Are you struggling the bar chords?
If you are, you're definitely not alone.
Hundreds of people have used the system Im about to show you and it works every time.
Lets do this.
Hi Im Tomas Michaud from Real Guitar Success where I help you learn guitar and more importantly
to help you love your guitar learning journey.
If I had to come up with one issue that seemed to come up the most, it would be learning
the F chord.
And the main issue I see with students learning the F chord is they try to jump right into
something that is very difficult without any preparation or any steps along the way.
So in this video, Im gonna show you a step by step system for mastering the F chord.
And when Im done with that I have some important tips that I wanna give you.
Now in the spirit of full disclosure there is one time the system didnt work for me.
I tried to teach it to Marco Polo.
Maybe I should have started off with some of the easier chords but in any case its gonna
work for you.
So lets start off with the first step.
The main key in the F chord that were going to use is getting this what we called a partial
bar.
You're playing two notes at once.
On the first fret of the guitar, the first and second strings.
Now you can press down the two strings together and do it like this and it works.
I can get the full strings to sound but when you do the rest of the chords thats gonna
be difficult.
What you want to do is to make a small barr by pushing the second knucle up in the air
and collapsing slightly that first knuckle right there.
So it takes practice and thats the thing I think students get impatient and then I think
after trying 2 to 3x they should be able to do it and make the full chord but thats not
usually the way it works.
To be able to get this, work at that over and over.
So practice just this even in preparation maybe.
Play the two notes, get the knuckle up in the air and buckle that first knuckle.
The second step is to add the second finger and here is where you can start telling if
its gonna work or not.
When you add the second finger on the second fret of the third string, youre making an
actual chord.
When you play these three notes thats an F chord.
And you can use that as long as you didnt play the fourth string.
So try it with me.
Make your little partial bar, put your second finger down on the second fret and see if
it all sounds.
(2:49).
Work it around, remember until you can get it and then take it off shake it up and try
it again.
Now work on this for a little while before you actually try to play the whole bar chord.
And as you get this, as it gets more easy and more comfortable youre going to find when
you add more fingers its not a big thing.
A couple of tips right here, you may want to angle that first finger just a little bit
as opposed to straight down like this.
Though the more you can get it this way the easier it will be to get the rest of fingers
in there.
The second thing is, you dont have to have that knuckle really way high in the air.
I sometimes exaggerate that because students do it the opposite.
But your looking for something little more in the air then drop down behind the neck.
So now to step #3, once you practice the three strings F chord with the first two fingers
and then put the third finger on and to play full string bar chords.
Youll want to practice changing to other chords.
I recommend using the C chord because its a very common change.
So a simple exercise can be just strum twice on the C chord and then go to the F chord.
Now at this point, you've already practiced the partial F, the third finger F and your
practicing the movement going from one to the other.
You also want to start working to get all the fingers down at one time as opposed to
one at a time.
When you're actually playing you dont have time to put one finger down at a time.
And with practice, youll find it your fingers naturally go to all the strings at once.
Now for a few over all tips to help you with this, some people find it easier to actually
learn the full bar chord at first.
The way to do that if your so inclined is to practice just the bar first in the same
way.
Matter of fact I would start practicing the bar at the same time you're learning the partial
bar F and do that for a week or so.
Then when you go to make the full bar chord youll find it much easier.
I've also created some exercises and some other tips on learning bar chords and I'll
put a link to that in the description below.
Another tip is to go ahead and learn a much easier form of the F chord which Ill show
you right now.
This is called an F add 9.
It looks like the partial bar F without the bar.
So Im putting my first finger on the second fret of the second string.
On the third string Ive got second finger and the fourth string Im using my third finger
on the third fret.
Then the pinky goes on the third fret of the first string.
Its a very useful chord and sounds particularly good on acoustic guitar because of all the
open strings.
Its the same chord I used in that intro to this video so apply that again.
Another version of this is if you take off the pinky and makes it F major 7.
Now we used to think of major 7 something for jazz guitar but it works particularly
good in a progression like this -- in fact, its an F major 7 but it sounds good and it
can be used sometimes in place of the F. You have to use your ear and see if it sounds
right.
One advantage of learning this chord and using it either the F add 9 or the F major 7 is
that your part of the way there to making that partial bar.
Once you add the little partial bar it become a straight F chord.
The next step is, you should know that every student feels frustrated and often seems to
have some self thought that there's something wrong with them why they cant do this.
I'm here to tell you that everyone has been able to do this and has stuck long enough
- everyone- and you will too.
Its just a matter of sticking with it.
Not taking your thoughts too seriously and just keep moving on and taking it step by
step not trying to play the whole thing all at once with too many things going on.
Break it down to pieces.
Work on the pieces and put them back on together.
In short, persistence pays off everytime except if your dog is like Marco Polo.
Thank you for joining me today.
I hope you have enjoyed this video.
Remember, learning guitar is a journey not a destination.
Please let me know in the comments how I can better help you to love your journey.
Bye for now.