Sustain and bar chords

[chadly]

I need some advice:

I started playing guitar about 6 months ago and am really starting to see some progress beyond the absolute basics. I know pretty much all of the open chords and have dabbled in some finger style patterns and some basic blues stuff. I'm now to the point where I want the simplest stuff to really sound good, it's not enough to just get the right chord. I can fluently change from chord to chord and easy sons are really starting to sound good. But there's one sitaution where that goes out the window; the F chord. Whenever I go to leave that chord the sound completely stops. There is no sustain when I lift the F chord to go to the next. How do I get that chord to keep ringing till the next chord? All of my other chords ring right till the next chord. It makes the F chord sound so in-musical.

[Bern]

As soon as you lift your fretting hand the sound or ring from any full barred chord will stop. There's nothing you can do about it.

[stanron]

Only open strings ring when you take your hands off. The only open string that is in an F chord is the A string. If you use that in an F chord it can help to cover the gap.

[frankhond]

Open strings are the key, plus some creativity. Where are you in the song and where are you going? Is there an open string that sounds right in between the chords as a bass or melody note, or just a harmonically suitable sound? Is there a note in the next or previous chord that is common to the barred f?

Other things to try: make a "rhytmic sound". Or dont put down/lift off the entire chord at once, change "in steps".

Strummers create a right hand momentum with interplay between muted, partial and full chords. When done right, you never notice the "holes". Silence is music too.

[JonPR]

Bern's right, there's nothing you can do about it. (And the open A string stanron mentions is not suitable for all F chords. In fact I'd say it's unsuitable for most.)

We find other ways round it, as frankhond says. Eg, if I have an F chord alternating with C (quite common), I'll keep one of the C notes held down, because the same finger is used for both chords. This may require alternative fingering for either chord.

Here's how I combine two fingerings of a C with a non-barre "lazy" F" (" === " = sustained note):

 C                   F
-0-------------------x--(mute with side of index)
-1- === index ==== --1-- index
-0-------------------2-- middle
-2----- middle ------3-- pinky
-3--==== ring ==== --3-- ring
-x-(mute with thumb)-1-- thumb (or continue to mute)
.
C/G                  F
-0-------------------x--(mute with side of index)
-1- === index ==== --1-- index
-0-------------------2-- middle
-2-----middle--------3-- pinky
-3---- pinky --------3-- ring
-3---- ring --------(1)- thumb (fret or mute)

The first one allows both C notes to sustain across the change, the 2nd one allows just the higher C to sustain. And the sustain works from F back to C, of course.
I like the 2nd one because middle ring and pinky move as a block, 1 string distance across. (I use that C/G form for pretty much every C chord. The low G sounds fine, and it saves having to mute the 6th.)
Sometimes I'll flatten the index to get the top F note as well, but it's not always necessary.

Sustaining that 2nd string C is also possible moving from Am to F and back (another common change).

If you really want or need to use the full F barre, it's acceptable in the key of C to hit open strings on the upstroke between C and F (or vice versa), to fill the gap while your fingers are moving to the new chord.
In fact, this is standard practice in the keys of C, G and D, where all open strings are in key, when changing between any pair of chords while strumming. The ear doesn't register the "non-chord", and it usually sounds better than muting everything while you change, which causes a silent gap. (Although of course silence between changes - muting - is a common creative choice too.)
The open string upstroke (between changes) can also sound good in bluesy tunes in keys of E or A, because the open strings contain the b7 and/or b3 of the key.

[chadly]

Thanks guys. Glad to know that I'm not doing anything wrong technique wise. It was interesting to read how different people approach getting into and out of the F chord.

[richard1]

See if an Fmaj7 will fit. You can let that one ring, and you can substitute it quite often for a regular F chord.

[Cobby]

When I first read this post I was a little puzzled since I'd never noticed the problem before. (not the first time I've failed to notice something about guitar playing!)

So, I remembered it just now and ran through a few random progressions with F in them - and *still* didn't notice any gaps. Hmmm? Then I tried playing just quarter note strums and lifting my fingers to go to the next chord way earlier than I normally do - (on 4 &, an eight note before the 1 beat of the next measure) Aha! I was quite surprised that 1) you can do that with most open chords and it sounds just fine. and 2) but not with the F chord. Finally there was that un-musical gap of which you speak.

Most of the advice you've gotten so far is along the lines of: there's nothing you can do about it - but you can try adding some open strings to the F chord. I think that's fine as a tide-me-over sort of work around.

But the real problem is that you're moving to the next chord too soon (it kinda of works for the open chords, but even then it's not the best practice) The solution is to just learn to hold that F chord (and the others too) for all it's worth until you're already starting the stroke for the next chord and then quickly change to that next chord - actually during the stroke.

When you exactly change depends on what chord you're going to next. For example I noticed that when changing from F to C I don't leave the F shape until my pick has actually struck the low C of the C chord and then I change to the C shape quickly - just barely ahead of my pick as it continues along the strings. If you're going to Bb of course, you've got to change a little sooner, but I was forming the Bb just almost exactly at the same moment my pick hits that low Bb on the stroke.

This is what I was doing -unconsciously -and it was why I was puzzled about the problem and not hearing any gaps in my playing when leaving the F chord. And being able to do that - like most things guitar - is just a matter of practice.

[ombudsman]

What I do in that situation is try to find one or two fingers from the first chord that can stay in position through the next chord, or that I can leave in place a little longer than the others even as I change left hand positions. The concept being that you don't need the whole chord to be sustained in order to smooth the transition by putting something in that gap, one or two notes will suffice to suggest the sustain of the whole chord. So you're basically faking open strings using fingered notes that are able to stay down.

Sometimes when this is not quite possible due to the new fingering shape I will even 'refinger' a note while it sounds in order to allow me to then pivot to the next left hand position without muting the note. This takes practice to not distract you from whatever you need to be playing next and also not push the note sharp when the second finger moves into position as the first finger is still holding down the same note.

The good news is that this can be an unconscious technique that you'll find yourself doing if you just pay attention to the sounds. I just noticed I was doing it one day. It's the sort of thing that makes sense during a solo slow tune or maybe a solo introduction; there probably wouldn't be a need to do it if you're playing with a band or doing something at a faster tempo.