The Dreaded 'F'

There are a set of sayings that guitar tutors often hear. Let’s call it ‘guitarist bingo’....

‘I didn’t have time to practice this week….’

‘My fingers hurt….’

And the age old classic…..

‘I’m ok with chords but I can’t play an F…..’

Now before you start playing barre chords, a lot of people advocate this abbreviated version of ‘F’ (major) using just the bottom four strings and trying not to play the thickest two strings, ‘e’ and ‘a’, or potentially just playing an ‘F major 7’ (Fmaj7).

Left : 4 string F major // Right : Fmaj7 (with open top e string)

It might be a matter of taste but I have a problem with both of these. The ‘four string’ ‘F’ to me always sounds a bit thin, and it’s pretty difficult NOT to play the strings you don’t want.

Playing unwanted bass strings (particularly an open bass 'e') can lead to a nasty droning sound, drowning out your chords, and when you’re just starting out, bad sounding chords just aren’t helpful. Also, unless you fret the top string perfectly you end up with a three string chord, which although correct, just isn't up to much.

‘Fmaj7’, which is essentially the same chord shape but allows you leave the top ‘e’ string open or unfretted suffers from the same problem. Plus the fact that the ‘major 7’ nature of the chord doesn’t fit the feel of all songs, making it an option, but an unsatisfactory ‘catch all’ option.

This is all matter of opinion obviously, but.....

Here’s my solution, or at least the solution I use most frequently. Technically speaking, it’s still a four string solution, but I concentrate my energy on the middle four strings, when I’m strumming….now, I know that sounds harder….how do you strum and not hit either ‘e’ string? The answer is, you do hit them, they’re just muted.

Here’s a chord diagram of what I try to play. Effectively I refer to this chord as ‘F|C’, an ‘F’ chord but with a ‘c’ note in the bass. You might have heard the term ‘inversion’ bandied about in music occasionally, this is where the lowest note you play isn’t the tonic / first / proper root note, but one of the other notes that appears in the chord.... (and yes, technically an open 'a' string is also a valid inversion, it's a matter of taste....)

F|C : F major with a 'c' bass note // an inversion

For those of you who are fortunate enough to be on Amy Goddard’s ‘I Am A Songwriter’ scheme, watch the first three lessons of the ‘theory threads’ lessons if you don’t quite understand what this means…..

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I’m playing an ‘E’ shape with my little finger, ring and middle finger, and trying to do a miniature barre on the first fret with my index, to cover the first fret on the top two strings, (below).

Now I might not succeed in cleanly playing that top ‘e’ string, for strumming I find it doesn’t matter, fingerpickers would need to give this more attention - but in trying to fret it, I either succeed in playing it, or I mute it out.

F|C (hands model's own)

For those of you who also blessed like me with big hands or long fingers, I’m also muting the bass ‘e’ string by reaching over with my thumb, and making contact (not fretting) the string. I’m then just strumming everything. Assuming that I’m fretting the middle four strings correctly, the slight thud of hitting the other strings is drowned out.

For the real chordies amongst you, this means I’m playing what could perhaps be more accurately described as some kind of suspended C6, because the chord has more ‘c’ notes than ‘f’s…..but it works. You also have the bonus that with the top and bottom strings effectively muted, you can use this shape like a barre chord, so it can be moved up the neck to give you inversions of F#, G, G#, A, etc...

And it makes changes between ‘F’ and ‘C’ super slick - bonus. Give it a go.