I took it that Josepp was, as Don Firth and Doug Chadwick hinted, and Matt Milton spelled out, "moving the same barre chord shape up and down"-the term he used is an accurate description of what he was doing, but it isn't commonly used or understood-- don't get upset if we didn't get it--everyone is just trying to help!

If this is the case, a lot of rock guitarists do it because they like the sound, but most of them, and us, started out playing these "open" position chords(using at least one open string)-

E: 0-2-2-1-0-0
A: 0-0-2-2-2-0
D: X-0-0-2-3-2

G: 2-3-0-0-0-3
C: X-3-2-0-1-0
F: X-X-3-2-1-1

and, oh, yeah:

B7: X-2-1-2-0-1-0
C7: X-3-2-2-0-1-0
and some related minor and other 7th fingerings.

and knowing, if nothing else, that the Chord tone and the fifth are in different places for each chord.

Using these fingerings allows us to play all or most of the chords in a given key with minimal change in fret position, and lets us follow the rules mentioned by Don about movement in four part harmony(and avoiding the parallel movements) without even knowing that we are doing it!

And you can take those open chord fingering up the neck as barre chords, and use the inversions to play in two different keys on each fret!(three, if you stretch a bit)

Here are chords for A major, D major, and E major using fifth position( the fifth fret)

Key of A (A,D, and E7 chords)

A:5-7-7-6-5-5

D: 5-5-7-7-7-5

E7: X-7-6-7-5-X

Key of D (D,G, A7)

D: 5-5-7-7-7-5

G: 7-5-5-7-8-7

A7:5-7-5-6-5-5

Key of E (E, A, B7)

E:7-7-6-4-X-X

A:X-7-7-6-5-5

B7: 7-X-7-6-X-X


And, yes, I know, the G with the B on the bottom is a bit different(it is the D fingering with a Bass note added), and the E arguably has parallels in it, and I should have used 7-X-6-4-5-4, but most acoustic players hate playing that chord fingering((Ted Greene liked it, but he played a tele):-)