What are barre chords? How to play them in a song?

Summary

Mix and match activities to create a fun lesson in which students will learn the most common barre chord on the guitar and practice it in a popular song. Integrate Solfeg.io in teaching the basics of guitar playing.

💻 Materials:

• Solfeg.io web app best used with Chrome browser
• Projector or computer and access to WIFI
• Guitars
• Mobile devices with the Solfeg.io mobile app installed (optional)

🎲 Activities included:

• Learning the barre (F) chord
• Playing the F chord in a song
• Learning the other chords - Am and G
• Playing the F, Am & G chord in the song

Introduction to the song

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Get familiar with the song
• Recognize instruments in a song
• Understand the song structure
• Describe the characteristics of a song

🎶 Recommended Song:

🎲 Activity:

• Project the song on the screen Click on “Guitar” under “Tools” - “Visuals” so that the guitar chord diagrams are visible.
• Listen to the chorus of the song.
• Shortly discuss the song with the class.

What instruments do you hear?

Can you hear a guitar in this song?

Which chords are there in this song?

What is the tempo, mood and genre of the song?

Did you notice anything unusual about the chord diagrams?

Introduction to barre chords

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Understand how to play barre chords on the guitar
• Learn a simplified version of the F chord

🎶 Recommended Song:

🎲 Activity:

• Distribute guitars to students. If there's one for each student - perfect! If you have less guitars than students, give one instrument to a small group of students - they will have to take turns when playing.
• Explain what a barre chord is and demonstrate it on your guitar.

A chord which is played by pressing multiple strings across one fret with one finger, most commonly - index finger.

• Select “Tools” - “Chords” - “Easy” on the menu at the right side of the screen and click on the F chord.
• Invite the class to try playing the easy version of the F chord.

Play the easy F chord in the song

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Play the simplified version of the F chord in a song

🎶 Recommended Song:

🎲 Activity:

• Click on the beginning of Chorus 1 on the timeline of the song player.
• Press “Play” and invite the class to strum only the easy F barre chord they learned in the previous activity when it appears at the red line.
• You can loop a selected part of the song by pressing the “Loop” button on the right side of the “Play” button.

The full F chord

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Learn the full F chord

🎶 Recommended Song:

• Take a look at the chord diagram of the full F chord.
• Invite the students to try playing the full F chord.
• Give them some tips and tricks to improve the sound of the barre chord:

Keep your index finger as close as possible to the fret. You can start with pressing it right on the fret and then rolling it to the left, so that you press the strings with the left side of the finger right next to the fret.

If you started with pressing the index finger and then added the other three fingers, try starting with pressing the middle, ring and little fingers and place the index finger last. This might help you to find a better placement of the barre.

For a better sound, experiment with the placement of the index finger, moving it slightly upwards or downwards to find the place where all strings ring out.

The left thumb should be pressed firmly into the guitar more or less at the same place as the index finger on the other side of the neck - as if you're pinching the neck of the guitar with your left thumb and index finger 🤌

The full F chord in the song

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Play the full F chord in a song of choice
• Practice the ensemble playing skills

🎶 Recommended Song:

🎲 Activity:

• Click on the beginning of Chorus 1 on the timeline of the song player.
• Press “Play” and invite the class to strum only the full F barre chord they learned in the previous exercise when it appears at the red line.
• You can loop a selected part of the song by pressing the “Loop” button on the right side of the “Play” button.

Add more chords - Am

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Learn to play the Am chord on the guitar

🎶 Song:

🎲 Activity:

• Click on 'Am' under 'Tools' - 'Chords' so that the Solfeg.io fretboard showing the Am chord is visible.
• To play the Am chord, students should place the 1st finger on the 2nd string, 1st fret. Then add the 3rd finger on the 3rd string, 2nd fret. Lastly - add the 2nd finger on the 4th string, same fret. Strum only five strings downwards, starting with the second thickest string.
• Let them practice the chord and get familiar with it!

Combine F & Am chord

🕐 Time: 10 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Learn to play the F & Am chord on the guitar

🎶 Song:

🎲 Activity:

• Tell students that they will have to play the F and Am chords in this song.
• Look at the song and play F and Am chords when they pass the red line
• Leave out the G chord for now.
• Slow the song down by pressing “﹣” on the left side of the “Play” button. You can press it up to 4 times to choose the preferred speed.
• Play the verse or the chorus of the song and let them practice the chords and get familiar with it! You can also press the loop button in the controls so that the section would repeat multiple times:
• When students are comfortable with the speed, repeat the exercise at a faster speed until the original speed of the song is reached.

The last chord - G

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Learn to play the G chord on the guitar

🎶 Song:

🎲 Activity:

• Click on 'G' under 'Tools' - 'Chords' so that the Solfeg.io fretboard showing the G chord is visible.
• To play the G chord, students should place the 3rd finger on the 1st string, 3rd fret. Then add the 1st finger on the 5th string, 2nd fret. Lastly - add the second finger on the 6th string, 3rd fret. Then strum all six strings downwards with their right thumb.
• Let them practice the chord and get familiar with it!

Get comfortable with the chord combo

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Practice a chord combo at different speeds

🎶 Song:

🎲 Activity:

• Click on the beginning of the chorus on the timeline in the song player.
• Press “Play” and invite the class to play along, following the chord symbols.
• If needed, slow the song down by pressing “﹣” on the left side of the “Play” button. You can press it up to 4 times to choose the preferred speed.
• When students are comfortable with the speed, repeat the exercise at a faster speed until the original speed of the song is reached.
• You can loop a selected part of the song by pressing the “Loop” button on the right side of the “Play” button.

Reflection

🕐 Time: 5 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Reflect on the learning process

🎲 Activity:

Ask these questions to the class and have a short discussion

• Was it challenging to play the barre chord?
• What strumming pattern would be the most suitable for this song?
• What was the most fun/challenging part of the lesson?
• What other songs would you like to learn to play on the guitar?

Homework assignment

🕐 Time: 3 min

🎯 Objectives:

• Practice playing the whole song
• Consolidate the concepts learned in the lesson