|oo|o| |oo|o| ||o||| |ooo|| |o|o|| 6 = Bb
|||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| 7 = B
8 = C
9th min9th add9 maj9th dim7th 9 = C#
o|o|o| o|ooo| o|||o| o||o|o o||o|o 10 = D
|||o|| |||||| |||o|| ||oo|| |o|||| 11 = Eb
|o|||o |o|||o |oo||o |o|||o ||o|o| 12 = E
|||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| 13 = F
14 = F#
min7b5 11th min11th 13th min13th 15 = G
o|oo|o o|o|o| oooooo o|o||o o|oo|o 16 = G#
|o|||| |||||| |||||| |||o|| |||||| 17 = A
|||||| |o|o|o |||||| |o||o| |o||o| 18 = Bb
||||o| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| 19 = B
20 = C
maj13th m/maj13 m/maj7 m/maj9 6/9 21 = C#
|oo||o o||o|o o||ooo o||oo| |ooo|| 22 = D
o|||o| ||o||| ||o||| ||o||| o|||oo 23 = Eb
|||o|| |o||o| |o|||| |o|||o |||||| 24 = E
|||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| ||||||
major minor 7th min7th maj7 5th string
xo|||o xo|||o xo|o|o xo|o|o xo|||o tonic
|||||| ||||o| |||||| ||||o| |||o||
||ooo| ||oo|| ||o|o| ||o||| ||o|o| 0 = A
|||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| 1 = Bb
2 = B
6th min6th aug5 flat5 sus4 3 = C
xo|||| xo|||| x||oox xo|||x xo|||o 4 = C#
|||||| ||||o| ||o||| ||o||| |||||| 5 = D
||oooo ||oo|o |o|||| |||oo| ||oo|| 6 = Eb
|||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| ||||o| 7 = E
8 = F
7sus4 9th min9th add9 maj9th 9 = F#
xo|o|o x|o||| x|o||| x|oo|o x|oooo 10 = G
|||||| |o|ooo |||||| |||||| |||||| 11 = G#
||o||| |||||| |o|ooo |||||| |||||| 12 = A
||||o| |||||| |||||| |o||o| |o|||| 13 = Bb
14 = B
1/2dim sus2 7sus2 6/9 11th 15 = C
xo|o|x xo||oo xo|ooo x|oo|| xooooo 16 = C#
||o|o| |||||| |||||| |o||oo |||||| 17 = D
|||||| ||oo|| ||o||| |||||| |||||| 18 = Eb
|||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| 19 = E
20 = F
min11th 13th min13th maj13th m/maj7 21 = F#
xooo|o xo|o|| xo|o|| xo|||| xo|||| 22 = G
||||o| |||||| ||||o| |||o|| |||oo| 23 = G#
|||||| ||o|oo ||o||o ||o|oo ||o||o 24 = A
|||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| ||||||
major minor 7th maj7th maj7 4th string
xxo||| xxo||| xxo||| xx|||o xxo||| tonic
|||||| |||||o ||||o| ||||o| ||||||
|||o|o |||o|| |||o|o |||o|| |||ooo 0 = D 13 = Eb
||||o| ||||o| |||||| ||o||| |||||| 1 = Eb 14 = E
2 = E 15 = F
6th min6th aug5 sus4 7sus4 3 = F 16 = F#
xxo|o| xxo|o| xx|||o xxo||| xxo||| 4 = F# 17 = G
|||||| |||||o |||oo| |||||| ||||o| 5 = G 18 = G#
|||o|o |||o|| ||o||| |||o|| |||o|| 6 = G# 19 = A
|||||| |||||| |||||| ||||oo |||||o 7 = A 20 = Bb
8 = Bb 21 = B
dim7th 1/2dim7 m/maj7 9 = B 22 = C
xxo|o| xxo||| xxo||| 10 = C 23 = C#
|||o|o |||ooo |||||o 11 = C# 24 = D
|||||| |||||| |||oo| 12 = D
|||||| |||||| ||||||
Note:
The m/maj chords are min/maj written out fully.
The 1/2dim chords were originally annotated as half dim Ø with a note saying that the Ø meant to play an open string. I had never run across these chords before and could not tell what my course meant by that. I left them in just in case someone out there knows what they are. If you do, please let me know. Anyway, removing them would have messed up my nice neat columns. :)
If you encounter any mistakes in here, please tell me! I had to do a lot of this by hand, so I may have goofed up, though I think I got it all right.
I am aware that this information is also provided in How to Play any Guitar Chord. I felt that my node was more complete and is placed where it can be more readily found.
Sources:
www.guitar.to