And instead of putting your other fingers on the 2nd and 3rd frets, put them on the 6th and 7th frets. So, for example, instead of barring the 1st fret, barre the 5th fret. ![]() So if you’re struggling with this, I suggest trying to get the chord working on a higher fret first before moving the whole thing to the 1st fret. If you try to play the same exact chord shape on the 5th or 7th fret, instead of the 1st fret, I think you’ll find it much easier. Also, the frets are farther away from each other near the 1st fret than they are higher up the neck. And it’s especially hard on the 1st fret, where the strings are right next to the nut and the string tension is relatively high. It takes quite a bit of hand strength to press that part of your finger (the part closest to your hand) down onto the fretboard hard enough. The other obstacle is the difficulty of pressing down your 1st-finger barre with enough pressure to hear the notes without buzz. This can happen if you’re not playing with the tips of your fingers or if your 3rd finger is hitting the fretboard at too shallow of an angle. There are two common obstacles to this: The first is that your other fingers (especially your 3rd/middle finger) might be getting in the way. With this chord shape, the biggest challenge is usually getting the notes on the 1st and 2nd strings (played by the 1st finger) to ring out cleanly. Read more about that here to see what I’m talking about because it’s really important. To play this chord correctly, you need to make sure your thumb is in the correct position behind the neck, and your elbow is down low enough toward the ground. (Or, you can press down with your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers first, and then add the barre with your 1st finger it doesn’t matter what order you do it in.) Keep in mind that you want to lay your 1st finger flat against the fretboard, but you want to play with the tips of your other three fingers. Then add your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers on the A, D, and G strings, as shown in the diagram and photo. To play F major, use your first finger to barre all six strings on the 1st fret. But this is also tough to play at first, so I’ll also show you two variations that should be a little easier to pick up in the beginning. Fingering the F Major Chordįirst, we’re going to look at the six-string version of the F major chord, which is commonly used for strumming a full, rich-sounding chord. So make sure to read both lessons before you start practicing this chord. You should definitely read that lesson also because I go into more depth about barre chord technique, and all of that information applies 100% to the F chord that we’ll see in this lesson. That’s what so great about barre chords, which I explain in detail in the How to Play Barre Chords lesson. So it’s usually harder to press the strings onto the frets in that position.īut F major is also a really important chord because, if you can play it, you can play any other major chord just by moving the same shape to a different fret. ![]() And what’s more, you have to play it on the 1st fret, where the string tension is higher than elsewhere on the fretboard. ![]() This is because, to play the full six-string version of the chord, you have to play a barre chord that spans all six strings. New chords, scales, licks, and melodies can all be related to one of the five shapes, and this allows you to integrate this information into your playing quickly and efficiently.Of all the basic major and minor chords that a beginning guitarist needs to learn, the hardest is probably F major. In fact, I think of the CAGED system as five buckets where I can stash fretboard information. But it doesn't stop there: The CAGED system is just as useful for scales and licks. Pay attention to the common note(s) between two adjacent shapes-this will help minimize errors in shifting and connecting shapes.Ĭongratulations, you've mastered the fundamentals of the CAGED system and covered a lot of territory! The CAGED system provides a logical way of visualizing the neck using basic chord shapes you've most likely known for quite some time. For example, start with a Bb chord using the "A" shape barred at the 1st fret, then play the CAGED sequence in the key of Bb. Once you're comfortable with this, play the sequence in all keys. 9, using the "C" and "A" shapes, only this time complete the series by working through the remaining three shapes-"G," "E," and "D"). Play through the CAGED sequence starting on each of the CAGED chords in open position (like we did in Fig.
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