In this guitar lesson you will learn how to play various types of bar chords all over the guitar neck including:
– Major
– Minor
– Major 7
– Minor 7
– Dominant 7
All within the song Yesterday by the Beatles.
Yesterday is a great song for this bar chord lesson as it includes all these chord types plus it’s a song that (hopefully!) most people will know.
So we will find where these bar chords are located and what chord shapes to use. For each chord you will need to know – Where’s the bass note and what’s the shape?
The chord progression for the exercise is in the key of G and is outlined below.
G Major
The first chord G major can be played as a bar chord 2 different ways. The first is with the bass note on fret 3 of the E (6th) string which is a G note. The bar chord shape used here is known as the E chord shape as it based on the open string E major chord shape.
The second way of playing a G major bar chord is to have the bass note on the A (5th) string. In this case the bass note is on fret 10 as this is where the G note is located. The shape used here comes from the open string A major chord shape. Note that the 1st string is muted by not applying pressure to it. If this string isn’t muted it creates a 6 chord which is a different type of chord.
So you can see that it’s important to know the notes of the E (6th) and A (5th) strings to know where to place your bar chord shapes. Get to work on memorising the fretboard notes in the diagram below. For each chord you need to know – Where’s the bass note and what’s the shape?
Continuing through the chord progression for Yesterday we will look at the 2 main bar chord shape options for each chord.
F# Minor
Chord #2 is F# minor. With the 6th string bass note on fret 2 for F# the shape here is based on the open string E minor shape.
The alternate way of playing F# minor is with the bass note on the 5th string. This places the chord further up the guitar neck on fret 9 with the shape coming from the open string A minor chord.
B Dominant 7 Chord
Chord #3 is B7 AKA a B dominant 7. The 6th string bass note on fret 7 is B and the shape here is based on the open string E7 shape.
The B7 bar chord can also be played with the bass note on fret 2 of the 5th string. The shape is based on the open string A7 chord shape.
E Minor Chord
Next is E minor. Here the logical choice is the version with the E bass note on fret 7 of the 5th string using the A minor shape.
The other E minor bar chord option would be with the bass note on fret 12 of the 6th string using the open string E minor shape shifted up an octave. However this can be an awkward chord to play so the other version is more commonly used.
C Major 7 Chord
Now it’s time to get a little jazzy with C major 7. The version with the C bass note on fret 3 of the 5th string uses a triangle shape from A major 7.
You can also play C major 7 with the bass note on fret 7 on the 6th string. This shape isn’t technically a bar chord but it is a movable shape just like a bar chord. Ensure that you mute the unwanted strings marked with an X in chord diagram by using the edges of the fingers of the fretting hand.
D Dominant 7
Now it’s time for D dominant 7. If you’re moving from the C major 7 chord with the 5th string bass note the shape is very similar only requiring the 2nd finger to be removed. The D bass on the 5th string is at fret 5.
The other option for D7 is with the bass note on fret 10 of the 6th string using the shape based on the E7 chord shape.
After D7 it’s back to G major which was the first chord of the tune.
E Minor 7 Chord
Next up it’s E minor 7. If we use the shape we had for E minor with the bass note on fret 7 on the 5th string we can change this to E minor 7 by simply removing the little finger from the chord shape. This changes an E note to a D note which is the 7th note of the chord.
The alternate E minor 7 bar chord option is to play it at fret 12 but like the regular E minor chord at fret 12 this is a very awkward shape to play.
A Major Chord
A major is the next chord with the bass note on the 6th string being located at fret 5.
The alternate version of the A major bar chord with the bass note on the 5th string will be at fret 12 making it awkward to play so it’s better to stick to the version with bass note on the 6th string.
C Major Chord
To finish the tune we have C and G major chords. C major can be played with the bass note on fret 8 of the 6th string using the E major shape.
C major can also be played with the bass note on fret 3 of the 5th string using the A major shape.
For G major I would use the same bar chord as used at the beginning of the song.
The ultimate goal is to be able to strum through the song Yesterday using bar chords as shown in the video above. If you practice this song enough you will memorise the moves required. However it’s very important to be aware of what chords you are playing and where they are located so you can use them in other songs.
Other songs that are good for this exercise include:
– Africa – Toto
– Georgia – Ray Charles
– Something – The Beatles
– Hotel California – The Eagles
These songs are great to learn as they include different types of chords which can be played as bar chords all over the guitar neck. Once you learn the main bar chord shapes and where their bass notes are you should be able to play the chords to most songs whatever they may be.