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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → "F" chord is now outlawed
I think maybe for writing your own songs, there's a tendency to shy away from F. The guy in my band has just presented me with a new song, with a bridge of F and rapidly up to Dm ......I can play barre chords and I find that it's much easier to get back to the F as a barre after I've hit Dm as a barre. If only he'd written the bridge as Dm, F I'd be sooo happy.
hi swansneck.
there's an easy way to play between those two chords...
think of C to A minor...use your index finger to barre the 5th frett and use your pinky to complete the chords. check out the the chord chart for the exact fingering. with a little practise you'll find it easy, i use it all the time, not just for F-Dm, but if i'm playing in the key of G i may use the C "shape" to play a D chord.
phill
When I started playing in 1973 F chord was a nightmare. Years later I took up the Banjo guess what my F chord nightmare returned.
Welcome to the forums wagonwheel. Are you an Old Crow Medicine Show fan? I've been working on the song by that title for some while and find it incredibly difficult to use their rhythms and sing it. I can sing it and use something close to but not quite their rhythms.
Tommy,
I retired from the Army and I can play the F chord about 4 or 5 different ways. I ain't scared.. you shouldn't be either. It's just another chord, just like all the others. Keep plugging at it, you'll get there..
F as a Barre is doubly hard because it's so close to the nut. I think that it's a really good test of a guitar's setup if you can barre a chord on the first fret. Try putting a capo on the first fret and if it makes a barred F easier then it may well be worth getting the guitar's set up checked.
I say this because I just got my guitar back from having the setup done and it is amazing how much easier the barre chords seem. Especially F and B flat.
Can't help with the fingering though, only practice can do that!
A word of advice on based on my experience of practising to get barre chords to work. Always follow a song you can't play very well with one that you can. I found that I would try and try and try get it wrong every time. By the end I was close to throwing the guitar and got quite disillusioned about how bad I was. The upshot of this was that I would not pick up the guitar sometimes. Bad Bad Bad!!
In the end what did it for me was to play songs with barres in them in between songs that I could play well and to just play them through once. Sing along and if you miss the chord just carry on and get to the end then switch to a three chord belter that you can play with your eyes closed. Suddenly I found that I could just play them without really noticing and still retained my enthusiasm to play.
Best of luck everyone.
The way I play a full F fairly easily is by barring the first 2 strings with my index finger, middle finger on the 3rd string and the ring finger barring the 4th and 5th. The side of my thumb holds down the top 6th 
It is good to ressurect these older posts sometimes as it brings valuable information to the attention of newcomers who have not seen it before, so don't berate yourself.
Roger
Indeed. A fresh perspective is always welcome. We're all in this together, for the love of music and the love of playing!!
i agree it took me forever to learn to flow with that chord i still hate b though hahaa. i use a power chord for b haha
small hands and carpel tunnel syndrome in both hands has me hampered. I can only play for about 30 minutes at a time before my hands go numb.
Awfull handicap. I hope you will recover soon.
Well, struggling with F as well, so far the only way how I seem to get all four strings actually ringing and none mute is by using 4 fingers instead of three, have to practice more to see if I can actually manage to change to F in a reasonable amount of time. (or is this considered a rape of guitar/my hand/etc?)
Keep going Still_Larva! We have all had to take this pain at some point. I don't think I know a guitarist that doesn't struggle with at least one chord. Almost everyone has problems with barre chords at first too. You say that you can get it going with four fingers? Well if that works for you go for it. There is no right or wrong way as far as I'm concerned. I "cheat" at a few chords but if it means I can play the song I'm happy!
Keep practising though, you will get it. Honest!!
You are exactly right Greatbigdave. There are no firm rules when making a particular chord. As you say, if you can make it work with more or less fingers and it sounds good, you are right.
You are exactly right Greatbigdave. There are no firm rules when making a particular chord. As you say, if you can make it work with more or less fingers and it sounds good, you are right.
Thats what my guitar teacher also says. If it works, it works. More then a few chords have alternative fingerings, it's just finding out what works for you. As Duke Ellington said, "If it sounds good, it is good."
I fully agree with you on the b-chord regard because it is physically impossible to put three fingers in such a order and on such a stretch in ONE SiNgLe ThReT!!! haha good one there!:P
F chord is illegal, but B chord is evil. EVIL!
F chord is illegal, but B chord is evil. EVIL!
No it's not, it's just misunderstood! 
I believe there is a reason it's called the "F" chord!!
Yes I agree whole heartedly that the "F Major" chord is a tuff one to learn. I almost gave up the guitar over it. My teacher called it the F..in chord. I was actually able to play an "F" barre chord before I learned to play the regular F chord. I have played for two years now and practice and play the regular F and the Barre chord F both in many songs. I like the deeper sound of the Barre chord F but the regular F chord sounds good and comes in handy lots of times..... Don't give up. It took me two years to get here and now I wonder what the big deal was. But it does take PRACTICE PRACTICE and more PRACTICE. Now I will tackle that damned B major chord.....That should take me about 4 years. A Bonus is that both the Regular F chord and the Barre chord F are moveable chord shapes! VERY IMPORTANT!
Yes I agree whole heartedly that the "F Major" chord is a tuff one to learn. I almost gave up the guitar over it. My teacher called it the F..in chord. I was actually able to play an "F" barre chord before I learned to play the regular F chord. I have played for two years now and practice and play the regular F and the Barre chord F both in many songs. I like the deeper sound of the Barre chord F but the regular F chord sounds good and comes in handy lots of times..... Don't give up. It took me two years to get here and now I wonder what the big deal was. But it does take PRACTICE PRACTICE and more PRACTICE. Now I will tackle that damned B major chord.....That should take me about 4 years. A Bonus is that both the Regular F chord and the Barre chord F are moveable chord shapes! VERY IMPORTANT!
I actually started with F and C since they work together so much,,, then learnt the Barr Version,,
NOw B,, I just play barred. it works, even if I am really playing Bm it gets by !!! LOLOL
I came to this part of the forum just to ask exactly how it is humanly possible to play the F chord.
Tommydones' comment..............was priceless! I wanna meet him and shake his hand as I wouldn't have been able to put it better.
well......back to trying to get my finger to hold those two strings down...........
I hate to say this but I have several 11 year old students, both girls and boys, who can play F (XX3211) and some (X33211). Full barre chord soon for the latter. OK the 'E' string is usually deadened to start with but with a bit of encouragement (and plenty of practice ) it usually soon remedied.
Roger
Once you master the barred F and B chords the whole neck opens up to you so keep at it peeps, it'll be worth it in the long run!
Jerry
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → "F" chord is now outlawed
