Any chords sound like like a F#minor?
 

Struggling with the barre chord and looking for an easy version. I’m learning Circle Game by Joni..

Play the first four strings only. Then you only need to barre three strings.

Play it in G capo 2

Then there is Fm and Gm and G#m and ... That leaves too much out as to what you can play. Get the guitar
action setup on the lower side. Use light gauge strings. Learn to barre the chords.

Capo at 2nd fret, play an Em chord, and voila! You get a sounding F#m chord.

https://jguitar.com/images/chordshap...C6%2C7%2C5.png

No barre chord, but not a super simple fingering either.

Chords that sound like F#m?
 

D major 7th.

Why not play it the way she played it, in open G (DGDGBD) capo 4?

Tab here:
http://jonimitchell.com/music/guitarfiles/256.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTVjCWekS1Q&t=230
Actually she's tuned down a little more there - capo on 3 would put you in the ballpark if you were playing along. (And check out how she plays the chords at 4:32!)

This is the best answer for the long term, but if you want to play the song now and don't want to bother with alternate tunings, an A6 fingering will sorta get you through if you don't play the two bass strings (XX2222)

Like JonPR wrote, Joni plays in lots of alternate tunings. If you follow his advice, not only will you be able to play the song most likely w/o barre chords, but you'll open yourself up to the mind bending world of alternate tunings. There are many sounds, possibilities that you can get in alternate tunings that you can't get in standard tunings

Just to add - the Joni Mitchell site also has a version in EADBGE, if tuning to open G seems too daunting:
http://jonimitchell.com/music/guitarfiles/521.pdf
- no F#m chord in sight, but you would need to tune down if you wanted her key (that's in C, and she was in B).

IOW, you don't have to use her tuning, but neither do you need to use an F#m chord. (It would also be easy enough to arrange it in G, capo 4 for her key. You'd need a Bm then, but no need for a barre if it's fingerpicked.)

Of course, you need to get your barres working eventually! But in the meantime, there are plenty of songs that don't need them (and re-arrangements of others to avoid them) and, while you're enjoying playing those, your fingers will be getting more and more exercise - getting generally stronger and more flexible - meaning the barres will get easier.

Sometimes, this will work...

x 4 4 2 0 0

But be careful, those open strings ringing...can sound out of place...


My best advice is--keep practicing...

Start with an Am barre chord in the middle of the neck, 5 7 7 5 5 5...

Get comfortable with that, then move it back a fret...repeat, repeat, repeat...

Just to add (2) ...

If you're fingerpicking, try this for an F#m:

-2- pinky
-2- ring
-2- middle
-x-
-x-
-2- index

If you have big fingers, you can probably get those top 3 strings with two fingers, or some sort of partial barre

Another option:

(0) (optional, for F#m7)
-2- middle
-2- index
-4- pinky
-x-
-2- thumb

try 20422x for a nice open F# minor chord

Try a Gbm ... ;)