who here plays guitar?

Does anyone else here on RF (apart from me) play guitar?

I've been learning on and off for two years but have recently started to invest more time and effort

I'm primarily interested in playing worship music

And I own one of these:

Newporter Player | Acoustic Guitars

I have recently learnt to play the F major barre-chord, which is an absolute nightmare to get on top of, but my persistence and effort have paid off

I'm currently learning to fluently switch between chords. Once I can do that to my satisfaction I shall start learning strumming patterns

So nice!

I play the flute since high school...and I love guitar sounds in flute-guitar duets.
They give rhytm to the flute player.

So...we could play this together someday...who knows...
(Libertango is one of my favorite pieces)

Cool.
Out of curiosity, what did you find difficult about the F?

Valjean said:

Cool.
Out of curiosity, what did you find difficult about the F?

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For me, forming the barre with my index finger so that the strings correctly sounded was the hardest part

But for some reason forming barre-chords further down the fretboard using the same shape aren't nearly as hard, at least for me

It takes more finger strength to push the strings down when your up close to the nut (top bridge). That's why the F bar chord is the hardest. A lot of learning to play guitar is in gaining the strength, and the body-memory in your hands to be able to change chords quickly and accurately. As with any form of exercise, doing it every day is the best way to build up these assets.

I've been playing for over 20 years. Mostly folkish-rock kind of stuff. I do a lot of fingerpicking and strumming.

I also struggled with barre chords, but you do get the finger strength over time. You can still play barre chords in the open F shape by using the flat of your index finger on the first two or three strings, which is somewhat easier but you don't get the full barre sound.

Hi. I've been playing for years and I remember struggling with the F chord in the open position and barre chords in general for a while.

When it comes to changing chords smoothly I found that the Beatles song A Hard Day's Night changed things for me. It took me weeks to be able to play the chords but when I got it I found that my chord changes had improved a lot.

EDDi said:

I'm primarily interested in playing worship music

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Learn bass, my friend:

EDDi said:

Does anyone else here on RF (apart from me) play guitar?

I've been learning on and off for two years but have recently started to invest more time and effort

I'm primarily interested in playing worship music

And I own one of these:

Newporter Player | Acoustic Guitars

I have recently learnt to play the F major barre-chord, which is an absolute nightmare to get on top of, but my persistence and effort have paid off

I'm currently learning to fluently switch between chords. Once I can do that to my satisfaction I shall start learning strumming patterns

Click to expand...

I play. Barre chords are tough but once you nail them it becomes just another part of playing. The guitar might be hard on your fingers, but that too is temporary. Don't give up, it's an awesome instrument. Let me know if I can help you with anything.

Ziggy plays guitar;

if I remember correctly....

Jamming good with Weird and Gilly

EDDi said:

Does anyone else here on RF (apart from me) play guitar?

I've been learning on and off for two years but have recently started to invest more time and effort

I'm primarily interested in playing worship music

And I own one of these:

Newporter Player | Acoustic Guitars

I have recently learnt to play the F major barre-chord, which is an absolute nightmare to get on top of, but my persistence and effort have paid off

I'm currently learning to fluently switch between chords. Once I can do that to my satisfaction I shall start learning strumming patterns

Click to expand...

Nice looking guitar. I play nylon string. Easier to push the strings down and wider spacing of strings. My muscle memory is such that I don't even want to swap to a steel string and practice it till my fat fingers do the right thing.
I find that it is easier with the F Bar to use the index finger on just the E and B strings. It certainly makes it faster to change to from other chords, esp the C chord.

EDDi said:

Does anyone else here on RF (apart from me) play guitar?

Click to expand...

I do. Or, at least I like to think I do. I started learning in 2008 , but it was a rocky on/off, love/hate relationship, and still is. So I’m not really where I should be. I’m not really good, not good enough to play in front of a lot of people, just “campfire/fireplace” playing. I’m a lazy cowboy chords rhythm player. I did make a video playing Turn the Page to get some critiques at a guitar forum. They are all experienced and said “not bad”. But watching it still makes me cringe.

I have this tee shirt.

EDDi said:

But for some reason forming barre-chords further down the fretboard using the same shape aren't nearly as hard, at least for me

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That is true. Bm, Cm, C#m are my problem. If you train yourself to play Am with the middle ring fingers and pinky, it’s easier to then just out down the index finger. Same for the E-shaped chords (F, Fm, Gm). I almost always make E maj with those 3 fingers, and Em with the middle and ring fingers. Another trick I learned here is to learn power chord shapes first.

https://youtu.be/y5FSu_WqJhg

Guitar's Cry said:

You can still play barre chords in the open F shape by using the flat of your index finger on the first two or three strings, which is somewhat easier but you don't get the full barre sound.

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Yeah, the “baby F”. You lose the bass F on the 6th string. Sometimes you don’t need it though depending on the song. If there’s a C Am F profession I use Fmaj7. Very easy Chang and sounds pretty good. I use it in Imagine, Hotel California, even Night Moves, and a metric ton of others. But you can wrap the thumb around the neck for F maj. I think Jimi Hendrix used to do that, but I always forget if it was him.

Valjean said:

Cool.
Out of curiosity, what did you find difficult about the F?

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Undoubtedly one of the worse. Now try the B barre on the second fret.

EDDi said:

Does anyone else here on RF (apart from me) play guitar?

I've been learning on and off for two years but have recently started to invest more time and effort

I'm primarily interested in playing worship music

And I own one of these:

Newporter Player | Acoustic Guitars

I have recently learnt to play the F major barre-chord, which is an absolute nightmare to get on top of, but my persistence and effort have paid off

I'm currently learning to fluently switch between chords. Once I can do that to my satisfaction I shall start learning strumming patterns

Click to expand...

Keep at it. Learn your scales! I wish someone had told me this about 30 years ago....

EDDi said:

For me, forming the barre with my index finger so that the strings correctly sounded was the hardest part

But for some reason forming barre-chords further down the fretboard using the same shape aren't nearly as hard, at least for me

Click to expand...

I've been playing on and off for about twenty years... I'm not terribly good at it. Played less after kids came. Its just hard to play with someone else trying to strum the strings for you.

I struggled with the F, too.. actually, I ended up getting a mini guitar because I had so much trouble with barre cords. My hands are tiny, and I wanted a guitar that would be easier to handle. It helped a lot, and made playing more enjoyable.

Jainarayan said:

That is true. Bm, Cm, C#m are my problem. If you train yourself to play Am with the middle ring fingers and pinky, it’s easier to then just out down the index finger. Same for the E-shaped chords (F, Fm, Gm). I almost always make E maj with those 3 fingers, ...

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Be careful of this habit, later you may find having that pinky free to augment those chords with adjunct notes very useful.

Jainarayan said:

But you can wrap the thumb around the neck for F maj. I think Jimi Hendrix used to do that, but I always forget if it was him.

Click to expand...

That's another habit to watch out for, though. Hendrix had very large hands with long fingers. And his playing style allowed for very loose or "slinky" handling of the guitar. Other kinds of music cannot be played that way. Also, the 'thumb over' causes you to strengthen palm muscles rather than finger muscles to bar the strings, and makes the angle of attack of your fingertips to the fingerboard very oblique, which is not ideal.

Ideally, you want your thump pushing against the center of the back of the guitar's neck.

EDDi said:

I have recently learnt to play the F major barre-chord, which is an absolute nightmare to get on top of, but my persistence and effort have paid off

I'm currently learning to fluently switch between chords. Once I can do that to my satisfaction I shall start learning strumming patterns

Click to expand...

I can play a guitar, as well as several other instruments. One thing with practice that might help with switching chords or notes, is to play to a beat, like a metronome. Have a slower beat at first, but try to hit the new chord on the beats. That trains the body to focus on the sound, and less focused on the shape of the fingers. It's like dancing. At first you have to understand where the feet go, but if all you do is focus on the feet, and not the rest of the whole body, you'll never actually be dancing.

Once you become relaxed with making the changes without focusing on them, then increase the rate. Start with 1/4 notes, increase to 8ths, triplets, 16th's, etc. Becoming relaxed is the key. This applies to any instrument you play.

Are you going to practice scales as well?

Vee said:

I play. Barre chords are tough but once you nail them it becomes just another part of playing. The guitar might be hard on your fingers, but that too is temporary. Don't give up, it's an awesome instrument. Let me know if I can help you with anything.

Click to expand...

Yep. You gotta get those calluses, and gain some muscle strength in your fingers, and then they're as easy to play as any other chords. That just takes persistence.

Here is mine:

PureX said:

Be careful of this habit, later you may find having that pinky free to augment those chords with adjunct notes very useful.
That's another habit to watch out for, though. Hendrix had very large hands with long fingers. And his playing style allowed for very loose or "slinky" handling of the guitar. Other kinds of music cannot be played that way. Also, the 'thumb over' causes you to strengthen palm muscles rather than finger muscles to bar the strings, and makes the angle of attack of your fingertips to the fingerboard very oblique, which is not ideal.

Ideally, you want your thump pushing against the center of the back of the guitar's neck.

Click to expand...

Yeah, those are all good points and true. I don’t do any of them exclusively. You have to learn what to use when. Sometimes we get caught in doing something one way and don’t learn to think outside the box.

You can always capo the first fret while you're learning, which will lower the action considerably. Of course, It'll also raise the tuning a half step, so your F will be sharp.

this fellow has some great style...but i'm sure you've seen lots of stellar guitar already on youtube already though
being a stone mason was tough on the fingers so had to give the guitar up long time ago but have been hammering the skins as a substitute [percussion] was thinking about making some stone and wood xylophones this winter, maybe a hammer dulcimer if I get the spare parts.