F Chord help

My issue is do I need to be covering the bottom two strings?

The E sounds muted and the B has no coverage b/c I can’t even cover it w the size of my hand being so big… My finger just loops around it.

How should I maintain solid contact w these two strings if I need to maintain the contact?

Thanks!

When you say “the bottom two strings,” do you mean the two thinnest? The 1 and 2 strings? Yeah, you really need those to ring out. Try this shape until you can get all six strings properly fretted. It’s one I often use on my acoustic, because barre chords are more difficult than on the electric. The 5 and 6 strings are not strummed.

Have you tried rotating your barre finger very slightly? Tricky to describe but if you hold palm in front of your, square on, then square on is the obvious way to try to do the barre. However if you rotate your whole hand by just a few degrees bringing your thumb towards you (assuming this is your left hand) and then try making the barre at a slight angle like that, it might help you make contact with the thinnest strings.

It also can help if you use your upper arm a little to pull your hand onto the strings rather than trying to use the strength of your fingers alone.

Hello Andrew,

I really recommend to you follow all Justins points about how to do it in this video. :slight_smile:

I know this will sound like dismotivation, but learning your first bare chord needs some time and some practice and one day it will just click. It wont hurt anymore and the fingers will go to the correct position just natural without extra pressure.

I think its really important to rotate your finger slightly like Matt is saying.
I believe you can do it, we all been there. :slight_smile:
If I can recommend you nice tune for practice that F chord shape, Where Is My Mind by Pixies is really great! And Justin performed it so great I listened to his cover many times while driving in car. :smiley:

Edit: Since my comment here… I am listening to his cover again on loop. Its such a great cover. I love it.

Justins Lesson:
https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/the-f-chord-b2-901

Justins Where Is My Mind by Pixies:

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Thanks all. My long ass finger bowes out. I’ll figure it out though… thx!

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Do you have your thumb behind the neck?

My thumb is arthritic and up to now I’ve managed to cradle the neck in the palm of my hand to avoid pain. I can’t get the barre on the B and E strings with this grip because the ‘root’ of my first finger is too close to the bottom edge of the fretboard and I wonder if that’s your problem too?

I’m trying shifting my thumb to the middle of the back of the neck as Justin’s F Chord tutorial suggests but it’s thrown the other chords out a bit and hurts too. I may have to be content with that Mini-barre version as flagged up by markr31 above.

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