Barre Exercise for Classical Guitar with Matthew McAllister

Matthew McAllister demonstrates a simple exercise to help with bar chords and the barre technique on classical guitar. This comes via his amazing YouTube channel.

I also really like the below exercise. String Specific Barre Correction – Try to apply pressure to the specific string indicated (not across the entire barre). Let the specified note ring cleanly while letting the notes marked with an X but muted (the barre finger is touching the string but not applying pressure to the fret. Don’t worry if the surrounding strings get pushed down as well (this is normal), just do your best and try to zero-in on the specified string. Keep fingers 2, 3 and 4 hovering over the frets where they would usually play (one finger per fret).

I play a little bit of jazz on the side and the barre chords are great practice if you use a pressure-release style of strumming (Freddie Green!). To do this, strum a barre chord and release of the pressure in the left hand immediately after. Release the pressure but do not remove your fingers from the strings (touch the strings but do not push down to the fret). This will mute the sound giving a very rhythmic feel that is very suitable to swing music.

Bradford Werner
Bradford Werner

Bradford Werner is a classical guitarist and music publisher from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He originally created this site for his students at the Victoria Conservatory of Music but now shares content worldwide. Curating guitar content helps students absorb the culture, musical ideas, and technique of the classical guitar. Bradford also has a YouTube channel with over 94,000 subscribers and 13 million views. He taught classical guitar at the Victoria Conservatory of Music for 16 years and freelanced in Greater Victoria for 20 years and now dedicates much of his time curating content online and helping connect the classical guitar community. See more at his personal website.

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  1. Matthew McAllister- EXCELLENT instruction!! I buzz 90% of the time when I barre. I will start these exercises during my morning warm up first thing tomorrow! thank you!