I've just started the core learning program in the past week or so and feel really good about what i've learned. My one major obstacle is that darn F Major chord. Is it just a matter of time and getting my fingers more flexible and stronger to play this chord more easily or is there some trick to getting all of the strings fretted for this chord. C chord isn't much different and I do fine with it, it seems that when I have to put the pad of my index finger down it makes it very difficult for me to get the other strings fretted. Any words of wisdom?

Thanks
Nick

Hi Nick, Welcome to Guitar Tricks..
You are on the right track with getting your fingers more flexible and stronger. Your callus toughness will help too.
1 First thing to try is making a particial chord, try until clear, add another finger try until clear.
2 A slight roll of your index finger to fret with the side of your finger. Minute finger adjustments. Pay attention to which strings are muted and adjust fingers slightly.
3 Also you can try to bar four string with your index finger. This method may hamper chord changes.
Good Luck..
Gordon

All good advice there, particularly point 2. I'd recommend perhaps practicing the change from Aminor to Fmajor initially because finger 2 is basically set and all you need to do is roll it on to the side so the side of the tip is covering the top two strings, then adjust fingers 3 and 4 for G and D strings, respectively. Then practice, practice, practice.... form Aminor, play the strings cleanly and adjust if necessary, form Fmajor, play cleanly... rinse and repeat.

Also, Aminor to Fmajor seems to be a fairly common chord change. If nothing else, it enables you to play Happy Days Are Here Again by the Broken Family Band, which is an ace tune.

I was just going to come on here to ask the exact same question. I knew about rolling the finger to the side, but it just seems to be impossible to get it to happen. I'm Currently trying to learn House of the Rising Sun in Fundamentals 2, but it's not going anywhere unless I can get the F chord to play. The high E string is always muted once I fret the other two fingers. Just so hard to get it to ring. Sometimes I can do it if I take a lot of time to place each finger, but it just doesn't seem possible to do during a song.

I'll try just working on going from A minor to F major for now. My fingers are not callused at all and the strings seem to just sink into the pads and mute the strings. It's frustrating so I tend to give up quickly. Hopefully my fingers will adjust if I just keep at it.

They will. I was just as frustrated and just all of a sudden one day I could play it. It is still "hit and miss" but progressively there are more hits than misses.

You do need to push quite hard with the 2nd finger.

It's not easy to get and I think I've probably spent about 2 hours total over quite a few sessions just nailing that chord but got there in the end, which is another battle over and the mantra of "practice, practice, practice" held true again.

Just keep practising with the F Major chord guys and it will happen. I had exactly the same problem and now hit it everytime. Just barre the E and B strings with your index finger at the first fret. Keep playing the rest of the chords in House of the rising sun and eventually you will be hitting the F Major chord sweetly don't despair whilst your stuffing it up.