F Barre Chord

[Smilemaker]

Been playing for about three months now and loving it! I am now at the F barre chord. I know that there are different ways to play the F chord, but I would like to go ahead and get the "barring" part down because It seems beneficial for the future for other applications. At present, I can get the "E-shape" with my 2,3, and 4 fingers and I can get my 1 finger to bar all six strings and have a good sound. However, when I try to do them both at the same time, the B string is always muted. I have heard that it just takes repetition and practice and I am willing to do so. Does anyone have any strengthening exercises you recommend for making barre chords more predictable?

[slinco]

...........

[walternewton]

Originally Posted by Smilemaker

I can get my 1 finger to bar all six strings and have a good sound.

One thing to remember is that when playing that chord your first finger does not need to cleanly fret all 6 strings - the 5th, 4th and 3rd strings are covered by your other fingers - perhaps thinking about the "bar" as really only needing to fret the outermost strings (6th, 2nd, and 1st) and experimenting with your first finger's placement, curvature, whether you're using the "pads" or more the side of your finger etc. will help find a workable position.

[Snapper3]

The muted B string usually comes from someone making a barre chord with their finger joint on the B string. Be sure you have plenty of space (gap) under the neck with your hand and raise your index finger a little higher up to make the joint miss the B string. Also, barre with the side of your finger more than trying to barre with your finger flat. Hope this makes a difference for you.

[daza152]

I would love to help and maybe I should but, I would hate to rob you of working it out for yourself, which I did and what a revelation it was, there was dancing in the streets....ok just me. It is meerly but practice makes per....very good. Keep at it and remember its no rush and just enjoy the journey, we tend to want to advance quickly when learning and that had an affect on me, instead of "Really" mastering my open chords went to barre chords as soon as I could walk, so to speak, and now realise there are many great songs out there that were written with just simple chords........The F chord....I'll tell you I got it on barre form long before I got it as in 1st position barring the high e and b strings with index finger...you know the one...but now have that one nailed as well, good on me!!!

Hey best of luck on your endeavours and like I said enjoy the trip along the way take time to smell the c chord (figuratively speaking).

[pallec]

Originally Posted by walternewton

One thing to remember is that when playing that chord your first finger does not need to cleanly fret all 6 strings - the 5th, 4th and 3rd strings are covered by your other fingers - perhaps thinking about the "bar" as really only needing to fret the outermost strings (6th, 2nd, and 1st) and experimenting with your first finger's placement, curvature, whether you're using the "pads" or more the side of your finger etc. will help find a workable position.

I would not recommend that approach.

You would also like to be able to play e.g. minor and 7th versions of the e-shape barre chord. Not learning to barre all 6 strings with your fitst finger, will get you in to trouble later on.

Keep at it, if you practice the F-barre chord 15 minutes each day for 3-4 months, it will become second nature :-)

[Davis Webb]

After 45 years of playing I still hate the F barre chord. I hardly ever use it to be honest. A regular F works fine. I do hit B flat chords on that fret, but its alot easier.

[pgilmor]

Originally Posted by pallec

I would not recommend that approach.

You would also like to be able to play e.g. minor and 7th versions of the e-shape barre chord. Not learning to barre all 6 strings with your fitst finger, will get you in to trouble later on.

Keep at it, if you practice the F-barre chord 15 minutes each day for 3-4 months, it will become second nature :-)

...and I strongly disagree with this approach. The more strings you fret solidly, the more tension you exert with your fretting hand, and the quicker you wear out. He is correct in that you need to be able to play these variations, but if not needed, don't waste the energy fretting strings that don't need to sound.

The big trick (IMO) to barre chords and not tiring out your fretting hand is to do as little work as possible, and that means not worrying about strings that are held down by other fingers and do let up the pressure during chord changes. Press down when you need to, but not until then.

[pallec]

Originally Posted by pgilmor

...and I strongly disagree with this approach. The more strings you fret solidly, the more tension you exert with your fretting hand, and the quicker you wear out. He is correct in that you need to be able to play these variations, but if not needed, don't waste the energy fretting strings that don't need to sound.

The big trick (IMO) to barre chords and not tiring out your fretting hand is to do as little work as possible, and that means not worrying about strings that are held down by other fingers and do let up the pressure during chord changes. Press down when you need to, but not until then.

Well, if we all agreed, it would be a boring world...

IMO learning the right barre fretting technique (pressing down ALL 6 strings) will also ensure that you don't need to press hard to make all strings ring out clearly.

Trust me, doing 15-20 minutes of barre chords exercises each days for a couple of months, will give you enough finger strength to play barre chords for hours without wearing out.

In my world, there are no short cuts. Learn the real thing from the beginning, it takes longer, but will pay off BIG time later on

[edman]

Make sure your guitar is setup properly.

Many people struggle with the F barre chord because their action is too high at the nut.

[ipl]

Originally Posted by Davis Webb

After 45 years of playing I still hate the F barre chord. I hardly ever use it to be honest. A regular F works fine. I do hit B flat chords on that fret, but its alot easier.

I'm sure there are many ways of playing an F, but can I ask what you call a 'regular' F? Everywhere I've seen shows the 6-string barre at the 1st fret as the 'default' (and I've never really learnt to play it properly)...

[mchalebk]

Originally Posted by ipl

I'm sure there are many ways of playing an F, but can I ask what you call a 'regular' F? Everywhere I've seen shows the 6-string barre at the 1st fret as the 'default' (and I've never really learnt to play it properly)...

I suspect they mean the 4-string version with the 2-finger barre:

XX3211

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Smilemaker

Been playing for about three months now and loving it! I am now at the F barre chord. I know that there are different ways to play the F chord, but I would like to go ahead and get the "barring" part down because It seems beneficial for the future for other applications. At present, I can get the "E-shape" with my 2,3, and 4 fingers and I can get my 1 finger to bar all six strings and have a good sound. However, when I try to do them both at the same time, the B string is always muted. I have heard that it just takes repetition and practice and I am willing to do so. Does anyone have any strengthening exercises you recommend for making barre chords more predictable?

Hi Smilemaker...
You may need to change the position of the index finger forming the ''barre'' being careful that the 2nd string does not fall in a joint.

Also, you might want to take a quick look at these three 1 minute videos I made for my students on barres and see if you find anything helpful in them.

where is the pressure - CLiCK

Above and behind - CLiCK

From the front - CLiCK

Hope this helps...

[flybynight]

This is actually one of the harder barre chords to get comfortable with. Joni Mitchell used to avoid it because she found it so difficult.

My opinion, for what it's worth, is that practicing F barre is a great way to build hand strength and the more you practice the easier it becomes. Throw in C-shaped barres on the first and third fret and all of a sudden you've got a melody you can play around and work with so that practicing the F is not so much much like drudgery. Make practice fun I say!

Also, positioning is important - make sure you're first finger is positioned right behind the nut for a good seal on all the strings - that way you don't have to put so much strength into pushing down to get all the strings to sound.

Good luck with this

[Smilemaker]

Thank you all!