The F Chord Lesson on JustinGuitar

Thanks and apologies for not getting back to you sooner but as usual life (and holiday) gets in the way. Just need to find a very slow song to practice my chord changes :slight_smile:

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I guess this is the right place to raise this query.

Still trying to get the F chord and not there yet but I am working on a song that goes from F to Fm. Justin has not included Fm yet in the chord library so have looked elsewhere. One version I have come across is where you just lift off you second finger. Sounds a great idea if you are transitioning from F to Fm however it means you have to barre string 3. Had a go at this and I think it is going to mean some adjustment of my first finger because at present I am muting the third string with my barre.

Question, should I be working now on trying to fret the first three strings with the barre

I am aware that there are other fingerings that get you Fm, such as just having a barre on the first three strings, fingers 3 and 4 as F chord and not playing string 6, but I am at the stage where I am looking at fingering for some of the chords to make the transition easier and faster.

Any thoughts more than welcome.

Michael :grinning:

@MAT1953
This lesson video and supporting learning notes may be of assistance to you:

As you have figured out, you will have to adjust the bar when transitioning from the Major E Shaped Barre Chords to the Minor E Shaped Barre Chords.

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Thanks James @Socio
I knew somebody would point me in the right direction. Only just started Grade 2 but was aware that barre chords can be moveable but had not spotted this lesson, not reached that in theory course yet.
You might ask why am I interested in this sort of thing when only I just started in Grade 2, will explain all in my next learners log.
Michael :+1:

Thanks to James @Socio suggestion I have looked at Grade 4 on E shaped barre chords, which. of course F chord is one. So I thought I would see how it was higher up the fret board. Went for the fifth fret, the A chord and it was much easier.

Presumably it might have something to do with the frets being closer together, much less stretch for fingers 3 and 4, and therefore able to get my index finger more parallel to fret.

Is there any merit perfecting at higher frets and gradually moving towards the nut I wonder.
Michael :question:

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Hi Michael,
Iā€™m also working on F - and think I wlll be for a while! I think there is merit to what you suggest. My logic is based on the finger-stretching exercise introduced somewhere in Grade 1, I think: start at the frets that are closer together, move toward the nut. Iā€™ve been applying this to F, and if nothing else it gives me confidence that I can at least form the monster!
Judi

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Definitely beneficial Michael, itā€™s easier because youā€™re having to work against less tension higher up the fret board. Itā€™ll help you get your index finger position right (for you) as you work back towards the lower frets.
Good luck!!

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Judi @judi

Interesting that you should be thinking along the same lines. I think one of my main problems Is my first finger position behind the first fret, when I look in the mirror it is all wrong, not the case further up. I think it has to do with the stretch for fingers 3 and 4. I was ok with the finger starching in grade 1 first time round and even going back to it. More work required there.

Mark @Notter

As an engineer I should have realised it is easier to press down the strings at the fifth fret. Interesting I can move the chord down at least two frets, which as Justin says
Play - Relax - Shift - Press
and it still sounds reasonable.

Michael :grinning:

So Iā€™m relatively OK with the E shape barre chord up & down the neck but to be honest not sure what to do with it in relation to songs. Changing to open chords is still a problem but getting there slowly.

You could take a song for example that you know which uses open chords and play it using the equivalent barre chords.

Good idea! Actually this is what I have been doing with power chords for Hey Joe.

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A report for those struggling with F - stick with it. Its taken me three months of struggle with little result, and the common struggle with the B string, but in the last couple of weeks it suddenly came and I can successfully get it pretty much every time. Mini F was the same, but once that came the full F followed shortly after.
As great as Justinā€™s lessons are, look around at others as you might find one that clicks with you personally. I find this one very helpful for mini F

https://youtu.be/l8PvJ5zEnwc

I also found revisiting finger stretching exercises to be valuable.

In the meantime rather than move on I have used the time productively to learn a few more songs and work on strumming, especially 16th note strumming. This has proved so worthwhile I can now play ā€œSingā€ by Travis (Justin has a great video to help you learn this, by the way).

Best wishes

Murray

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Hi All, Iā€™m still struggling with bar F after 6 weeks. Any thoughts are appreciated.

[iCloud]

Hell, I still struggle with it after six years. Especially on acoustic.

On some songs I just use a little ā€œcheatā€ triad:

X
1
2
3
X
X

Like an F Maj 7 but with the #1 string muted instead of open.

If you canā€™t manage the full six string barre, forget the low bass E. I have been playing for 50 years, and I have never been picked up by my listeners, for not playing the full barre.

Move on and enjoy your guitar. If you want proof of what Iā€™m saying, look at Paul McCartney. He has been playing in front ot tens of thousands of people, on bass and acoustic, for 60 years. No one complains about his F chord, since he very rarely plays barre chords.

And the reason for that is, by and large, you donā€™t strictly need them.

I would personally beg to differ from @MarkDickens comment (particularly if playing electric guitar) BUT do understand that for a beginner they can be very challenging. However once mastered they would be a go to chord shape in many instances.

There are literally tons and tons of threads on this forum about this Craig. I think mainly because open chords - in general - are relatively straight forward to fret and get something clean even if it then takes months to perfect themā€¦whereas for many barre chords are challenging just to get clean.

The first thing to recognise is that weā€™re just talking about E shaped barre chords (rather than F barre chord in general). So whichever fret you place that barre the note on the 6th string is barre chord you are playing. So at fret 5 the note on the 6th string is A so you would be playing an A major barre chord. At fret 3 itā€™s a G major barre chord and so on.

So one thing that many people practice to start with is playing higher up the fret board as itā€™s much easier to get your barre chord working right thereā€¦once that become comfortable you can work your way back down towards the F.

Make sure you turn your barre chord finger on itā€™s sideā€¦youā€™ll probably slowly build up callus over time on the edge. Your finger looked quite flat in the videoā€¦you need to be using the edge.

Also - and not to put you off - it took me many years to get to a point where barre chords were ā€œeasyā€ to play. You need to play the long game unfortunately.

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But thereā€™s also a band behind Macca most of the time and he plays the bass and keyboards much more often than the guitar, so he has fewer opportunities to play barre chords. However, I would bet that since the mid 1950s he had plenty of opportunity to perfect his barre chords.

Also, what determines if you really need to use a technique or not? I guess itā€™s entirely up to the type of music and the player in question. For some people, full barre chords may sound better or may be more convenient than switching grips for a matching open chord.

Six weeks really isnā€™t a long time when it comes to mastering the F barre chord. Justinā€™s own video says it will likely take months to get comfortable with, never mind hitting it perfectly every time. I must have watched that video at least eighteen months ago, and still bugger up the F fairly often. As with most things guitar there are no magic tricks, it just takes time and a lot of practice.

Just donā€™t get too hung up on it, as it can be frustrating and suck the fun out of guitar if youā€™re too focused on just one thing youā€™re struggling with. Keep it in your practice routine, but do other things too to keep yourself progressing. It will come eventually, and you have the F chord ā€œcheatsā€ until it does.

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If you watch his videos he does tend to play the bass notes using the thumb over method but you do see him from time to time playing barre chords the other way too.

You can try to put capo on 3rd fret and try. If (and when) it works gradually move the capo to the 2nd and 1st fret and repeat the procedure, then remove the capo and try without it.