F Major issue


JoeTat
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JoeTat
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04/04/2013 3:25 pm
Like most beginners I am having problems with the F Major. I can play it cleanly if I use the base of my index (Like a bar chord). Is this a bad habit to get used to? I don't want to effect things later on.
# 1
Slipin Lizard
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Slipin Lizard
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04/04/2013 10:59 pm
Any way you can play it cleanly is pretty legit; some players have very creative ways of fingering certain chords. If it works, it works. But it sounds like you are making a barre chord, but maybe not barring the F note on the low E? Is that right? If so, you could just play it as a barre chord and if you don't want the low F note, just don't hit it.

I think most beginners make the mistake of going "ahhhhggg! Its so hard, I just can't get it!!" too soon. It takes practice, and may take months or even a year or two before your hand just finds the fretting natural. Stick with it. Someone else offered the advice of fretting the chord higher just to get the right feel, and then moving it down the neck slowly fret by fret until you can play it in the right position.
# 2
morefoil
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morefoil
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04/17/2013 1:30 am
Why is the Fm in the fundamentals lesson different from the variation in the Chord finder?
# 3
morefoil
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morefoil
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05/16/2013 12:25 am
I am asking more why is there a difference between the Fm in the tutorial i.e. no finger on the e string and the chord finder. I found the same variation in Christopher's beginner blues riff. The B7 he shows is three fingers and it is four fingers on the chord finder. Since they do sound different I was wonder how two different chords could be called the same thing.
# 4
Carmine M
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Carmine M
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05/16/2013 12:14 pm
The guitar fundamental tutorials, in particular at the beginning, use easier way to play chords to let you start at it (and it provides the theory behind it, so you should know why a 3 notes chord is a proper chord anyway).

Carmine

Regards,

cm

# 5
maggior
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maggior
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05/16/2013 1:31 pm
Originally Posted by: morefoilI am asking more why is there a difference between the Fm in the tutorial i.e. no finger on the e string and the chord finder. I found the same variation in Christopher's beginner blues riff. The B7 he shows is three fingers and it is four fingers on the chord finder. Since they do sound different I was wonder how two different chords could be called the same thing.


The same chord can be built with different fingering, which sometimes will create different chord voicings. A good example is a G7 - the open version of it sounds very different than the barre version played on the third fret. Though they sound different, the still sound like a G7. Which one you use depends on the context - in some songs one version may sound better than the other.

In beginner lessons, sometimes chords are abbreviated to make them easier to play. They are still correct. For a major chord, you only need 3 notes (1st, 3rd, and 5th). Same is true for a minor chord (1st, minor 3rd, and 5th). When you use a chord shape that uses all 6 strings, there are redundancies in there. Look at the open G chord - it is made up of G, B, and D. If you look at the note of each string in the open G chord shape, you'll only find these notes with some that repeat (the G note appears in there 3 times, and the B note twice).

As you go through the core lessons, this is covered and will make more sense. Chris does an excellent job covering this topic in his chord inversion tutorial.
# 6
terrawatt
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terrawatt
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05/17/2013 3:45 pm
I had a big problem with F, Trying to force improvement did not work for me, I gained speed and quality finding songs like the marines hymn, and the Seekers Ill never find another you. I played the song slow without too much thought and in a few months I improved.
Just a thought.
PS I want to finger pick.
# 7
Kasperow
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Kasperow
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05/17/2013 3:57 pm
Originally Posted by: JoeTatLike most beginners I am having problems with the F Major. I can play it cleanly if I use the base of my index (Like a bar chord). Is this a bad habit to get used to? I don't want to effect things later on.

You're playing it the exact way I was adviced to try playing it. By using the tip of your index finger as a "capo" over the B and e strings, while using the middle finger and ring finger to fret the other two notes needed. And even if it's the wrong way to play it, the way I see it, any comfortable way to play a chord is a good way to play it (I'm not an expert, though).

No point in playing a chord in a way that causes you any kind of pain :) Doing that will become a bad habit. Playing it in whatever way you find comfortable is not, even if other people would consider it painful. It's your fingers after all, not theirs (I remember that simply fretting a C-Major chord, the most comfortable chord to fret in my opinion, was nearly excrutiating, because I didn't have the callouses that I have now).
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# 8
GreggRich1
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GreggRich1
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05/26/2013 5:20 am
Any time you have a chord that gives you problem, look up different voicings. For instance Bm7 is a great example of where an alternate voicing is way easier than the barre chord.
# 9

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