Chords for Guitar CHEATS! - Never Play a Barre Chord Again!

Hard work, [E] perseverance, and dedication.
Three words that we will not be talking about today.
Let's get [Cm] started.
_ [G#] _ _ _ _
[Gm] _ [N] So we're gonna start a new series on the channel today
[F] of some of my favorite guitar cheats.
Now, all of us as players hit certain plateaus
or brick walls in our playing
that we can't quite get past or get over.
So I'm gonna share some of my [E] cheats
that have helped some of my students
and myself in our playing.
And today's topic [Gm] is bar chords.
[E] Now, bar chords has discouraged many a player
from learning their favorite music or creating music
or just enjoying the guitar and getting to a certain point
and being so frustrated they [Am] quit.
We don't want that.
[A#] Now, at a certain point,
you guys will all need to learn bar chords,
but for now, here's a few [F] of my favorite voicings
to avoid playing bar chords
while still having really pleasing voicings to [G#m] play.
So today we're gonna go through the first page
of the Simplifying Guitar Chords Worksheet.
You can find that by clicking above,
heading to the Etsy store.
You can pick that up for three bucks,
but let's take a look at the voicings.
So let's take a look at five of the most common bar chords
and alternate ways to play them.
Now, the first one up is B minor.
Now, on the graphic below,
you can see the key of G and B minor appears there.
It appears in the key of D right here,
and it appears in the key of A.
Now, these three keys are very [Bm] common.
You know, tens of thousands of songs
have been written in these keys.
And so B minor is, you know, sure to crop up.
So let's take a look at great ways to play the B minor.
So when you look at the graphic below,
it starts with the regular B minor bar chord like this.
_ And then the middle voicing would be my choice.
That looks like this.
_ It's a more open sounding chord
because it's got a few strings ringing through.
_ _ _ [E] And then you have an alternate voicing like this,
four string [Bm] voicing.
Now, all of them sound very close to the B minor,
[E] but this voicing is so much easier to play.
If we play a chord progression in the key of [G] G,
it would be something like a G major,
[Bm] B minor, [Am] A minor, [C] and C. _
That [E] can be really difficult for a new player,
but substituting it for this becomes quite a [G] bit easier.
_ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _ [Am] _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ [B] Now, along with B minor,
F sharp minor is a really common bar chord.
It shows up in the key of D, in the key of A,
in the key of E.
So again, really common keys.
[E] And yeah, on the [F#m] graphic, this is what it looks like.
I sometimes use my middle finger just to reinforce that bar.
So that's a little trick that [G#] you guys could use too
if you're finding that the bar chord's not ringing out.
The middle voicing again is my preferred one.
It's got [F#] some open strings.
[E] _ _ So just a really nice, beautiful voicing.
[F#m] And of course you can use the four string voicing as well.
It's still, you have to bar three strings,
but it's a little bit easier than a full bar.
But this would be my go [E]-to voicing.
_ Now, if we play a progression like D major,
F sharp minor, B minor, [B] and G,
that might not be doable normally,
but if we substitute in our easier voicings,
it becomes [D] quite a bit easier. _
_ [Em] Now, _ _ _ [Bm] _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ _ [B] [C#m] the third chord we're gonna tackle today
is a C sharp minor.
This shows up in the key of A and the key of E,
and it looks like this.
_ So it looks just like your B minor, only up two frets.
[Bm] And the voicing that we're gonna replace
the C sharp minor with [C#] is like this.
[C#m] _ _ _ _ [E] So again, a really open sound
because you've [C#] got those first and second strings [E] ringing open.
And your fingers are just gonna make [C#] a power chord shape,
which is a really [E] common shape in guitar.
So this is gonna be a great way
to substitute for a bar chord.
[B] And if you had a progression like C sharp minor,
A, F sharp [G#m] minor, and E,
again, that might be quite difficult.
But when we put it in [C#m] our new voicings,
it becomes quite a bit more doable. _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [F#m] _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ [C#] Now, our fourth and fifth examples
can be found in the key of E.
The first one is [B] B major.
So you can see on the chart, it looks like this.
And we are gonna substitute it again with a B major.
And we're gonna do it again with that power chord shape.
[E] So just like we did with the C sharp minor on fourth fret,
we're gonna do with the B major on second fret.
_ Okay, and then the fifth [G#m] example we're gonna look at
is G sharp minor.
_ _ And if you recall, it looks just like your F sharp minor,
only up two frets or a full step.
And we're gonna substitute it
just like we [E] did with the F sharp minor, [F#] using this shape.
With the G sharp minor, we're gonna [G#m] use this shape.
_ [E] _ _
_ _ And then we're gonna do a progression
that went something like E to B, G sharp minor to A.
Again, it would be very difficult for a new player to play,
but using these examples or using these voicings,
it becomes a lot easier.
_ _ _ [B] _
_ [Em] _ [G#m] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ I hope you guys enjoyed this video
on how to avoid bar chords.
We're gonna do some more videos in the upcoming months
in the Guitar Cheats series, so look out for that.
And if you haven't subscribed to the channel,
you can do so by clicking here.
Yeah, here.
And if you [Cm] feel like watching a couple more videos,
you can find them right here.
All right, we'll see you guys later.
Take care.
_ _ [G#] _ _ _ _ _ [N] _