first rule

when you see this e always say the long sound of the  previous vowel
Always say the long sound of the previous vowel when you see this e.

now when we looks at a word we go through our the rules of reading and this is the first rule

bare
First letter  
buh
First rule  
the next  letter is ar pronounced are and we know that because it is one of our one-way letters
BUT
we see the magic e which tells us to look back and say the long vowel sound of a so we start reading the word over and this time we say buh ay r
s
No ending with s here so we do not concern ourself with it.
Read the word bare
Buh ay rr
Read the word pare
p ay rr
Read the word fare
f ay rr
Read the word mare
m ay rr

lets look at these words and see how the first rule works
no magic e
magic e
 at  
 ate
 far
 fare
 car
 care
 star
 stare
 mar
 mare
 par
 pare
 sit
 site
 bar
 bare  

lets try a few
ate
fate
site
vote
tote
Pete
meter
chute
flute
state
snake
spike
spoke
choke






 
more practice
bar
bare
car
care
dar
dare
far
fare
har
hare
lar
lare
mar
mare
par
pare
rar
rare
war
ware
zar
zare
bit
bite
sit
site
lit
lite
hit
hite
kit
kite
mit
mite
nit
nite
pit
pite
quit
quite
rit
rite
at
ate
dat
date
fat
fate
hat
hate
mat
mate
nat
nate
rat
rate