F chords are actually possible to play, right?

Alawiggle · #1 October 10th, 2006

I figured it might be all a hoax for all their difficulty.

randomaire · #2 October 10th, 2006

F's to me are worse than C's cept maybe in the minor forms. I've seen various ways of how an F is to be played also... on here its is 113211 and the one I've seen the way I actually learned it was 003211, I've always wondered about this... I would think the key here is that you are hitting that f note with the 1st finger on the high e, but the other parts is where I usually see the difference.

Matty22 · #3 October 10th, 2006

I still cop a pay out every time i play a barre chord now, since when i first started and my mate was showing me Barres, i said "nuh uh, no way, not gunna happen".

Of course, now i can the common ones anyway, and could play any of the others if i knew them or had to (Dom7 Min7 all those ones etc)... And every time, i get a perfect spoof of me saying "nuh uh, no way, never gunna happen"

Keep at them, they are most certainly possible

Lcjones · #4 October 10th, 2006

Easiest way to do a standard F....

x33210 ... miss the lo E string, mute the hi E string. forget the barr chord. and, as a bonus, you can slide yer fingers right smack into the C chord with no trouble at all...

x32010 ... but don't mute the hi E

Les

garydavis · #5 October 10th, 2006

well, when I was 10 i couldent bar thoes 2 strings, but its not as hard as people might say, easest bar chord out there.

allthumbs · #6 October 10th, 2006

It comes with time. Hang in there. One of the toughest chords to get.

Bob Wolford · #7 October 11th, 2006

Try putting a capo on the first or second fret and then try the f chord.

Hilch · #8 October 11th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alawiggle

I figured it might be all a hoax for all their difficulty.

I agree , I actually think its named F for a reason ...

I can't play that F chord ....

Stratrat · #9 October 11th, 2006

LCJones laid out an easy way to play the F chord up above. (x33210)

I just play it as a barre chord - I find it easier than the 003211 configuration.

Tekker · #10 October 11th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stratrat

LCJones laid out an easy way to play the F chord up above. (x33210)

Don't play the high E string open though... It should also be muted: x3321x

If you play the high E string open then it becomes an Fmaj7 chord.

-tkr

Matty22 · #11 October 11th, 2006

Depending on the context of the song.... you can often get away with playing
1332xx if the low tone is more apparent or xx3211 if its the high tones.

cshude · #12 October 11th, 2006

Do yourself a favor and keep at it. You CAN do a full F-barre. Once you've learned the major and minor variations of the 2 main barre shapes, you can play 90% of the pop/rock music ever written just by seeing the chord names.

It took me nearly 2 years to get to where I could get a clean F every time. Your hands will build the strength and toughness needed over time.

Chaotic Kittie · #13 October 11th, 2006

Barre chords... uh. I've played for more than 1,5 years now, practising barre chords at least a little every day of training. I still can't do them. Oh, I can, but I have to use my thumb as a clamp, and that can damage (and already did damage mine) the thumb.

So first I thought it could be because of a badly setup guitar... but I've tried lots of guitars, even the schools guitars, which must be the worst guitars ever as for sound and quality, but the playability is close to PERFECT. Guitars where I hardly have to touch the strings to get a good sound out of it, but when it comes to barre chords, NO. Impossible.
Since I barely see anyone else having THAT big a problem with barres, I'm beginning to think that it's something about me, something I'm doing wrong, or anything like it.
Any advice?

(sorry for hijacking thread! :O)

guttertrashsingalong · #14 October 11th, 2006

barre chords come in time,just like switching from chord to chord does.Dont sell yourself short by trying to do thngs the simple way,your only setting yourelf up for failure for the future!keep trying! try tilting you guitar a lil till ya get it.for myself i lay my index across all the string on 1st fret that helped me and with practice it wll come. devote time to working with a few of them before ya start drifting to doing what you already know.the more time ya practice the easier it will be.good luck

medicq · #15 October 11th, 2006

Don't think about what you can do or what you can't, Just work on it, If it sounds crappy that's what it sounds like today, tomorrow you may get it. Don't get down on yourself. I've been trying them for a while, and I nailed a Bb the other day. I didn't think about it being tough I just stayed loose and said why not try it when it came to to play it in the song. Shockingly it stuck and sounded clean.