When Barre bought his first guitar, his father gave him albums by Barney Kessel, Johnny Smith and Wes Montgomery to broaden his musical perspectives.

After designing a road junction in Birmingham, England, he decided that a career in architecture was too boring, and switched to music.

[2] The band subsequently changed its name to the Motivation, and backed visiting soul artists such as the Coasters, the Drifters and Lee Dorsey.

"[3] Two albums on which Barre is credited with having contributed "additional material", Songs from the Wood and Heavy Horses, are two of those which, he has stated, show his best playing.

[6] Barre embraced the new Jethro Tull sound on the album Under Wraps (1984), despite its foregrounding of synthesisers and relegation of his own guitar work to the background.

In 2003, on his album Stage Left, Barre used an unusual electric guitar style shaped by folk/acoustic and hard rock elements.

In the album, Barre shows his style of playing with "tricky and complicated" melodies, being always "elegant, even when he's rocking hard".

The line up included former Tull members Jonathan Noyce and Doane Perry (who split duties with drummer Fred Moreau), John Mitchell, and guitarist Pat O'May.

[13] In 2014, Barre announced that he would tour as an acoustic quartet (including Dan Crisp and Alan Bray) to promote Away With Words, which was well received by the Prog Magazine, saying that in the album, "Barre has taken an imaginative approach to his own past by readdressing many of his favourite, often more obscure, nuggets from lull's [sic] vast cache, chiefly on acoustic guitar.

Martin Barre commenced a tour of the U.S. in the spring of 2019 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of his joining Jethro Tull and the release of Stand Up.

[20][21][22] Reviewers have sometimes described Martin Barre's sound as "tricky" and "complicated", highlighting his ability to compose melodies instead of simply soloing.

[11][12] Barre's best-known guitar work includes that on the songs "Aqualung", "Cross-Eyed Mary", and "Locomotive Breath".

[23][24] Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler, in a 2005 interview, called Barre's work with Ian Anderson "magical".

[25] Joe Bonamassa cites Martin Barre as a direct influence, especially in the blues playing of the early albums.

[26][27] Other guitarists like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson also cite Martin Barre as influences.

[1] Rush's Geddy Lee mentions the "great guitar sounds" of Martin Barre when remembering the album Thick as a Brick.