The Dreaded 'F' Chord

AndyT
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Thu Oct 01, 2009 2:50 am

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.


tovo
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Thu Oct 01, 2009 4:23 am

I'm hearing you Andy. I picked up Barre chords relatively painlessly in terms of getting them sounding clean but fingering them quickly during a song is another issue. Why do you think it's affected your D chord?


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neverfoundthetime
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Thu Oct 01, 2009 4:47 am

Yeah FFFFFFFFFFFFFF! Neil urged my on a video response to Tuesday Afternoon to try barring the G F C swing time part. OMG that is so hard to do... and I had the poor man's f down so well! AS Andy says, I can get the F down but the subsequent change to C is a bummer.


rcsnydley
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Thu Oct 01, 2009 5:23 am

Over the last year I have finally got barre chords down (it only took me 30+ years). What I did was to almost entirely abandon open chords and try to figure out every song as played using barre chords exclusively. This really helped getting them down after which I then started mixing them with open chords to facilitate going back and forth between the two.

Now I play through the song and figure out the best way to play it (barre and/or open chords). It may be for ease of playing or to get the chord voicings that work for my voice.

So try playing every song using just barre chords for a while, then mix them in with open chords. You will find the barre chords start to become easier and you will also discover some neat ways to play your favorite songs.

Ric


suziko
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Thu Oct 01, 2009 7:51 am

Ric,

That's a great suggestion! I like that some of the songs Neil has introduced lately (or maybe it's just the ones I've watched lately) have had alternate fingerings for chords: an open choice and a barred choice. Susie Q and (I think?) Born on a Bayou come to mind.

One thing I wish this site had is a page that shows you all the different fingerings for chords: the open version (if a chord has one) then all the barred versions up the neck. There are other sites with this information, but I'd rather just stay on one page when I'm playing my guitar.


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neverfoundthetime
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Thu Oct 01, 2009 8:12 am

Yeah its a good suggestion Rick.... there goes my excuses for not using too many barres! :angry:


reiver
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Thu Oct 01, 2009 8:24 am

I think that the key to mastering these changes is repitition, repitition ........

Unfortunately I find simply sitting going through these chord changes a bit tedious, so I try to find a song or passage from a song that will allow me to work on the change I'm trying to master - at the same time I feel like I'm learning part of a song. It works for me anyway.

The bridge to Alone by Heart (the bit that goes "And the night goes by so very slow....")is an F C F C F C F G C pattern at a nice easy beat. (though if you're playing along with Anne and Nancy I think you'll need a capo at the first fret)

An F to D change may be harder to find - but there are a million F to Dm changes, Dm being the relative minor. Try The intro and verses of Marie's the Name (of his latest flame) by Elvis, slowed down a bit if you need to.

Hope this helps

r


reiver
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Thu Oct 01, 2009 8:27 am

Another thought

D to F#m is a pleasant change that may also be a nice half-way house to mastery of the full F chord

r


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Music Junkie
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Thu Oct 01, 2009 9:20 am

"I can get the "F Shape" barre chords down pretty good now, but the "B Shape barre chords" are still killing me. To get the F chord down, it was just lots and lots and lots of practice. I am sure it will be the same with the B chord. I just can't quite get all three fingers on the fourth fret (strings 2,3,4). When I try a hinge barre with my ring finger, it buzzes like crazy. The best I have come up with so far is to use my pinkie to get the 2nd string at the fourth and then barre the 3rd and 4th strings with my ring finger. Still buzzes a little, but not quite as bad. Just don't like it because it does not leave my pinkie free to catch higher notes once in a while...

Oh well, practice, practice, practice......B)


wadestar
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Thu Oct 01, 2009 9:32 am

Take a look at one of Neil's recent additions in the Target program, I'm Yours. This is a great song, and is almost exclusively barre chords. Personally, I find going back and forth from open to barre chords easier than going from one-shape of barre chord to another (i.e, going to an E-shape to an A-shape to a C-shape...ug). I don't have either down pat, but I'm getting closer, and this is song is a great one to practice, not to mention add to the repertoire. :)

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.


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