An EASY F alternative is all you need. So you finally find the right chords to your favourite song and you’re excited to sit down and give it a try. You strum through a few lines and you’re amazed at how close to the original recording you sound. You get to the chorus and realize the song has an F CHORD in it.
Those barre chords can be so difficult and annoying when first learning how to play the guitar. Join me as I show you three EASY F fingerings that sound amazing and are super easy to play. I use these shapes all the time! Now you can get back to playing the songs you love!
Easy F Chord Video Concepts
In this lesson you will learn:
1. Three alternative easier F shapes.
2. How to play these new F shapes with proper fingerings.
3. You will hear and see the difference between these new F chord alternatives and the traditional F barre chord shape.
Chapters
1:16 Chord Shape 1
1:52 Chord Shape 2
2:41 Chord Shape 3
Action Steps
Watch the video again to make sure you grasp all of the concepts in the video.
Action Step 1. That original F with the barre in the first fret can be so awkward and difficult to play when you’re first learning the guitar. It was pretty discouraging to me when I first started playing and learning chords. For your first action step you are going to learn the first shape from the video. It’s still a little tricky and frustrating but a lot easier than the full barre shape. Position your hand in the original F shape where you barre the full first fret. Now drop your first finger down and barre just the first and second strings. This is a standard “F” and is still really useful so you want to get a handle on this.
Action Step 2. This is where things start to sound interesting. Shape 2 is an F major 7 chord! The open “E” note on the top makes it a major 7 and creates a beautiful, colourful, and jazzy tone. So, this chord is a lot easier to play and sounds really nice. Like I said in the video, it can give a modern sound to whatever you are playing. I use this chord a lot because it’s so easy and quick to get to. Especially when going from “C” to “F”.
Action Step 3. This is an amazing sounding chord! It is also great because you are able to reduce a big difficult barre chord down to two fingers, that’s pretty awesome! This chord sounds so good because it has “extensions” in it. It has an open “G” string and that open “E” string ringing. Those notes make it a 9th chord which is also jazzy, modern, and beautiful!
Have fun learning these three new shapes and next time you come across that “F” you won’t be so discouraged! Hope this helps!
Be sure to check out my lesson on an easier B minor chord here too!
Happy Playing!