F, the F major guitar chord
F major is the first full barre most players meet, and the reason plenty of them stall for a week. It’s the E shape carried up one fret, with the index lying flat across all six strings to do the job the nut used to do. Don’t squeeze with the thumb alone: roll the index a little toward its bony edge and let the weight of the arm help. If the B and high E strings buzz at first, that’s normal, since they sit under the softest part of the finger.
How to play it
- Index finger flattened across the low E string (6th), B string (2nd) and high E string (1st), 1st fret.
- Middle finger on the G string (3rd), 2nd fret.
- Ring finger on the A string (5th), 3rd fret.
- Pinky on the D string (4th), 3rd fret.
Changes to practice
Holding F still is the easy part. Songs need you to arrive at it in rhythm, so in Strumhold you practice F as changes, alongside the rest of the E-shape Barres set: