The F chord

Mastered your open chords? Time for the F chord!

The F chord is often a guitarists first step into the world of bar chords. Once you've mastered the F chords it really opens up the guitar neck to lots of other possibilities. If you've mastered the F chords have a look at the CAGED chords.

F major chords.pdf

The F chord - 5 different ways

The F major barre chord is the king when it comes to playing the F chord but this is very tricky and can take a lot of finger strength so it's best to practice this chord little and often.

One way to practise this is to break it in half so practise an F power chord and then the easier F chord then try and combine the 2 shapes.

Click here for more help on barre chords

Easier options

There are 2 slightly easier ways to play the F chord but they don't sound as full as the big F chord. These can be a stepping stones to working towards that big barre chord.

Some different options

The Fmaj7 chord is a really nice sounding chord that can sometimes be used as a replacement for the F chord.

The Hendrix style F chord is a slightly easier way to get that big sound. You use your thumb over the top of the neck to play the low E string. It's called a Hendrix style chord as Jimi Hendrix often used to play his chords this way. He used his little finger to add embellishments to the chords.