I know.....so?

But hey, I made a tiny milestone today that I could never do before. I even noted the time.

At 2:36pm, November 1, 2009....I finally hit an F chord with no buzzing or muting. Albeit I only did it once, but hey, a hit is a hit. Fingers are sore as s&*^t so I can't do it again, but I did it once. I could never do that before, even as a kid.

I think I'm progressing. I can move the chords a little faster now with little or no buzzing or muting. I just feel like I'm on the slow train and getting a little depressed about it. I know it's about practice, practice, practice, but I'm getting a bit discouraged. I hit the F chord today but it was only once after a half hour practice of doing other chords. I've been trying a little each day since September to do chords and stuff along with a DVD I got (I got a free demo with my set then bought the entire DVD with all the content). Am I being too hard on myself or not being hard enough?

I don't know. None of my other family members are musicians as far as musical instruments (sis and I played piano a long time ago but never went the whole way with it because of life and jobs) so maybe I'm being a waa waa baby and need a little hand holding.

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"While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

My dad said, "I'm going to miss you."
I said, "Well, now that I broke that sight off your rifle..." (Emo Philips)

THat is a break-through. I remember my difficulty, years ago, with that
chord. I thought there was a mistake on the diagram I was learning from.

Lady, here's a little F chord 'short hand' you can use up and down the neck
as a bar-chord:

Stop the high e and b strings with your 1st finger
Stop the g string with your middle finger
Stop BOTH the d and a strings with your ring finger
And stop the heavy e string with your thumb.

It's WAY easier, and easier on your wrist. You won't wanna go back to the old way after you nail it.

Oh, and that's how Jimi did it.
I'm marking Nov 1st down on my calendar as a great day in gittar history.



Congrats.

There are several ways to do it.





Those are three common. Just keep on plugging. It will be slow for awhile until one day you hit a major breakthrough. You can do it .

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Good Job girl!
Heres a neat progression that will make your "F" chord practice fun.

Try "C" "Am" "F" and "G" Strum each 4 times then 3 then 2 etc. in no time the "F" will be natural, This is also a good progression for learning bar chords too.
Good Luck and keep practicing

Bill

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Hey, Boy Blue is back!

It's a long but rewarding journey...... Mike

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

That's been the way I've been playing the chord. It's the one in my old book called "Alfred's Basic Guitar Method" (a whopping 3.50 when I was a kid LOL--God I feel old)

I'll try the "Jimi" way Taurus but that looks waaay hard. But I'll try anything. I have kinda smurf hands so whatever works. I tend to hold my guitar like a baseball bat and I saw on a vid that's how Jimi held his. Then again, he looked like he had huge hands. dang it.

Thanks bill 948. I'll note the progression in my book for practice.


Thanks for the encouragement. I get hard on myself when I don't do things right the first time. I need to be patient with myself.

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"While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

My dad said, "I'm going to miss you."
I said, "Well, now that I broke that sight off your rifle..." (Emo Philips)

Hi LVA: don't be hard on yourself - but stick with it!

What's great about music is that stuff you couldn't do at all a few days or weeks ago eventually you can. And a few weeks after that it's smoother and better too.

Frustration - and then success.

And more news: that process never ever finishes. ALL of us are always struggling to do stuff tomorrow we couldn't do yesterday.

It's a good thing!

Enjoy the ride.

Cheers - C

Thanks.

The heavy E string with the thumb, which fret is that? Is it the first fret? I'm making a diagram in my book so I don't forget to try it.

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"While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

My dad said, "I'm going to miss you."
I said, "Well, now that I broke that sight off your rifle..." (Emo Philips)

Yeah, Big E, first fret, using the thumb. For an F chord.

Ishould've mentioned:

You can always change the chord shape to a 7th by:

Barring across the first 4 SMALLER strings with your 1st finger
Stopping the G string a fret higher with your middle finger
Playing the heavy E with the thumb
AND MUTING the A string with the tips of the 1st finger or thumb.

For G7 it would be: 3x3433. Move it up 2 frets, you got A7.
Remember, only sucka's play all 6 strings on a 7th chord.

And you're right. Holding the neck like a baseball bat is the idea.

While you're in position: Hammer down the index finger on the G string,
4th fret, AFTER striking the barred G chord. 3x3333 to 3x3433.
All in an intant after hitting the chord.

Instant Robben Ford!

That's the so-called "oldies" progression. Master that, and you'll be able to play a bunch of songs from the '50s!

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I really like all them "Aster" guitars. You know, like the Stratoc, Telec and Jazzm.

Congratulations. That was the most difficult chord for me to master for a very long time. I absolutely hated that chord. Now I use it all the time. Just wait until you start working on barre chords.

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"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." Blazing Saddles...

Awesome! You know, playing an F chord the Jimi way isn't really that hard if you already know how to play an F chord the way you do and you hold the neck like a baseball bat. Just hold down the first fret of the low E string with your thumb and there you go! And you can move that same chord all up and down the neck. There's a certain riff in Little Wing that's just that.

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Website: http://www.rebeccalaird.com
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Gotta be able to thumb the root F on the bottom E string for The Wind Cries Mary too...

Just a word of caution here though. Being able to thumb the E string is useful, but it is still important to be able to play full barre chords too, with the thumb in its proper place in the middle of the back of the neck.

That's a crucial part of guitar technique and thumbing notes shouldn't be done as a way of avoiding it.

Carry on practicing what you've just nailed, LVA. Add the thumb thing as well when you are ready. This is a case where truly - it's all good.

Cheers - C

+1

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Congratulations! Nailing the 'F' chord is a milestone in learning to play the guitar. Keep working on it and it'll get easier.

Guitar is a difficult instrument for beginners because you have to spend several months building up the necessary muscle strength (and finger callouses) in order to play even the most basic stuff. That's why EVERYONE sounds bad when they first begin -- no matter how much natural talent or ability they may have.

The good news is that you can overcome this if you maintain a steady, DAILY practice routine. If you put in the time, you'll be amazed at how quickly you'll see improvement.