This article is for those of you who are just starting to learn barre chords. Or, maybe you haven't learned any, and are a bit fearful because they look complicated or even painful. Fear not! We're gonna make barre chord playing a pleasure with the following tab. You can listen to me playing this piece by downloading the mp3 from TrueFire.com.

|-------|-------|-------|-5-----|
|-5-----|-8-5---|-7-6-7-|-7-7---|
|-6-5-6-|-6---6-|-5-----|-5---5-|
|-5-----|-5-----|-7-----|-7-----|
|-7-----|-------|-5-----|-------|
|-5-----|-5-----|-------|-------|

|-------|-------|-------|-------|
|-5-----|-8-5---|-5-----|-5-----|
|-6-5-6-|-6---6-|-7-----|-7-7-4-|
|-5-----|-5-----|-6-5-6-|-6-----|
|-7-----|-------|-7-----|-7-----|
|-5-----|-5-----|-------|-------|

|-------|-5-----|---|
|-7-6-7-|-7-7---|-8-|
|-5-----|-5---5-|-6-|
|-7-----|-7-----|-5-|
|-5-----|-------|---|
|-------|-------|-5-|

Did you notice the E7 is in a form that gives your hand a break from the barre chords?

This ditty gives you a *reason* to play barre chords. Instead of getting frustrated at your first attempts at playing them, you'll say, "Zoiks! I heard a couple of killer notes in there! Gimme more!" Those killer notes are courtesy of the Blues.

It's easy to get frustrated when you first start learning barre chords, because of the finger strength they require. You're used to playing open position tunes, which are less physically demanding. When that frustration happens, you may think, "Oh, I wasn't cut out for playing guitar anyway," or, "What's the point of barre chords! I don't need them." Then, when someone shows you how to get some sweet sounds from barre chords, your whole attitude changes.

This is a critical ingredient of anything you practice: answering the question, how do you make music that you like from this new chord, scale, arpeggio, pattern, whatever? If you're having a tough time coming up with the answer, bring in the Blues. The Blues has a way of making the smallest musical bits go the furthest. You get maximum output of feeling from a minimum of input.

Variations: Take this little barre chord blues ditty, and make it your own. We covered two of the important barre chord shapes: one for the root on the 6th string, and one for the root on the 5th string. Our Blues used the dominant 7 forms, which are easily turned into major and minor forms.

If you dig our Blues ditty for these forms, make your own Blues from another barre chord shape you want to learn. Create as many as you need. You'll never wear out the Blues.

Learn other chords and blues tabs at http://www.maximummusician.com/.

Darrin Koltow