Add Movement to Barre Chords with 6ths

Barre chords are one of the most useful tools for rhythm guitar, but simply moving the same chord shapes around the neck can start to sound repetitive. One easy way to make your rhythm playing more interesting is to combine those chords with 6th intervals.

In this lesson, we'll take familiar barre chord shapes and connect them with 6th intervals to create movement, melody and more interesting rhythm guitar parts.

Sixths are especially useful because they can outline the sound of a chord while giving you the freedom to move around the fretboard. Instead of simply holding a barre chord and strumming it, you can move between the chord and nearby 6th shapes to create fills and melodic ideas.

The goal of this lesson is also to begin connecting two skills you may have previously practised separately. Knowing barre chords is useful. Knowing 6th intervals is useful. But learning how to combine them is where they start becoming part of your actual guitar playing.

This approach works particularly well for rhythm guitar because it allows you to add movement without losing the harmony of the song. A simple chord progression can immediately sound more musical when you begin adding these small melodic ideas between chords.

As you get comfortable with the shapes, experiment with different rhythms and ways of moving between the barre chords and 6ths. The goal isn't to memorize another exercise—it's to start seeing these shapes as connected musical tools across the fretboard.

Download the lesson tablature below and follow along with the complete video lesson.

Download the Barre Chords & 6ths Tablature