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B Barre Application (A-major / E-major progressions)

MasterOriginal exercise

Strumming: D DU U DU

Play along: The all-purpose strum

Focus: Hands-on work with the A-shape B barre, switching between barre and open chords, the bass line of the D/F# slash chord

Transpose · Capo

A
Original A
Pick a target key
Match your voice

The original key is inferred from the first chord in the chart. Transposing changes the chords you have to play; to keep easy shapes, switch to “Capo” instead.

💡 Too high to sing? Move down. Too low? Move up. Guys often go a few keys below the original, women a bit above — that's just a starting point. You've got it right when you can sing the highest line of the chorus comfortably.

Chords in this song

✦ = harder to play (mostly barre); try a capo
✕123
✕✕132
231
✕2134
1✕234
1✕243

Chord progression

A: ease in with B7
ADEB7
B: switch to the B barre
EB✦EA
C: add a moving bass line
AD/F#EB7ADB✦E

Play-along

Chords change automatically to the beat (following the current key A). Get it smooth slowly, then speed up.

Tap “Start” to play along with the beat
ADEB7EBEAAD/F#EB7ADBE
Speed80 BPM
Time

One bar of count-in first, then the chord changes automatically each bar. Get it smooth slowly, then speed up bit by bit.

Practice ladder · from playing it to playing it well

Not sure how to practice? Follow these four steps — each has a clear goal and a concrete method.

  1. 1

    Get the chords ringing

    Goal: every chord clear, no buzzing

    Get this song's 6 chords ringing one by one and switchable (A · D · E · B7 · B · D/F#). Press each alone first, then switch in pairs; for any that won't ring, scroll to “Don't know these chords?” below, or use the chord-change timer for a one-minute challenge.

  2. 2

    Play it through in time

    Goal: no stalls with the metronome, start to finish

    Using the “D DU U DU” strum, open the metronome and connect the whole song from a slow tempo, no pausing on the changes.

  3. 3

    Play it with feel

    Goal: dynamics and a sense of breath

    Hands-on work with the A-shape B barre, switching between barre and open chords, the bass line of the D/F# slash chord。

  4. 4

    Own it & make it yours

    Goal: explain why it works and change up your own version

    Try analyzing its chord progression, then use the Transpose / Capo control above to change keys, and try reworking the rhythm, adding color chords or improvising — turn “I can play this one” into “I can play many.”

Don't know these chords? Learn them in the courses

Original exercise. Drops another common barre chord, B (an A-shape barre), into A/E-major progressions to lock it in — Section A first substitutes the easier-to-fret B7, while Sections B and C switch to the full B barre (B is the V/V secondary dominant that pushes back to E). The D/F# in Section C also works in a descending bass line. Echoes the barre topic in Stage 4 and slash chords in Stage 6.

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