Intermediate Guitar Lessons: An Essential Guide

Looking for intermediate guitar lessons? Then look no further! We’re going to show you how to take your guitar playing to the next level.

In this free guitar lesson you will learn:

  • The secret to becoming a advanced guitarist.
  • 24 guitar chords every intermediate guitarist must know.
  • 12 essential scale shapes which will make you sound amazing.
  • 3 awesome intermediate guitar tabs which will make you sound like a rockstar!

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Intermediate Guitar Lessons | Learn Barre Chords

If you’re an intermediate guitarist, you must know how to play barre chords.

Learning barre chords will take your guitar playing to the next level.

To become an advanced guitarist you must know how to play barre chords all over the fret board.

The two main barre chord shapes are the E shape and A shape.

The E Shape Barre Chord

The most common barre chord shape is the E shape.

The reason we call it the E shape, is because the without the barre, the shape of the chord is EXACTLY the same as a standard E chord.

Here’s the standard E chord shape:

E Chord

(If you don't understand the above image please read our article "How To Read Guitar Chordboxes In 60 Seconds". It will make everything clear!)

The first barre chord most intermediate guitarists learn, is the F major chord.

Here’s the chord box:

intermediate guitar lessons

Can you see how the two shapes are identical?

If you want to learn more about the F chord, go here:F Guitar Chord 3 Easy Alternatives

If you want some tips and tricks on how to play barre chords, check out this video:

For every major chord, there’s a minor equivalent. Here’s the chord box for the F minor chord.

 

intermediate guitar lessons

Too hard? Go here: Fm Chord Easy Shapes For Beginner Guitarists

If you take away the barre, this chord shape is identical to a E minor chord.

intermediate guitar lessons

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Changing The Key of The Chord

The great thing about barre chords is that you can move them around the fret board.

All you have to do is change the root note.

The root note is the first note in a chord.

For every E chord shape, major or minor. The root note will ALWAYS be on the low E string.

To move these shapes around the fret board, we must learn what the notes are on the low E string.

Here they are:

To change the key of your barre chord, all you have to do is change what fret your first finger barres over.

For example, if you wanted to played a A major chord. All you have to do is:

  • Move your E chord shape up to the 5th fret on the low E string.

This method also works for the minor chord.

All you have to do is your change your chord shape. So instead of playing a E major chord shape, now you have to play a E minor chord shape.

E.g, if you wanted to play a Ab minor chord.

  • All you have to do is move your minor barre chord shape to the 4th fret of the low E string.

The root note on the low E string, determines the key of your chord.

By learning where root notes are, you can get 24 different chords out of 2 chord shapes. How awesome is that!

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The A Shape Barre Chord

We can also apply the same technique on the A string.

Here are the two major and minor barre chord shapes with the root on the A string instead:

For this example we’re going to use the key of Bb.

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