F Major, is one of two guitar chords that doesn’t fall into the CAGED system. It relies on these shapes to construct F shapes across the fretboard. It’s generally one of the first barred guitar chords beginners may begin to try. Some may try and tackle the full barre, more often than not resulting in muted or buzzy notes, whilst others try their hand at a chopped down version that, when not played correctly, can sound a little weak!
F major can prove to be a dodgy chord to master. Particularly in the commonly found E shaped barre, causing untold frustration. So let’s break things down by learning to play an F major with a more progressive mindset, further expanding on your knowledge of guitar chords as you continue on your guitar journey!
As this chord is in the key of C Major, you’ll find it crop up quite regularly in a variety of well known songs. A couple of notable examples being:
- Space Oddity – David Bowie
- House of the Rising Sun – The Animals
- Stay with Me – Sam Smith
- Plus many others!
F Major Chord – What’s all the fuss?
Let’s get the ‘big bad’ of the F Chord shape out of the way first, shall we?
Its difficulty lies in your first finger barring across the first fret, squeezing down on all 6 strings. It’s not an easy shape to master and relies on your ability to perfect that top barre with your first finger. You’ll need to follow some barre chord tips as outlined in this post.
Work on how straight your first finger is, how close it is the fret and how high it’s sitting. Then, gradually add in one finger at a time. But we’re going to examine some easier ways to play F from here…
Using the C shape to help
Full disclaimer, this one is a bit tough to crack at first as well. An F variant seen in tracks such as Under the Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, this one’s an intermediate difficulty level.
What do we have going on? Firstly, it’s a C shape underneath a mini barre across the first 3 strings. Start by making your C chord in the right position, and then bring your first finger across to get used to that mini-barre.
Bring on the A shape
Now we’ll invite the A shape barre to help. You’ll see the A major shape nestled in below the root note a couple of frets lower. Here, we’re relying on your third finger to do more of the work in the barre, compared to the first finger previously.
Its a little fiddly to use all three of your spare fingers, but it can be down as you can see here…
Personally, I’m more of an advocate for the first shape as it helps deploy a quick change. The positioning of the chord also helps you to add more tonal variety with its higher positioning on the neck.
Dialling back the original shape
Whilst not too far off the C shape, this one is a good next step up when you’re slowing building the full shape. It covers all the right notes in the F chord, as is generally much easier to play!
You may find this shape useful when practicing the full chord.
Then taking that a step further
If you’re still struggling to hit the mini-barre, then why not rock the first finger forward a touch. This should deaden the high e string, allowing you to hit the strings in the middle of the neck. A great shape to help work on your chord changes, specifically from C or Am.
A smoother transition to C, you only need to lift your pinky and then move your middle finger to the D string. Much simpler to get down as it feels more like a traditional open chord shape.
Mini-barre alternative
Although perhaps not as widely practical at a beginner level, you’ll find this shape quite a look if you look around. On paper, it looks relatively easy. But realistically, it’s not the most simple to apply.
It lacks a certain impact as well, seeing as the low end of the chord isn’t particularly strong. However, some find this shape nice to use and it may be the right one for you.
Good old beginner
A nice easy three string, three fingered shape to get down. This is something I quite commonly see in beginner guitarists.
But although a good shape to start with, it requires a degree of picking accuracy with its only allow the three strings. Useful if you’re only hitting single notes, but not much for strumming.
Inversion you say?
Lastly, we’ll look at a quick inversion slightly higher up the neck to get your teeth into. What we’re doing here is making the bass note a different note from the chord. Perhaps not a great strumming chord, but can add wonders to your picking patterns.
That said, it is a good way to add some interesting technique to your repertoire! So long as you can understand that you’ve flipped the notes around a little, you can show off a new skillset with an interesting voicing.
Extensions
So far, we’ve looked at versions of the F Major chord that fall into the triad category of chords. I.e., they are built up from three unique notes. Some simple shapes you may come across, actually give you extended chords which can give a nice addition to your sound.
One important thing to note on this first example, however, is that this chord is NOT an F Major, but an F Major7 as it has an added ‘E’ in the top. A lot of new guitarists may come across this and assume they are playing an F, but the chords sound very different.
Admittedly, I will sometimes introduce this as a stepping stone to the F Major, but always stress that it is a different chord entirely.
We can extend the F further of course, with sus2/sus4 chords, 9th chords, 11th chords and 13th chords. But start with the above 7th chord to add a little further spice to your playing. It’s important to remember though that the F Major7 can be used in place of the F Major, but sometimes it can’t. Use your ear!
In closing…
If this is your first attempt at learning the F chord, maybe start with the three stringed version, and then gradually build up from there. There’s no rush, just make sure all of those notes sound crisp.
As you get used to playing different versions of the F Chord, seek out some songs that make use of it to put it into context of your playing. Make sure you’re comfortable with each shape before moving on to the next one, as we want each one to be built into our repertoire as we progress.
Feel free to leave a comment, or get in touch if you’d like some direct help with your F chord adventures!
So get learning your F Chord, and don’t let it intimidate you!