Learning To Play The F Chord On Guitar Is The Best Thing You’ll Ever Do

Why Is The F Major Chord So Hard To Play?

Even the great Billy Gibbons has disdain for this hard-to-play barre chord, calling it a “pain in the ass”, and while there are other (easier ways) to play the F Chord, perseverance pays dividends.

Here’s why:

• Guitar is hard. It requires dedication and focused effort to get good – or even competent.
• And contrary to what you’ll hear on YouTube, THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS.
• The F Chord is the hardest barre chord to play because it sits right below the nut at the thickest end of the fretboard – this is why it feels awkward.
• A capo solves this problem, of course, allowing you to move things to a more comfortable position. Do not do this: it is the coward’s way out.

You have to be OK with a little pain and a little suffering. If you’re not, the guitar – and music, in general – probably ain’t for you.

By struggling through this process, the process of learning barre chords and how to play the F barre chord, you’re actually becoming a better guitarist.

It might take you a month to get it down. Or, it might take you 18 months. It all depends on how much time you put into it.

But the process is always the same: at first it seems impossible, then something clicks, and it is easy – you do it without even thinking about it.

That’s basically a metaphor for guitar on the whole. You’re always learning, but the basics are the hardest bit of the journey by far.

Things like learning the notes, the scales, techniques like finger picking, strumming, and, of course, barre chords require entire parts of your brain to be rewired.

That kind of thing takes time. But with regular, focussed practice things improve, your muscle memory starts to kick in, and then you’re really playing and creating.

Tips On How To Learn The F Chord Faster? Here’s My 2 Cents…

Repetition is the mother of all guitar skills. From shredding through scales and modes, to pick attack and speed.

Repetition is the glue that holds everything together. You do it over and over and over for days and weeks on end.

In the context of the F Chord, here’s what I would do.

Forget about the rest of the fretboard.

The ONLY part you’re allowed to play is that which sits inside the F Major or F Minor Scale.

That means you have the first four frets to play with.

All the strings EADGBE are at your disposal. But you stay in that block of four frets.

Get Good At Switching From A Chord You Can Play Easily To The F Barre Chord

Practice jumping from an E Chord to an F Chord. Or a D to an F. If you can’t do that, just do the F Barre Chord.

Make sure your barring finger is barring across the entire neck, so all the notes sound when you strum through it.

Listen for dead notes, harmonics. If you hear these when you strum through the barre chord, find where they are and fix them – these are weaknesses in your barring technique.

Now, just focus 100% on getting good at playing the F chord. Hit it lightly, hit it hard, do some finger picking with it.

But play the F chord A LOT.

Practice moving to it as well: play an A chord then switch to the F. Rinse and repeat.

A Major F Major
e|—0————-1—|
B|—2————-1—|
G|—2————-2—|
D|—2————-3—|
A|—0————-3—|
E|—————–1—|

Do this until you can make the transition as smoothly as possible. Then try to do it from a C chord, then a D chord.

Once you can slam down that F barre chord without even thinking about it, nothing else you do on the guitar will be quite as tricky.

You’ll also have a strong barre chord at your disposal and that ALWAYS comes in handy, especially for writing riffs.

The key thing is not to take shortcuts.

Everybody can play an F power chord, it’s just two fingers. The F Major chord, however, really separates the men from the boys, so make sure you make it your bitch.

And then you’ll be ripping through songs and writing your own in no time.