The Dreaded 'F' Chord

helloworld
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Thu Oct 01, 2009 11:50 am

AndyT wrote:
And no, 'F' does not stand for that other word.
I can now make a nice clean F chord almost every single time. But I can not change to it fast enough to use it while playing.

I think my D chord is getting worse in the process.
I'm pretty convinced it's called the F chord for a reason.

Which F are you referring too? The big bar F, or the little F? Changing to C from little F is very easy if you think of it in the correct way. All you're doing is moving middle and ring fingers up 1 string each and rolling your index finger up a little to expose the 1st string. You don't even need to lift the index finger off the board to make the change and the middle and ring fingers shouldn't come more than a hairs width off the strings to make the move.

Changing to C from Big F is not too hard either as long as you think about the change before you make it. If you make your Big F with your 3rd finger (ring finger) on the 5th string then it doesn't need to move at all to change to C. Finger 2 (middle) only comes up 1 string and finger 1 (index) just slides down to string 2 without lifting it off the fret board. The key is not lifting the fingers too far off the fret board. I still haven't mastered the switch from big F to C even though I can visualize it and explain it. My problem is that my pinky keeps wanting to do something instead of just coming off the string and it messes with my head.

Not quite sure your D is suffering in the change though.

Now if only I could play as well as I can visualize it. Congrats on mastering a clean F and good luck with that clean transition.


rcsnydley
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Thu Oct 01, 2009 11:50 am

fjvdb wrote:

One note of warning: though this may sound crazy, you have to be somewhat careful about over doing it with the left hand when first really hammering on learning the barre chords. More than one person has told me of having to take a couple weeks off of playing, and I have felt the beginnings of some lingering hand pains myself.

Cheers.
Good point, if you ever feel pain stop immediately and rest, come back to it later.


goldleaf
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Thu Oct 01, 2009 12:25 pm

I picked one of my guitars I haven't played in a couple months, it was one that I took into my Luthier to have setup & I couldn't believe the difference in playing barre chords especially that ol F. I took my other 2 guitars back and told him I want them to play like this. Point is the setup can make a difference especially on barre chords. Hey it a way to buy yourself out of a problem although it dosen't address getting the fingers to go exactly where they should be, but if your action on the guitar isn't set as low as you can go withoug getting a buzz barre chords, especially the F is going to be more difficlt, even if you do get it down you won't be able to play as long without the fingers getting cramps or just plaing tired. I know there is no way around practice, but setup does make anywhere from a small to a large difference, and some people that strum hard need to have the action higher to prevent buzz. If you really want to cheat, tune down all srings 1/2 step and put a capo on the 1st fret. Gary


BigBear
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Thu Oct 01, 2009 12:48 pm

Andy- I think one problem with the "Poor Man's F Chord" (never heard that one before!) is that you really need to use the dreaded baseball grip to play it. Then the D chord is a classic cupped grip chord, so your hand position changes dramatically in the span of a 1/4 or 1/8th note.

A barred F will work but it isn't going to be much faster than the regular F for getting to the D. I agree with the other posters that there is no magic trick for this transition except practice.

I must have played this for too long because it never even occurred to me it was a problem until you mentioned it. But now I see how you could get hung up on it. The one that is killing me right now is the G chord in a dropped D tuning like the first chord in Still You Turn Me On. I think it would be a lot easier if I had smaller hands.

Good luck buddy! You'll get it soon! :cheer:


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neverfoundthetime
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Thu Oct 01, 2009 1:22 pm

"Poor Man's F Chord" (never heard that one before!) i
That's because I just made it up! If I could have afforded years of lessons before I'd have the real deal by now. The up side is: Now a real deal F chord only cost £19.95! Thanks to TG :lol:


AndyT
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Thu Oct 01, 2009 9:23 pm

Yes, the real answer here is to just do more and more practice over and over and over...


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