Does the "F" Chord CHALLENGE EVERYONE?

[powerpopper]

Originally Posted by MikeVB

Mindnumbing repetition, and then one day you'll literally lay your hand across the fretboard while absentmindedly strumming and realize the F chord is your minion.

Or put another way, you will find your guitar is an ocean and the F chord is your beach.

[Bern]

There is no challenge in playing the barred F chord. There are difficult chords, but the F chord is not one of them. Having read countless F chords threads, it seems to me most people talk themselves into the impossibility.

[jt3]

Listen my man, if you're happy with your guitars go on line, find the best guitar guy or repair shop in the area and get a professional set up. Tell them what you're attempting to do. These folks are magic ! It's like getting a new guitar with great action. About $100 but well worth it. Trust me just go do it and your playing ability will improve tenfold.

[Cue Zephyr]

Originally Posted by Bern

There is no challenge in playing the barred F chord. There are difficult chords, but the F chord is not one of them. Having read countless F chords threads, it seems to me most people talk themselves into the impossibility.

The Fadd9 from Purple Rain comes to mind. That Ebadd9 is a little bit tricky too, but it's nothing compared to that F...

Originally Posted by jt3

Listen my man, if you're happy with your guitars go on line, find the best guitar guy or repair shop in the area and get a professional set up. Tell them what you're attempting to do. These folks are magic ! It's like getting a new guitar with great action.

Mine has. It's had warranty work done with a nut upgrade. The new nut was actually cut taller but the action overall improved significantly. Then again, I own a Taylor, both nut and saddle can be cut taller and still yield a lovely action.

Originally Posted by devellis

Is it? Because the string leaves the nut at an upward angle relative to the plane of the frets (because the saddle is higher than the plane of the frets), I would think it would clear the upper frets. For example, if you capo at the first fret, then the "nut" (i.e., the first fret) is on the plane of the frets but everything works out okay. I could be wrong and as a practical matter I suspect that nut slots are a bit higher than the plane of the frets but I'm not sure it is an absolute necessity. Not trying to split hairs, just sorta thinking it through out loud.

Regarding Bm and the like, my breakthrough moment was when I realized I could take an F-shape chord and just move my middle, ring, and pinky finger down to get a minor. The obvious example is E and Am but with the index as a barre (full or partial), you've got a useful movable minor shape. I know this isn't news to most folks and I don't know why it took me so long to discover it. But it finally clicked. So, play F#, drop those three fingers down a string, and there's Bm. Comes in handy for the chorus of Hotel California.

If I remember correctly, it's mostly for clean fretting at the second or third fret. Try fretting the strings at the third fret and press down on the string behind where you're fretting, you'll feel it hit the fret behind it meaning that it leaves a little gap when you're fretting. Both of my Taylors have this.

I'd like to hear more on this though.

If I read your little 'trick' description correctly, you're leaving your index finger barring all six strings. This may be a bit inconvenient if you want to get clean chords with the root in the bass, but it does open up a new possibility if you're playing with alternating bass lines either fingerpicked or strummed. That's what I use that voicing for anyway.

[Smilemaker]

Once I was able to do it, the fun started when I began trying to change to it fast enough for song use. I'm still working on it.

Originally Posted by Bern

There is no challenge in playing the barred F chord. There are difficult chords, but the F chord is not one of them. Having read countless F chords threads, it seems to me most people talk themselves into the impossibility.

True - If I was a new guitar player and I stumbled across this thread, I would give up and take up knitting.

The full barre chord is just a simple skill that, like every other chord and position, needs to be studied and practiced. Then after a while you wonder why it was such a big deal.

[TomiPaldanius]

I find F barre chord one of the most difficult ones to learn. Reason is that sometimes students don't have well setup guitars. It can be the hardest place to put your hand.

If everyone would have the knowledge of classical guitar masters and use of the hands own weight and earths gravity, there would not be these questions that much.

You can actually play that chord without thumb support. You need a balance of different forces. Force you need to lift your hand should me minimal and the earths gravity (=hands own weight) and guitars small angle will give you enough force to play that chord with very small effort.

I guess people who struggle with these don't know what they are doing and practice wrong way = waste their time.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by TomiPaldanius

If everyone would have the knowledge of classical guitar masters and use of the hands own weight and earths gravity, there would not be these questions that much.

You can actually play that chord without thumb support. You need a balance of different forces. Force you need to lift your hand should me minimal and the earths gravity (=hands own weight) and guitars small angle will give you enough force to play that chord with very small effort.

I guess people who struggle with these don't know what they are doing and practice wrong way = waste their time.

Yeah, I have heard this one before. Unless you play laying on your back gravity actually pulls your hand away from the neck. The fingers and thumb are both faster and more precise.

[Beetlescott]

Originally Posted by saxonblue

At one stage it was a pain, the years helped me through it. As others have said rotate the index finger back toward the nut for better fretting. More often than not I just bar the 2 treble strings & do the E shape +1 fret using the remaining fingers with the added option of thumbing over if I need that low F on the bass string. That could be a challenge on your 12 string though .

I'm sorry, can you elaborate this for me?

[Beetlescott]

Originally Posted by saxonblue

At one stage it was a pain, the years helped me through it. As others have said rotate the index finger back toward the nut for better fretting. More often than not I just bar the 2 treble strings & do the E shape +1 fret using the remaining fingers with the added option of thumbing over if I need that low F on the bass string. That could be a challenge on your 12 string though .

Okay i'm showing my ignorance here, but I have to know how to use the thumb? What do you mean by "Thumbing it over"?

[The Old Anglo]

Originally Posted by TomiPaldanius

I find F barre chord one of the most difficult ones to learn. Reason is that sometimes students don't have well setup guitars. It can be the hardest place to put your hand.

If everyone would have the knowledge of classical guitar masters and use of the hands own weight and earths gravity, there would not be these questions that much.

You can actually play that chord without thumb support. You need a balance of different forces. Force you need to lift your hand should me minimal and the earths gravity (=hands own weight) and guitars small angle will give you enough force to play that chord with very small effort.

I guess people who struggle with these don't know what they are doing and practice wrong way = waste their time.

Listed in my Book under "Fat Chance".

[Beetlescott]

Originally Posted by Fireside_Guitar

I notice you play a Yamaha FG700ms Beetlescott. Like others I would ask has the guitar been setup at all?

I just got a new FG700s and it`s being setup right now...the nut needed work as well as a pretty good truss rod adjustment(added a bone saddle as well). When I brought the new guitar home I wanted to take it camping that weekend but the action out of the box wouldn`t allow me to play comfortably for more than 10 minutes. F chords were horrible to play on it out of the box.

I'm not sure what you mean with Set Up? Neither of my guitars have had anything done except I changed the strings on my Yamaha. I wonder why it was never mentioned where I bought it.

[Bern]

Tip of the week...if anyone uses the amount of time it takes reading through 103 F chord posts, you should be able to play the chord.

[Mbroady]

Originally Posted by Bern

Tip of the week...if anyone uses the amount of time it takes reading through 103 F chord posts, you should be able to play the chord.

LOL

Guitar is part physical, part emotion and part mental,
The f chord will come just give it time (and muscle practice) Let the emotional and mental part take priority and the physical part will fall into place.

And get your guitar set up so it is easy to play.
even cheap guitars can be set up to play easy. If not then the guitar eventualy has to go.

[Beetlescott]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Great answer Glenn.

Scott - I had the same problem as you and it did take a while before I could play an F chord. Sometimes I felt like it would be impossible but with practice it all comes together eventually ... when depends upon the individual. Good luck!

Thanks again for your input. Lately when I practice songs which use the "F" chord, I have been playing the chord leaving the #1 string, (high E) open. When I strum, I just try to avoid that open string, I find myself trying to deaden it when possible. I think it sounds fine on most of the songs I'm playing, but I am still devoting some of my practice time on playing it properly. By leaving off the one string, am I defeating the purpose? There are 2 particular songs that have the F Chord that I love. One is Elvis Presley's I Cant Help Falling in Love with you, the other is one of my all time favorite Monkees songs Shades of Gray, which is a perfect song. I'm sure most of you have never heard of it, as it was an album song, but it is beautiful on an acoustic guitar.
Again, if by playing it "wrong", is that defeating my future progress?