Learning how to play barre chords is one of the first major steps you must take on your way to becoming a skilled guitarist. Barre chords incorporate all six strings of the guitar (sometimes five strings) and result in a full sounding chord with both bass and treble notes. The barre chord is the go-to move for a solid rhythm guitarist. You can also learn how the barre chord breaks down into smaller chord voicings, which can be used effectively for both lead guitar and rhythm. With that in mind, let’s begin to learn the sixth string barre chord position, or F shape barre chord.

The 6th string barre chord (F barre shape)

The sixth string barre chord requires you to place your first finger across all six strings of the next of the guitar at the given fret. It will be difficult at first to do without muting at least one of the strings in the process. Over time, your hand will gain enough strength to cover the strings properly. Have patience with it, as it will be a huge turning point in your ability as a guitar player.

For the purposes of our lesson, we will use the 5^th fret for our barre chord, making it an A chord. Please take note as you bar your first finger on the 5^th fret of the guitar neck that the root note of the chord is on the 6^th string. Since the 5^th fret of the 6^th string is an A note, it is an A chord. This is why knowing the name of the notes on the 6th string is crucial when you attempt to use the barre chord effectively. For help learning the notes on the strings check out our guide to All Notes On the Fretboard.

Major barre chord

Now, with your first finger pressed down hard on all six strings of the 5^th fret, place your third finger on the 7^th fret of the fifth string. Put your pinky down on the 7^th fret of the fourth string. Finally, place your second finger on the 6^th fret of the third string. Make sure that your first finger covers the 5^th fret of the bottom two strings. This is an A major barre chord. When played correctly it will sound like this:

You can see from the diagram now why this is called the “F barre shape”. The bottom four strings have the same fingering as an F open chord. Now that we know this, we can play the sixth string barre chord shape at the 1^st fret, and it would be an F major barre chord.

Minor barre chord

To make the major barre chord into a minor barre chord, we have to flatten the “third” note in the chord. (Refer to our lesson on open chords to learn the difference between major and minor chords). Since our second finger is fretting the third note, we can remove it from the neck. Our first finger takes the place of the note, down one fret, and we have made our sixth string minor barre chord. When played correctly at the 5^th fret, an A minor barre chord will sound like this:

Now that we've learned the 6th string barre chord shape, let's move on to the 5th string (B shape) barre chord.