B minor chord: Bm

 

The B minor Barre is 2nd fret.

This means that your 1st finger should be flat across all the strings at the 2nd fret whilst your thumb should be around halfway down the back of the neck of the guitar.

This will allow you to fret the 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers and increase your ability to bridge the strings.

Alternatives:

The X’s indicate that these strings are not played. Only strum on pick the strings that you fingers are holding down.

F Major Chord: The F Chord

Alternatives:

2nd version of ‘F‘ called the ‘F/E’ don’t play the bottom E string

3rd version don’t play the bottom E and the the A string

 

The above Barre chords show the being played on the 8th Fret.

There are two ways of playing this chord:

Version 1 uses the 2nd,3rd and 4th fingers to hold down an A shape whilst the 1st finger barres the strings like a capo.

Version 2 also barres the 1st finger across the strings but the 3rd now barres across the D, G and B strings – in most cases you’ll end up muting the top E string. This is to be expected.

In both cases you’ll have to mute the bottom E string or better still barre all the strings completely. See below.