The F Chord Lesson on JustinGuitar

Hi Sam @szed1, welcome to the community! And welcome to the F chord challenge. :smiling_face: : You’re correct that we each have unique anatomy. Could you post one or more photos of your current positioning? That will help folks here give you guidance. You might be doing fine, but you’re correct that it’s best to avoid the index finger hanging over the neck too much.

While you’re at it, consider heading over to the Introduce Yourself topic and tell us a bit about your guitar journey!

2 Likes

Are you having trouble with the A string (5th string), or the B string (2nd string)?

I ask, because difficulty with the B string Is far more common. And confusion about how the strings are numbered on the guitar is also quite common.

1 Like

Oops, yeah I meant the B, so the 2nd string not the 5th string.

1 Like

That’s absolutely brilliant! Am on day 1 of F chord.

1 Like

The mini F Chord is harder than the barre! At least on the bar I am only having issues on the B string, but the mini F the B and high e. After a few weeks am I okay if I move to the next module I. Grade two if I am still struggling?

1 Like

If you play the F as a full barre, try to place your index finger cleanly from the start. I also have played the F as a barre for years, but it was also a mini F except that I played the high E and B strings with the middle knuckle of my index finger. The tip of the index finger muted the low E string somewhere and it sounded reasonably good. Now I’m trying to learn the F cleanly and get the bass string to sound good and the bad index finger placement habits are annoying now.

1 Like

I tried that knuckle and I got it to ring out a few times. Tried my Epiphone Prophecy and had no issues including the mini. Electric is definitely easier.

1 Like

Hello @Jassent and welcome to the Community.
That amount of rotation is necessary and normal.
The need to make so much movement is one big reason that people often choose to play F-mini barre or the 5-string version F/C of the mini-barre when moving between C and F chords.
Long term, if your thumb allows, you can work towards fretting the low root note on 6th string with thumb and fingering a 4 or 5 string mini barre with fingers.
That means much less hand movement and wrist rotation between the C and F.

Roll your index finger anticlockwise a little so you have some of the bony outer edge and less of the fleshy middle fretting the strings.

Have you been rolling to the outer edge of your index or trying to press with the flat fleshy part? It is difficult but is not a power and strength technique but a finger manipulation task. :slight_smile:

3 Likes

The F Chord! AArrgg! Seems impossible right now. I can’t get my index finger to press down on strings 1, 2 and 6 at the same time… How is this possible?

WHOOPEE!

I got my new (8 months old) guitar set up professionally, and that EFin’ barre chord rang out.

I COULD NOT get the full barre F chord down, except with a capo. Two months in and at least one string would be a-buzzin’. Somewhere in the community I read (THANK YOU community) that if the action were too high, that that could be contributing to the suffering.
I decided drop the $$ to have a professional set up.

POST PROFESSIONAL SET UP: BARRE CHORDS POSSIBLE!

BONUS:
I can use a much lighter touch on all the open chords (now to un-train the unnecessary pressure…)

thought I’d share in case you too might have too high action contributing to troubles.

4 Likes

I just get luck. I think it’d make me struggling for weeks but I can play this chord in the first time =]]] Dont know why, maybe my index finger has something different from others.

1 Like

Recently gotten onto the F Chord with the beginner course, i was able to play the darn thing yesterday unwillingly but now my first finger is a problem again. When i manage to make the B string ring out, the low E string becomes muted. I try make sure my finger is bent and not straight, but i cant manage to put pressure on both points at once. And if i do, its because my wrist is bent, which justin advises not to do, and because im putting lots of pressure on it with both my thumb and arm.

Any tips? Good videos you could suggest that could help me? Lmk if my description is confusing

HI Nojus,
That’s ok that the E is muted. It will still be a F chord.
You can play F chord several ways.
4 strings, hold the e and B string down with index finger, mid. finger on the A note of the G string. Ring finger on the F note of the D string.
If ya wanna play 5 strings, switch your ring finger to play C on the A string and pinky to play the F on the D string.
Then there’s the barre which it sounds like your trying to do.
Try rolling your index (barre) finger towards the side a little bit. So that the creases in your fingers are tilted away from the strings. The side of your finger don’t have them creases and will allow you make your barre cleaner.
These all F chords I have described.

Take your time, do it one finger at a time and make it ring clean. Then add in another finger.

The F chord is hard. Keep trying, you’ll get it.

I’m pretty sure Justin has a lesson on the F chord. His explanation will be better than mine.
https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/the-dreaded-f-chord-bc-161

1 Like

I had that problem and it went away with continued practice. It was just a matter of building up strength in the small muscles of hand, forearm, even shoulder. I know where the muscles are because they all became a little sore as they grew!

I’ve been struggling with the F chord for over a month. I could get it to sound ok if I used a death grip and strangled the guitar neck; but that wouldn’t last long as my hand would get tired and I would lose the grip. Especially on the B and high E strings.

Then a couple of days ago, while browsing YouTube, I came across one of Justin’s old videos “Fail Proof Guide to Easy Barre Chords”… it’s pretty much the same material as in the current lesson videos, but there was one quick thing that he mentioned about the barre placement:

Put the barre right on top of the fret. Then roll it slightly sideways.”

I was doing the roll before, but I guess I was locating the barre too far back from the fret. Once I started putting the barre on top of the fret, then rolling my finger, it sounded great and I didn’t have to do the death grip! Just made it through two practice sessions where the F chord sounds good, but I still have to work on the chord changes.

Posting this because I’m super excited about making progress, and hopefully this might help someone that is struggling.

Scott

4 Likes

Welcome Scott and glad you are nailing it. In the old intermediate course Justin did a full 20 minute lesson on the E shaped barre chord. Took me 6 months and a good set up on the dodgy acoustic I was using back then to nail it. Always barre on the edge of the finger and never place it flat on the keyboard. Pull your elbow back to assist with the pressure needed to fret. Once you’ve got this, the world is your oyster.

1 Like