reason for avoiding barre chords is that they require more effort—but he acknowledges that they are frequently the best or only solution for playing some passages. Partial barre chords F F E-------------1---------------1--- B-------------1---------------1--- G-------------2---------------2--- D-------------3---------------3--- A-------------3------------------- E-------------1------------------- An F-shape "great bar" chord and an F-shape "small bar" chord. Guitarists distinguish between the "great bar"/"grand bar" or full barre chord and incomplete or "small bar" chords such as the half barre. The small bar or regular F chord is easily obtainable, but "Being able to play the Small Bar chord formations does little towards developing the technique required to play the Great Bar chord formations." Gm Gm Gm Gm7 E------3------3------3------3------ B------3------3------3------3------ G------3------3------3------3------ D------5------5-------------3------ A------5--------------------------- E------3--------------------------- E-shape Gm 'great', 'small', "simplified version", and Em7-shape Gm7 'small' chords. The 'simplified version' on the upper three strings is "useful in playing solos," and may be played with any of the first three fingers. The minor seventh chord whose root is located on the first may instead be considered an added sixth chord whose root is located on the third string, in which case one may consider the Gm7 a Badd6. Diagonal barre chord A diagonal barre chord is a "very rare chord" involving "the barring of a couple of strings with the first finger [diagonally] on different frets." Notation Standard music notation indicates the barre technique with one of two letters, "B" or "C"—followed by a positional indication via an Arabic number or Roman numeral. Examples: BIII, CVII, B2, C7. The two abbreviations "B", "C", represent the terms barre or bar, cejillo or capotasto, the later being Spanish and Italian terms for capo. The choice of letter is an editorial decision that reflects the style adopted. Roman numerals are more prevalent than Arabic numbers to avoid confusion with other fingering indications and common chord symbols (but not figured harmony). Roman numerals without the "B" or "C" indicates fingerboard position only. Editorial style also affects partial barre indications. A vertical strike-through of the letter "C" commonly indicates a partial barre—the number of strings to barre depends on context and performer choice. Other editorial styles use superscript fractions (e.g., 4/6, 1/2) indicates the number of strings to barre in addition to the letters B or C. In some notation styles (particularly classical staff notation), the letters "B" or "C" are omitted altogether, with the number of courses to barre (from the highest-tuned downwards) written as an