Yeah I know what you mean. I think it’s even worse in the Californication riff, where you’re stretching the first and third fingers across 2 frets, and now the second finger is forced into an almost hook like shape just to fit. I had to trim my fingernail on my second finger especially short (to the point that there is nearly no white) to avoid that nail problem you mentioned.
Hello,
I’ve been able to get a clean F-chord for months now but I’m still struggling a lot with the changes.
It seems that, between C and F, my wrist needs to rotate a bunch more than in the video.
The angle while playing the F chord is not that bad though, it’s just that I do a bit more of a thumb wrap on all of my open chords.
Is it is normal to have a lot of rotation of the wrist between the open and barre chords?
Or do I need to change my open chords to be closer to the barre chords in terms wrist/thumb position.
Yes, changing between them requires a significant change in hand orientation. However, as you continue practicing these changes, you become much more efficient at it and the amount of movement reduces alot. Everything you are describing is the same thing I went thru. Yes, it gets better with practice. Yes, it takes longer than you would like. And YES, you will do the happy dance when it all comes together and it just feels natural.
Do I need callouses on the extension of my index to be able to play barre chords? It feels like my finger’s flesh is too soft to make enough pressure on the strings, and the joints are too protuberant leaving a big dead area on the middle of it. But I’m not sure if that’s the matter or I’m doing something wrong.
Hi Kerlon, Welcome to the community! And welcome to the F chord. This one will require patience. You don’t need callouses like you do on the tips of your fingers. That said, the skin on your index finger will toughen a bit over time. And yup, those knuckles and the space between them are frustrating. I’m still a beginner, and others may offer more specific guidance, but my advice is 1) watch and listen to this lesson multiple times, guitar in hand; 2) read, re-read , and practice the tips Justin writes on the website under the video pane; 3) watch the Nitsuj video for this. Also (I don’t recall if Justin mentions this) a good exercise is to start playing the shape at fret 5 rather than fret 1 - it’s a bit easier to press the strings down there. (Bonus - you’re actually playing an A chord!) Once you get the strings ringing clearly there, back up to fret 4, and practice there. This worked really well for me!
btw - love your profile picture! If you’re up for it, head over here and tell us a bit about your guitar journey - and how ol’ Fyodor influences your practice.
This was the “aha!” moment I needed, thank you!! I spent a few weeks on the module in hopes of having the barre F chord down before moving on. I couldn’t get the B string to ring out except for once maybe every 20 attempts. I strongly felt that it was close to “clicking” but I wasn’t finding the adjustment needed to make it happen, so I moved on to the next module, but it’d been keeping me up at night!
After reading through and following your suggestion of tilting the guitar away from my body (so that it’s properly perpendicular and I can’t see my fingers on the frets), the chord rang out effortlessly and consistently! I was putting SO much strength and tension into trying to make it work when I simply had the physics wrong and didn’t even realize. Tilting the guitar to its proper position made it so that tremendously LESS effort was needed to play the chord.
It’s also helped elevate my playing in general, as I knew that I’m to the point where I don’t need to look at my fingers while I play; I simply got into the habit of holding the guitar that way without realizing, and your comment helped to make me aware of that. Again, thank you!
I am so glad my old comment was able to help!
Hi Kerlon, welcome to the community forum. Justin mentions in the F chord lesson that you should not have the padded or fleshy part of the index finger flat on the fretboard when playing the F chord. Place your fingers on the fretboard for the F chord, then rotate your wrist slightly counter-clockwise and pull hand slightly towards the nut to roll the index finger onto the less padded part of the side of the index finger. It takes a lot of practice with slowly forming the chord. I’m still working on it. Also you will be learning more about playing the F chord in module 10.