-
A barre chord can start as simple as the top 3 strings. if you play a c barre chord on the 5th fret and use the top 3 (E,B,G) strings it is E 3rd fret, B and G strings held down on the 5th fret. move up 2 frets and you have D chord playing the same finger positions. The dreaded F barre chord can just be the E and B strings fretted with the index finger. The G string fretted at the 3rd fret and the D string fretted at the 4th fret . I still play it this way a lot but for a long time I fingered this chord this way but only played the B, G, and D strings as the pesky E string barre always made noise, yukkkkkk . it does play clean and clear now and the barred G and A also play clean, plus the pinky holds down the a string cleanly. I guess my index finger finally strengthened enough to hold that bottom barre position. I use my thumb on the bottom E string for a full barre chord now.