27 Jul ‘Ever Long’ Foo Fighters. How to Barre.

This blog post will help you to play the trickier barre chords and movements within this song.

Song Structure

Learning to play ‘Ever Long’ by the Foo Fighters is an easy structure to understand. Verse, Pre Chorus and Chorus.

To understand this blog post you’ll need to make a purchase via Sheet Music Direct.

This blog explains how to play each chord shape which is usually a barre chord.

What is ‘Drop D’, tuning?

Before you start to play this song you’ll need to retune your guitar, but it’s easy enough to do.

Normally, string 6 in an E note. D is before E which means we’ll need to loosen the string’s tension, down a step or note.

Alternatively, you can play string D on it’s own and tune the E string so it matches in pitch but an octave lower.

What is a quaver based rhythm?

The rhythm is quaver based which means you’re playing twice as fast as a crotchet beat.

A quaver is a rhythm which is twice as quick as a crotchet. If the speed were to be 60bpm then 120bpm would be the equivalent quaver beat at 60bpm.

When using a metronome you could double the speed to practice the even-ness of the quaver.

The picking pattern

Normally when dealing with quaver rhythms, we’d alternate the picking pattern. In this tune, however it’s all downstrokes.

60bpm would be a crotchet beat, 120bpm would be a quaver beat.

Metronome: https://g.co/kgs/sgNssy

How to recognise a barre chord

The Bsus2 chord is the first chord of this piece which requires you to form a barre chord.

Just because there’s a single note within that bar of music, doesn’t mean, that single note isn’t included within, that chord shape.

Looking at the tablature, notice there are 2 of the same numbers in the same bar of music; indicating a barre chord.

For this shape you’ll need to barre with finger 1 and use finger 3 for fret 11.

Barring from chord to chord

Chord shapes can remain the same even though you might be in a different area of the fretboard.

When sliding from fret 5 – 9 you can keep the shape the same. You’ll want to keep the timing of the slide on the quaver beat.

This technique happens when transitioning from the Gsus2 to the Bsus2 chord.

Barring with finger 4

Introducing finger 4 for one quaver beats’ worth can be tricky.

Technically you’ll want to keep the pressure applied to the barre chord shape whilst only being a couple of mili-meters.

It’s a repetitive pattern, so once practiced slowly it’s straight forward to speed up.

Sliding into a barre

You can prepare the barre even whilst playing G sus2 added #11 chord. When you’ve transitioned into position for the Bsus 2/4 chord you’ll simply need to release finger 2.

Barre chords in Drop D

Because we’ve tuned our guitar to Drop D, the 5th or ‘power chord’ shape will be different.

It’s a straight forward barring technique where you’ll need to push knuckle one in and knuckle 2 out.

Stretching across the fretboard whilst barring

This chord shape will be a stretch, but easy once you know how.

Having the thumb ‘underneath’ the neck in the ‘backwards L’ shape position, the barre and the fingers at the right side of the fret will help you achieve a reliable and clean chord shape.