having problems with the f chord

hey i just started learning up here in the site i got to say meanwhile i am very pleased from the information that there is here.

recently, i have reached to the chords lesson and i am having difficulties with the f chord i just cant press the both strings of the b and e:i am talking about the notes f and c in these strings...

do you have any good tip or should i just practice till my fingers get use to it??

That's a hard one,for sure at first. Try f cord c cord g cord Bob Segar style thats what i did of course Bob Segar was instyle then :-)

''little to tall could have used a few pounds.'' ''so forth and so on'' try to make it sound right don't worry about you finger so much they will find there way

well i am not familliar with this style.
do you have any link that gathers that kind of information??

This topic has been discussed in other forum posts. There is some good feedback in those other forum posts. Just use the forum "search" bar for "f chord" and you will probably come across some of them. Good Luck!

This is definitely not an easy one. But starting with the Fmaj7 helped me. This little tutorial on youtube helped me too but I don't think we are allowed to post links to youtube on this forum so I'll send you a private message with the link.

Ok, I see you don't take messages or emails. I guess I can't send you the link.
The title of the video on youtube is called "master the f chord 4 easy steps"
Good luck

Micha999,
I know exactly what you are talking about with the F chord. It is really different feel. I taught myself the guitar - incorrectly about 20 years ago and am not starting all over to learn correctly. However, for your problem, the way I solved it was to put my index finger on the bottome two strings, B and E, as if I were going to finger an F chord. Just keep the bar on those to strings and strum them by themselves until you get a good clear sound. Keep doing this over and over and slowly beging to add the other fingers. I promise, this will work. The F chord is really difficult in the beginning, but it is a must for many songs so the work is worth it. Hope this helps.
Ralph

The F Chord ain't called the 'F' chord for no reason.
It is a bit harder then the other open chords, but after a few weeks of consistent practice, you will nail it. Just make sure to practice it several times a day every day. Doesn't have to be long, just a few minutes many times a day is better then a longer session every few days.

Most importantly, NEVER give up. See it as a challenge. The harder the challenge, the greater the satisfaction that you will get from completing it.

Sorry for resurrecting this thread, but I just thought I'd pass on some advice I got. I had a lot of trouble with the F Major myself, so I know how hard it can be. What I did was I asked Christopher Schlegel for advice on it, and he suggested starting with the two middle strings, third fret on the D-string and second fret on the G-string, and only play those two strings until I could do that. After that, add the first fret on the B-string, and play those three strings and gradually practice laying the index finger down to press down both the B and the e strings. It really helped me nail the F in only a couple of days, and I hope it will help future guitarists too. It's a simple exercise that also helps you learn to control your strumming (useful for the B-chord, which requires only strumming the 4 middle-strings.

This is a long route to get ther but helps to inprove overall first finger strength...

start by playing all six strings open with a full down stroke strum.

then "barre" the first fret with just your first finger making sure that each sting/note you pluck in you downward stoke is as clear as the open strings...

once acheived then move your first finger to the second fret and "repeat"...

do this up until you hit the 12th fret, then start over at the beginning but only hhitting the 6th and 5th strings....

repeat up to the 12th fret

then begin again this time FOCUSING on the 4th and 3rd string..

shake repat...etc

then last two strings of 2nd and 1st..

again, shake and repeat

do this every day for a week and you should be able to use a first finger barre with no problem.

good luck

J