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62 Part II: Setting Up to Play the Blues TEAM LinG
only in the trouble spot, without moving your whole hand or other fingers
that affect the position or sound of the notes that do sound good.
If you’re having trouble with one of your barred notes, make sure that one of
the strings isn’t getting creased between your knuckles.
Left-hand chording takes work and patience. You need to build up both
muscle strength and fine-motor movements to play chords successfully. But
after you get it, it’s like riding a bicycle — instinctive and effortless, and you
never forget how.
Naming barre chords
When you move your barre chord up and down the neck, the name of the chord
changes. The E-form barre chord corresponds to the note on the sixth string —
the one your index finger covers. So if you know the notes of the sixth string all
the way up to the twelfth fret, you know what chord you play as you move it to
various frets. As you move your E-form barre chord up and down the neck, practice
saying the name of the chord aloud to help memorize each one.
Figure 4-3 shows five common locations for barre chords in playing the blues.
Those chords are G, A, B, C, and D. As you reference Figure 4-3, move between
the positions, saying the names of the chords. For example, the B chord falls
on the seventh fret.
To help get you started, I include a hint in the music by putting the fret
number under the staff, but of course you won’t see these indications in regular
music, so you need to be able to use just the chord’s name (E, D, B%, and
so on) to recognize where to place the chord.
Figure 4-3:
Five
common
major barre
chords are
found in the
blues.
Track 2
G B A D C
3rd fret 7th fret 5th fret 10th fret 8th fret
The idea isn’t just to move your left hand up and down the neck; it’s to play
clear-ringing chords at these various locations. Make sure that as you move
your left hand to different positions, you also play the chords with your right
hand and listen to the strummed notes to ensure that all six notes of the
chord sound out.