The F Chord Lesson on JustinGuitar

I can comfortably (more or less) get the notes ringing out clearly on all strings except 1 and 2. Those seem to be giving me some trouble. I imagine it’ll just take a bit more patience and brute force to get those ringing out clearly though when I do get them ringing out it’s always one at a time and never at the same time. Pretty frustrating

Hi @Stuartw

I would rephrase the examples you mentioned. An open G chord and a 6th string root G barre chord are the same in the respect that both are G chords, i.e. have the same notes in them (G, B, D). However, they indeed sound different as barre chords by definition have no open strings which would vibrate differently.

If you check out the fretboard, even the same note will sound slightly different on each string despite having the same pitch. Also, when you learn the various triad shapes, you will find that each inversion of the same chord (depending which string the lowest note is on) sounds somewhat different.

Why would i use this variation of f chord over any other easier alternatives?

This is what I don’t get with this guitar playing thing. I would expect two chords with the same name to sound the same. If they sound different shouldn’t they be something different to just G?

Why would I play a barre chord and not just an open chord. Perhaps I looking at this too logically!!

See my response above. Doesn’t really make sense that two chords with the same name sound different.

Not even sure what they are, or what “each inversion of the same chord” means at this point in time. Not got to that in BG2.

I’d say it’s a bit like baking. You might use a given brand of cocoa powder with x % of fat content for your chocolate cake, whereas your neighbour uses a different brand with a different fat content. Both of you will bake a tasty chocolate cake and, depending on the ingredients, they may still not taste exactly the same.

I wish I could answer in musical terms, but I’m also not at that level yet. :slight_smile:

Stuart

When you play a barre chord it will sound similar to an open chord of the same name, as the index finger bar represents the nut, so the notes on the string are in the same order but may be higher.

But like when you sing a scale Doe Rei Me etc the Doe at the end is an octave higher than the one you started with but still the same note. Same with chord naming. Play an open A chord its an A. Play it in a different part of the neck with a root an octave higher than the open A, its still an A. Its just that all three notes that make up the triad A C# E are 8 notes higher.

Inversions are different as the A C# E that is your A Major can be played C# E A or E A C#.
It still A major as it contain all the notes in the chord/triad but they are in a different order so there is a subtle difference in the sound.

That is why you can have the same chord name that played all over the neck. As long as it contains the chord tones ie A C# E (1st 3rd 5th) for A major its A major.

Does that help ?

Cheers

Toby
:sunglasses:

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Hello @o0Loiter0o
There is no open position F chord. Nor B chord. That is why barres are needed.
Cheers :smiley:
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide

Well folks, after about a year of consistent practice, a few minutes daily, I am finally able to play the F chord without any buzzing or muting any of the strings. I can’t transition from and to the F chord cleanly yet, I am able to at least play it without a struggle. Moral of the story is, don’t give up!

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Welcome to the community @Adam_Terry !

And ain’t that the truth!

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Hello @Adam_Terry and welcome to the Community.
You have hit it on the head right there.
People can and do get chords such as E and D working great after a few days / weeks.
The F barre chord can take months and months to be effectively working in progressions and songs.
Patience is key.

Hope that helps.
Cheers :smiley:
| Richard_close2u | JustinGuitar Official Guide

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I really like Justin’s no pressure approach to the F-Chord, introducing it early and not expecting huge things initially.

After a week and a half I’ve managed to get the F chord out more often than not now, but I’m still awfully slow to get the fingers into position. So part of the battle has been won.

I’ve been working on the F chord for a few months now and have run into similar issues, contorting my left arm into uncomfortable positions, using a death grip on the neck trying to force it, even doing hand exercises to try and strengthen my hand / fingers.

I am finally able to get the chord to ring out through trial and error. Two things that helped me have already been mentioned, moving the neck a little farther out (I had been holding the guitar almost parallel to my body) and holding the guitar in a more perpendicular position (tilting the guitar to see what you are doing makes it harder to fret the chord).

I discovered when I couldn’t get the B or high E string to ring out it was due to pushing my wrist closer to the guitar, probably in an attempt to get the low E string fretted. When I pulled my arm back the B and E string started to ring out. Then I would use a little more pressure with the tip of my index finger to get the low E ringing.

The biggest thing that I recently stumbled across (and Justin mentions this several times) was switching to an electric guitar. All my efforts have been on my acoustic guitar since that is more my style of playing. I finally got to the lesson on power chords so I pulled out my electric and found the power chords easy to do and then I tried the full F chord and I nailed it easily on the first try. I took my hand away and tried again and again I was able to easily fret the F chord.

It’s still difficult on my acoustic so I have to keep practicing on that but I’m using the electric to help me get the proper form, speed up my chord progressions to the F chord and build up the muscle memory.

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I’ve been practicing F for a few days and noticed I was able to ring out each note more consistently on my metal pick, but use both to make sure I’m not pressing harder or less than so I know I’m actually getting the proper grip, which I’m not one hundred percent I am, yet, but I’m still perfecting.

the mini barre… is impossible in my humble opinion. i justr cant get my fingers to bend on that small bar. if i barre three stings, i can do it… but not just barring the B,E strings.

The tip of my index finger touches the G string when I do this. But so what? You are fretting the G string in the second fret.

@Topher39

I start with a ‘C’ chord shape and then drop the pad of the index finger onto the high E string…

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Yo all of those struggling; don’t forget to move the shape to somewhere between fret 4 an 8 or so first. it helped me a lot when it took me weeks to get a decent barre grip!

You need less force there and you can even practice by doing the barre for 4 strums and then move it up or down the freatboard 1 fret on every fret (thus moving the whole shape up or down a fret).

It will practice your finger placement in a minimal way, focussing on quality of the whole grip itself rather than the acual placement of all fingers. you’ll learn to find some doage in your strength that way.

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Well I can read the words but not sure I understand exactly what is going on. Haven’t got to this yet on the lessons, but obviously need to do more theory!