---

Playing a barre chord smoothly

At this point I am assuming that you know where to put your fingers to correctly form an F major chord (if you don’t, click here).   However it is hard for you to do it quickly, and the quality of the sound is not great.   This is the area that we will be working on in this session.

Ignore the sound!

Before we start playing, let me give you an important piece of advice:   forget about the sound quality of your barre chords.   Remember back to the first chord you ever learned.   At first that chord sounded bad, but now it has improved and you can play it fluently (we hope...!).

Treat your barre chords the same way.   Don’t think of them as hard chords, think of them as new chords.   They don’t have a bad sound, they have a rough sound which with time, patience and practice we will polish together.

I start with this advice because I have found that some beginner guitarists give up on their first barre chords because they don’t sound right.   So for those students it’s not just a technical issue, it’s also a mindset issue.   You can do it!

The 2 parts of the F major chord

An F major chord is in fact a movable E major chord, as we saw in the last session.   Compare these three diagrams:

The E major chord

E major (new fingering and moved sideways)

F major (full chord)

To help improve the F major chord, we are going to use the second chord as a temporary independent chord.   We will name this chord “Open F”.   Open F is the E shape component of the F major chord.   It’s F major without the first finger barre.

In my experience most developing guitarists attempt to play an F major chord by putting their first finger across the fretboard and then placing fingers 2,3 and 4 in the right place.   This is a harder way to play the chord.   It’s easier to go in reverse - put fingers 2, 3 and 4 in place as an E shape, then add the first finger when the E shape is steady.

This is the order in which we will practise our F major chord.

Changing from C major to F major

At the end of this lesson I have set out the chord progression for “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” by U2.   I’ve written the chords in the key of C, which means that our first chord change will be C major to F major.   Practice that change step by step as follows:

1.   Form a C major chord as per the diagram.

C major

2.   Now work out finger by finger the movements you need to move to open F:

• the first finger lifts off the fretboard.
• the 2nd finger moves down one string (string 4 to string 3)
• the 3rd finger stays put.  Make use of this finger as an anchor while you change.
• the 4th finger goes onto string 4 and fret 2.

(Note that some guitarists play C major with an added G bass note.   The third finger will then be on string 6, and the 4th finger on string 5.

If that’s you, you can either change your fingering for C major to the above pattern, or move your 3rd and 4th fingers down one string.   It’s worth noting that in this case, when you lift your 1st finger, your other 3 fingers are already in the required E shape, and at the right fret, but 1 string too high.  They will all make the same movement - down vertically by one string)

C major (with G bass note)

3.   Without strumming, practice these movements finger by finger until you can do them correctly each time.   Don’t worry about speed; focus just on the correct string, fret, finger at each point.

4.   Now add the strumming.   I suggest a basic down stroke, one stroke per beat.   Again, speed is not important.   Start on C major, strum 8 times, then change to open F one finger at a time as above.   Allow 2 strums per finger:

  C major
| 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8 |

 1st       2nd       3rd       4th
 off       down      as is     on
| 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8 |

5.   When you can do this (which may be straight away, or take some time) compress the changes:

• till you can change each finger one strum apart;
• till you can change to open F within 2 strums.

6.   At this point you are ready to play the full F chord.   Simply repeat the C major to open F change, then place your first finger across all the strings.   Make sure your open F chord is in place and steady before you add the first finger.

 C major
| 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8 |

 open F             full F
| 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8 |

Again, as you do this, remember that quality is not important.   Quality will take care of itself as you practice.   What is important is that you keep a steady strum.   There should be no pause at the 1st strum on open F, or on the 1st strum of full F.   Whatever else happens, keep strumming.

Changing from G major to F major

Now try the second change we will need - G to F.   This should be slightly easier and quicker because of the prior practice you have done on C and F.

1.   We begin by thinking through our finger movements one by one as before.   The precise details will depend on how you play your G chord.   There are two diagrams shown below.   Again the chord is the same; only the fingering is different.

G major (first fingering)

G major (second fingering)

Play a G chord as you normally do.   Now think about your 2nd finger (marked in red in the above diagrams).   Wherever it is, it needs to move to string 3 and fret 2.   It will then be the anchor finger for your open F chord.   Try changing between G and open F, first without strumming, then with.   Start with changes every 8 strums, then cut it down to 6 strums per change, then 4.

2.   Add in the first finger for the full barre chord.

Putting it all together

Here is the chord progression for the first verse of “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”.

I have climbed...
| C    | C    | C    | C    |
| F    | F    | C    | C    |

I have run...
| C    | C    | C    | C    |
| F    | F    | C    | C    |

but I still...
| G    | F    | C    | C    |
| G    | F    | C    | C    |

The | sign is a bar marker.   The song is in 4/4 time, which means there are 4 beats in each bar.   To start with, I suggest strumming once per beat.   In that case you will strum downwards 4 times between each bar marker.

In the first two lines, the chord progression is C major (4 bars), F major (2 bars), C major (2 bars).   In the next two lines, the chord progression is the same.   In the refrain, the progression is G major (1 bar), F major (1 bar), C major (2 bars).

So, practice the chord progressions until you feel confident, then have a go with the song.   Here is the first verse in full.  The other verses are identical, and I’ll leave you to work them out.

---

I have |
C
climbed
highest |
C   
mountain

I have |
C
run
through the |
C
fields

Only to |
F
be
with you |
 F

Only to |
C
be
with you |
 C

I have |
C
run,
I have |
C 
crawled,

I have |
C
scaled
these city |
C
walls

These city |
F 
walls
|
 F

Only to |
C
be
with you |
 C

But I |
G
still
haven’t |
F 
found
what I’m |
C  
looking
for |
 C

But I |
G
still
haven’t |
F 
found
what I’m |
C  
looking
for |
 C

---

And that’s it! All power to your barre chords.

Try out the remaining barre chord lessons.   You'll find some more exercises that will strengthen your barre chord changes, plus an introduction to more barre chords.

---