Thoughts on barring for an open D chord

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Smooth Buddha

4 days ago

Hey guys this clip just came up on my feed of somebody showing how they fret an open D chord using a mini barre instead of the classic way we all learn.

Thought it was interesting way of fretting an open D major chord. Ive never seen that before, ive seen people do a mini barr for the open A chord but not on a D.

Would love to hear any thoughts on this
https://youtube.com/shorts/9Io1YzS7GgM?si=8YCOY9gwZgvAWhO_

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Matt

4 days ago

I think Guitar_vault is just trying to get a reaction and clicks. lol

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Tomo Fujita Mod

4 days ago

Thank you for sharing! I highly recommend to use 1 3 2 fingers for open D chord as first choice,

Then if you play something a little more specifc to use 1 and 2 fingers for open D chord. I think it's okay. But I would suggest to use simple 231 fingerings for open D chord so you can do chord melody too.

When you do A open chord to D chord on 432 set strings. Yes. 1 finger bar is useful to go D 1st inversion. Like Keith!

I think everything is case by case and simple way is my first choice and you could use different fingerings for 2nd choice. There is no ONE BEST WAY. Keep it open!

Tomo

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Smooth Buddha

4 days ago

Thank you so much sensei.

Yeah that first inversion trick by keith is gold. Only recently i was looking at “ gimme shelter” intro by the stones and realised he was using that 1st inversion triad trick.

I really get why u love triads and their inversions so much, they show up everywhere in songs its so cool to begin to notice them in music and understand more of whats going on.

Also i really like the 1st inversion , the way it sounds especially after playing the root triad first.

One of My favoutites is open D > D/F#>G>A

I love the movement of the 1st inversion going to the 4

Ed sheeran used it nicely in his song thinking out lout

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Tomo Fujita Mod

4 days ago

Thank you Smooth! I love triads very much! Yes! Triads are everywhere! Great!

Tomo

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Matt

4 days ago

Not just Gimme Shelter, there is so much in the stones catalog that is in open G tuning. Start me up, Honky Tonk Women, Brown sugar are just a few off the top of my head. I go back and forth with keeping one of my guitars in open G just so I can jam along with The Stones. It's just so much fun! My old band did a few stones tunes and when deciding with the other guitar player who was going to play what, I insisted that I'm playing the Keith parts. If you want to really learn how to get deep into the pocket and just groove, study Keith.

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Hugo W

4 days ago

I guess it's better (at the beginning at least) not to play the 2nd inversion over there with a flattened/barred middle or index finger. I have a recent example of a song that goes back and forth between the D 2nd inversion triad (main part of the D chord) and a G/D power chord "thingy" [x x 0 0 3 3] (I don't know what it is; but the notes are D G D G / 5 R 5 R). Try and play this with both methods and you'd know :).

If we barre the 2nd fret with it, there may be restrictions when we are trying to transition to other chords. Another example is the D minor chord [x x x 2 3 1]. You can play back and forth with the major triad.

Of course, there might be reasons for the Youtuber to claim that as "advanced" or anything but I think it might be better to use various fingers at 65% or 70% of the situation and maybe only consider that when we have a valid reason to.

Hugo

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Smooth Buddha

4 days ago

Great point hugo i was just thinking how i often i use the sus2 and sus4 as embellishment . Using the barre method makes that difficult.

Also using the thumb to fret a F#/D is best not using barr

It was just interesting to me as i had never seen that barred D chord. Doesnt seem as flexible as the standard method though

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Hugo W

2 days ago

Besides, I guess that the barre method maybe is easier to transition to other specific places in faster paced (like prog rock or instrumental music) environment. Maybe that's why the Youtuber say it's "advanced".

Anyhow, as Matt pointed out below, I think it all depends on context; but it's easier for beginners like me to learn the more commonly available ones (keep things simple) and I'll get less confusion. So, for me, I'll opt for the different fingeringings until I have solid reason to change. By then, I would have learnt more and maybe can decide for myself! Haha!

Hugo

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Smooth Buddha

2 days ago

I think the classic version of D is best for most situations. I was just realising the barre open D form is handy if you want to play Dadd9

So shift the root on the b string up a couple of frets whilst holding the barre and you get a lovely lush Dadd9 chord

Its a bit of of a stretch for the pinky little finger but the reward is the lovely add9 chord so its worth it lol

9th chords are some of of my favoutire , a major9 or add9 even a dom9 is awesome

I love the warmth of major 9 chords

Matt

4 days ago

I think it's all context and what's going to work for the song. I'll use a barre across the e, B, G strings IF (big if) I'm going to be adding the A on the e string to make it a D power chord. Mike Campbell does that a lot, American Girl is an example. And even then, it's not really a barre as I'm getting the A on the G string with my index finger, the D on the B string with my middle finger and the A on the e string with my pinky. But for the typical D and D sus chords, definitely easier to use the traditional 3 finger grip of the 2nd inversion triad on the e, B and G strings.

Tomo - I didn't say shapes because we don't memorize shapes! We think in triads triads triads! :-)

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Tomo Fujita Mod

4 days ago

Thank you Matt! Yes. Triads are sound and possible to play different positions. Fingerings are choices abd certain composition could use alternate fingerings. I just keep all posibilities open.

Tomo

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