[drew1]

Hello All,

My first post since I registered.

I think I have all the major chords down, C, D, E, A, and G but I don't understand the "F" chord - I don't know where to place my 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers because on the chord chart I got from Esteban, it is very confusing.

Also, I try to strum my guitar and change the chords and I can't, I have to stop to change chords...I feel like I will never get it and i start to get discouraged....

please help cause I want to continue to play

[si16]

F is a difficult chord Drew. The reason for this is that it's a barre chord which are the scourge of beginners, and often many experienced guitarists, everywhere. For an F chord the index finger has to form a bar, i.e. hold down every string, right across the first fret. The other three fingers then form an E major chord shape. on the second and third frets. They are very difficult to get clean without a lot of practise but are well worth learning.

You can read more about them here and here

It is also very common for chord chages to be very slow in the early stages. Try and avoid becoming frustrated, keep it slow and then gradually speed up.

[drew1]

Thanks si16!
I was reading into barre chords and got a little understanding about the F chord - thanks for the info it was very helpful

[Chris C]

What the books never remember to tell you is just how long it takes before you can hold chords down easily, and then change between them.

You need to train your fingers to do a lot of things they're not used to. The ring and pinky in particular take quite a while to train and strengthen up.

It can take many people a fair few hours or weeks before they can do decent chords and changes, and even months before they can do an F or any bar chords. So don't despair - we've all been there. One day you realise that it's finally happening! After that it goes much faster. In between, you'll nail one every now and then, but not as often as you'd like. Hang in there though - it's well worth it.

Cheers,

Chris

[fly135]

drew1, it's like forming an E chord with fingers 2,3,&4 instead of 1,2,3. This fingering is used to barre chords up the fretboard. Being a barre you need to use the 1st finger and cover all strings on fret 1 for the F, fret 2 for the F#, 3 for the G and so on up the fretboard.

Because of the transition between the D, A, G, and C in the first position you may not want to play the F by barring the 1st fret. Instead you may want to just place the 1st finger across strings 1 & 2. In this situation just don't hit the 6th E string when strumming. I find it quicker to switch between a D or any of the first position chords to an F if I only cover strings 1 & 2.

[do_you_really_care]

I too suggest you try the fingering suggested by fly135 for the moment! it is easier and you'll start getting the hang of the sound of the F chord!

As far as chord changes go, you should first become good at holding all chords individually with all your fingers coming down on the strings at the same time (not one after the other). Then start practicing some easy chord changes. Try changing between E major and A minor (the have the same finger shape!) Also try changing from C major to A minor. These are easy ones.

There is one technique that helped me immensely while I was learning to switch between chords and it still helps me to change between complex chords! It involves 2 exercises:

1) If you're finding a chord troublesome to hold, just make the shape of the chord with your fingers and hold them a few centimetres (or millimetres) above the strings and bring them all down at the same time. This helps you press down all strings simultaneously rather than one finger at a time. Try doing this repeatedly and resist the temptation of putting down one finger before the other. After some time you'll see that it becomes easy to hold the chord perfectly. It worked and still works very well for me!..

2) While switching, again, use the same approach of getting your fingers in shape just a few millimetres above the strings for the next chord and then bring them all down together. You might find this useful for changing between G and A or between C and D etc where there are no common strings for a finger.

I think I learnt these exercises from cyberfret.com a few years back! They really helped me to hold and switch between new chords..hope they help you too!..

Cheers!

[cshude]

Good exercises! It definitely takes time to get to those quick smooth chord changes, and the F-barre is a real bear to get down- it took me nearly 2 years before I could get it cleanly every time. Keep practicing and both of these trouble spots will work themselves out.

[drew1]

Thanks guys

[drew1]

This is hard, I am trying to place all fingers down at the same time and I can't, I can with the a and am cause they are closer together but try a C, its hard I am getting discusted....

Thx for the info

[krissovo]

Yep F is still a killer after just over a year, but its getting better and I would say by my 2 year point I should have it nailed. I have almost got it on electric but on my acoustic its harder to do so hence more work on that. I spend 10 minutes every day just going over the chords I know and then another 10 minutes on the tough ones like the F, other barre chords and Hendrix chords as well as alternate bluesy chords that I am trying to incorperate into my playing.

When I am playing F in music that I want to flow I use the F that Fly suggested, it does the job not quite as bassy but should get you going.

[drew1]

Krissovo

What are your practicing techniques? Do you warm up first?
I need some help or I can purchase or pay someone to teach me but I wanted to save up $ to upgrade my guitar - to a better one so I wanted to save the cash

So since I was placing each finger down on chords I am now trying to place all fingers down at once so I can go faster between each chords

[krissovo]

Originally Posted by drew1

Krissovo

What are your practicing techniques? Do you warm up first?
I need some help or I can purchase or pay someone to teach me but I wanted to save up $ to upgrade my guitar - to a better one so I wanted to save the cash

So since I was placing each finger down on chords I am now trying to place all fingers down at once so I can go faster between each chords

My Technique is fairly simple:

Warm up
1. Light finger stretches to get blood flowing 5 mins
2. Scales, I pick two pentatonic scales at differnt possitions (A minnor is good from 2nd fret to stretch the fingers) at this stage it does not have to be clean playing so if my fingers miss or do not quite reach...who cares (it a mental thing, you will soon play clean) 10 mins
3. Some melody work using PT as a base following a prerecorded chord progression 10 mins

By now my fingers are very supple so I move onto a practice session,

Practice

1. Chord time - Normally 12 bar blues and I pick two keys to play it in (Only one can be A or E...my rule). Here is when I start playing chords for the fist time and I work hard on only getting a clean sound / changes and not so much on speed. Using different keys I can practice different chords and still sound quite musical but constantly trying for the cleanest tone I can get. I will then varry the rhythm and the chords (barres, 7ths/9ths/13ths etc) try to come up with some thing to record 30 mins
2. I have a looper so the next stage is to play some lead over the rhythm I just laid down. If its fast I will use a scale if slow I will use PT. 20 mins
3. Learning a song I am working on 20 mins

4. Free time!!!! Do what I want

I have only recently been using this but it is making come up to speed quickly!

[-kieran-]

Glad I read this post. been learning from the 'new Complete Guitarist' got on to basic chords and can do them all fine then reach F major and can't get my fingers to hold the strings dowm right! Also I can't stretch my fingers to ( x - x - 1 - 3 - 4 - 3 ), thats moving from D major to E flat major. How long will this take to get because I can't physically stretch my fingers comfortably?

[h.kriel.xadsl@xtra.co.nz]

Looking For A Country Song With Chords To Learn To Play

[sabretalon]

I found the main problem I had when changing chords, was that I was thinking about 2 things at once!

I was thinking about where my hands should be for the chord but I was also thinking about my rhythm and strumming.

I spent some more time on my strumming so I could have a steady strum but then did not worry about counting or anything I just started to change chords when it felt right.

I find by doing that I hit more chords right now than I did before.

So the main thing is think about where your fingers need to be for the chord and for now forget about what your other hand is doing.

It works for me and I'm only into this for a few weeks.

For me my sessions start with some basic exercises, starting on the 6th string 1, 2, 3, 4 frets then move down a string and do the same to the 1st string, then I do it in reverse and then I do it by moving forward a fret from the 6th string i.e. I start 1,2,3,4 frets on 6th string then on the 5th I use 2,3,4,5 etc...

I then practice a few chords

I then just hold any chord and get a steady rhythm going until I'm not thinking about what I'm doing and then try to switch chords.

The secret is not to stop your strumming if you miss your chord! Keep going and head for the next chord etc...

The way I do it is not by learning to play songs, I'm making sure I can change cleanly first. That way I'm not overloading my mind with other things!

Works for me and yes it is boring but the way I look at it is, if I put the effort in now then I will reap the rewards later.

Hope that helps