I signed up for guitar lessons

[Tobin S.]

I'm 36 now, so I figure I ought to be a big time rock star by the time I'm 40 if everything goes as planned. Anyone know how to fret an F chord? I can't get my index finger to lay over both the first and the second strings. :)

[EvilAL]

1. Take a small piece of wood

and glue it to your index finger, then when you switch to the F chord, tilt your finger so the wood bars the E and B stings on the first fret while you use your ring and pinky to complete the chord.. just rememebr to only strum the bottom 4 strings, unless you want to make a fuller barre chord F which requires a bigger piece of wood.

[Tobin S.]

2. Thanks EvilAl

How long have you been playing? My real goal is just to be able to entertain family and friends, and possibly at some point down the road play at a bar.

[EvilAL]

3. heheh

about 15 years, don't get discouraged tho.. the F is a prick at first, but it teaches you the whole way up after that.. make an F and 2 frets up do the same chord and it's a G, 2 frets up it's an A, etc..

[Pharlo]

4. I did that once.

Didn't last long. Dogs are very vocal music critics. The accompaniment became so obnoxious, I eventually gave up the guitar. Which, of course, lead to extra frisbee time. I often wonder if that was their main goal afterall....

[MilesColtrane]

5. Finger the notes on the D, G, and B strings, leaving the E string open.

Your thumb on you left hand should be directly behind your first finger in the middle of the back of the neck of the guitar.

This will be your pivot point.

Without lifting any of your fingers, bring your wrist in toward you and up slightly. This flattens the arch that should have been under your first finger, bringing it down to stop the E string at the first fret.

Hold the chord long enough so that your hand gets a little tired, then release it. Keep doing this, increasing the amount of time you hold it a little more each time. (Don't forget to rest your fingers and hand in between, to let some blood circulate back into your chops.)

Keep practicing this initial motion of fretting three notes, then pivoting to get the last note. Soon it will become smoother and you'll be doing it faster, until you reach the point where the completed chord will feel natural and you won't need this intermediary pivot step.

Good luck.

[JimGinPA]

6. F Chord (Also Known as The "Quitters" Chord)

A couple of things; it's like learning to ride a bicycle when you're little - it seems almost impossible at first but then once you figure it out...

It's much easier at first on an electric guitar than it is on an acoustic (at least it was for me). Try barring the chord on the third, fifth and seventh frets until you get the hang of it and then move it to the first. Turn (twist, rotate) your index finger a little bit to make sure you're getting the first two strings down and USE YOUR THUMB. It's so much easier to SQUEEZE it than to try to push all the strings down with your finger.

Don't dwell too much on it at first. Play with it a little bit and then practice doing other things before it gets too frustrating - it'll come eventually, just give it time. You can also "cheat" by either deadening the low E with the tip of you index finger (moving your finger over a little) or skipping that string altogether. That's how my kids learned it when their fingers were too little & weak to get it when they were younger.

Just keep practicing and don't give up - maybe someday I'll buy one of your CD's.

[mitchum]

7. Tune it to open E (EBEG#BE)...standard tuning is for suckers...

who are willing to work much too hard :)

[BlueJazz]

8. Small bit of advice: Learn the Exotic Chords (also) and learn the Inversions of each Chord.