The F Chord Lesson on JustinGuitar

The best quote of this lesson:

ā€œToday weā€™re going to check out the most appropriately named chord on the guitar, which is the F-Chord.ā€

Absolutely LOLā€™d out loud at that.

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Occasionally I can get it right, but most of the time it`s a complete mess :face_with_symbols_over_mouth:.

One suggestion is to try the F chord a bit lower on the neck - just a fret or two higher. Once you get the shape sounding good, move it down a fret. Work on that until it sounds good and then move down again.

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Struggling to get the chord right as well. It sounds okay for now, however my fingers lay flat towards the headstock. When I see advanced players play, they have their fingers at a right angle towards the board.

Any tips on how to get the fingers more in a right angle, raise them from the board?

Ummm. Yeah. This is NOT the chord I wanted to start learningā€¦ Can I put it off just a little longer? haha just kidding. This is going to be a tough one! Day 1. Lets go!

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Welcome to all those not only working on the wonderful F Chord but a big Hi as you now enter into the world of the JustinGuitar Community. You may relate to this I just brought across from the old forum. :sunglasses:

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I learned the F-chord from a guitar teacher a long time ago (before picking up the guitar again recently) where I switch the 3rd and 4th finger. This is so ingrained in my brain it is difficult to change.

Are there any (dis)advantages of doing it this way going forward? In other words, is it worth it putting some efoort in re-wiring my brain to grab the F-chord the way Justin does? :slight_smile:

Thanks!

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Hi Jeroen and welcome to the Community.
The disadvantage I can see is that youā€™re having to stretch your shortest finger higher than it needs to.
Do you use the same finger pattern when you play A shape minor chords?

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Hi,

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I play these as well with the pinky on the highest string. Never though much about it; but now Iā€™m wondering if it could be a disadvantage for e.g. anchoring, some kind of sus chords etcā€¦

Hi @timjthomas and welcome to the community.
You are right - many recommendations involve the suggestion to try the same chord shape at, say, fret 5 where the string tension makes it a bit easier.
One small note on conventional guitar terminolgy.
Moving towards the guitar body is considered ā€˜upā€™ and towards the headstock is ā€˜downā€™.
Cheers :blush:
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide & Moderator

Hello @Witte
There are many disadvantages that I wonā€™t write out as a full list and ask that you trust that correcting your ā€˜bad habitā€™ immediately will benefit you a lot in the future. Just work on it like you would work on learning any new chord. It will come in a week or two.
Cheers :blush:
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide & Moderator

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Thanks @Richard_close2u. I would edit my post, but that does not appear to be an option.

I have done it for you Tim!
:slight_smile:

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Thanks! Will be an interesting two weeks :grinning:

I have tried and struggled for some weeks before i have discovered the same thing myself a few months ago.
Now i can play bar chords as easily as open chords.
Even F# might be much easier than F.

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for all the years Iā€™ve been playing this chord, this tutorial was absolutely incredible to give me the BEST sounding F chord Iā€™ve ever done

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The neck of the guitar Iā€™m using is really wide and I donā€™t have extra large hands. So when I bend my finger a little, I need the entire length of my finger to cover all the strings. Then Iā€™m using the really fleshy part at the base of my finger for the highest two strings. Makes it really hard to make them ring out! Definitely going to consider getting a narrower neck when I buy my own guitar!

For the first time, I feel like I am really close to being able to form a full barre F chord. Iā€™m not quite there yet, but starting to feel like it is possible. Iā€™m switching back and forth between electric and acoustic. I actually feel like Iā€™m as close to hitting it on acoustic as I am on electric. The part that I am having the most trouble with, I think, is muting the 3rd string. Sometimes I am able to get all of the other strings to ring, but I have not gotten that 3rd string to ring clear with the others even once.

I have to admit that I have been lingering just a little bit longer with consolidating Grade 1 because I am really anxious about barre chords, with F being the first one. Iā€™m still not ready to completely leave Grade 1, but I am ready to start moving forward into Grade 2 and all of the challenges therein while I continue to consolidate and solidify Grade 1 skills.

I can do the mini barre version, although not well enough to use it in a song at all. Sometimes I am able to hit it the first time, but most times I have to lay the fingers down and manipulate just a little bit to produce a good sound.

I am going to have to take some video and start a learning log and/or AVOYP very soon.

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@Dave911 it sounds like you are progressing well with an ā€œE shapedā€ barre chords (to give them there proper name) Iā€™m sure you already know but if you move that barre chord up the neck youā€™ll be playing a different chord e.g. playing that shape on Fret 3 is a G barre chord, Fret 5 an A chord. All dictated by the name of the note on the 6th string where you barre it.

I wouldnā€™t worry about how competent you are at the moment. The key is you understand what is required and will continue to practice as you move through the next module. It would not hold you back significantly in terms of songs.

To be honest I rarely use mini barre at all whereas I use barre chords all the time. If I need an F and I donā€™t use an F barre chord it tends to be an Fmaj7 Iā€™ll play (bit like a C shaped chord).

Absolutely start a learning log and Iā€™d encourage you to post to AVOYP a couple of sample recordings. Itā€™s good practice and itā€™ll really help you focus on improving things.

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Man, Iā€™m still having trouble getting the F cord to ring nicely. Must have watched a Justin + a dozen or so other videos, checking out how others lay their bar. Finger high/low etc. Canā€™t seem to get a good amount of pressure on the B string. Just a Justin said the difficulty arises fromā€¦

Really need to just sit down and practice it over and over but Iā€™m not sure on the technique

grrr!