The F major guitar chord is a key chord to master. You will apply this chord in a number of songs, which means that learning it well is crucial if you want to play your favorite songs on the instrument.
On this page, I will give you several ways to learn the F major chord if you're a newbie. Furthermore, you will find more complicated variations of the F major guitar chord at the bottom of the lesson, along with the barre chord version.
Now let's start off with some very simple music theory concerning the F major guitar chord.
Chords are comprised of 3 notes, which means you will need to play three notes in order to make the F major chord. All these notes are taken from the F major scale.
Which notes compose the F major chord?
The F major guitar chord is constructed from notes F, A, and C.
You'll discover several chord charts on this page. The numbers within the dots will tell you which finger on your hand goes where:
- The 1st finger will be the index finger
- The 2nd finger will be the middle finger
- The 3rd finger is your ring finger
- The 4th finger is your pinky
For anybody who is not acquainted with deciphering chord charts as of yet, learn them first.
Contents
Quickly learn how to form the F major chord on guitar
Here are several ways to play the F major chord on the guitar.
TIP: an excellent way to become familiar with a new guitar chord is to use the chord-on/chord-off method. You simply need to hold down the chord, strum, let it go, and start over.
Practice every single voicing a lot, and you are going to master them quickly.
Easiest F major chord for beginner guitar players
Here is the most straightforward way to finger the F major guitar chord. As you can observe from the chord chart directly below, you need 3 fingers to hold down this particular chord shape.
Very simple F major chord fingering
Here's how to form the F major chord:
- Don't play the high E string.
- Put your 1st finger on string B at fret 1. Also, this finger will mute the high E string by slightly touching it.
- Put your 2nd finger onto string G at fret 2.
- And your 3rd finger lines up on string D at fret 3.
- The low E and A are not played.
Now strum the chord, making certain that all of the notes are clear.
How exciting, you now know a F major chord!
The tone may seem a tad thin, but that is because you are playing only a few strings. Fuller sounding variants of the F major are next.
Standard F major chord
This variant of the F major chord is notably more challenging, but it sounds significantly fuller. If you are able to finger the easy alternative above, you will definitely want to get started learning this voicing as well.
Full F major chord fingering
Here's how to hold down the full alternative of the F major chord:
- Place your index finger onto strings B and E at fret 1, creating a barre.
- Put your middle finger onto string G at fret 2.
- The ring finger goes to string D at fret 3.
- The low E and A are not played.
Pluck each string in the chord and make certain all of the notes are ringing cleanly.
This is the most commonly used chord shape of the F major guitar chord.
This is a hard shape to learn when you are a beginner, but take comfort from knowing that it was hard for everybody at first. Practice it enough, and you'll get it.
It's a good idea to play songs that use this chord shape, since it gets you practicing it in a more casual way.
F major guitar chord variation
This is yet another variation of the F major chord, this is a commonly used one as well. This is actually an Fmaj7, but it works if all else fails.
Listed below are the finger positions to this variation of the F major.
- The high E string is played open.
- Place your index finger on string B at fret 1.
- Now place the middle finger on string G on fret 2.
- Your ring finger will go to string D on fret 3.
- Again, the lowest 2 strings are not played.
And as always, pluck each string in the chord, and make certain the chord is ringing clearly.
So now you know 3 different ways to play the F major, good job!
More versions of the F major guitar chord
There are actually lots of variants of this chord, you just learned the most popular variants.
Let me share the chord charts to many other alternatives of the F major chord.
When do you use which? It actually will depend on a few things:
- You will usually choose a voicing that is in close proximity to where you are on the fretboard already.
- The style of music may determine the place where you form the chord. For example, you play lower versions in metal, whereas in funk music, you play higher pitch ones.
Video guitar tutorial for inexperienced players on the F major chord
Since music is an audible form of art, here is a fantastic YouTube guitar lesson on the correct way to form the F major chord.
Take note of the teacher's fingers and wrist placement.
The F major barre chord
Barre chords are quite hard, so if you have only recently started learning to play the guitar, you should probably to stay with the less difficult variations for now.
If you have been learning guitar for a few months and would like to learn the right way to hold down the barre chord variation of the F major, read on.
We'll start with the E shape barre chord voicing of the F major, rooting on the 6th string. This is a hard barre chord, since you are at the 1st fret, meaning you need to exert a lot of pressure on the strings to keep them from buzzing.
Here's how to play the F major barre chord rooting on the 6th string:
- Use your 1st finger to form a barre across all of the strings at fret 1.
- Now go ahead and arrange your other fingers to fret a regular E shape barre chord by putting your 2nd finger on string G at fret 2.
- Your 3rd finger moves to string A at fret 3.
- And finally your pinky onto string D at fret 3.
And remember, pluck each string in the chord and be sure the chord rings out nicely. You do not want to hear buzzing strings or muted notes.
Barre chords are tricky, you'll have to practice them often.
An additional popular version of the F major chord makes use of the A shape barre chord.
Here's how to hold down the F major barre chord rooting on the 5th string:
- First off, lay your index finger over strings 1-5 at fret 8.
- Now go ahead and arrange the rest of your fingers to form a standard A shape barre chord by placing your ring finger on fret 10 on string D, G, and B.
- Don't play the low E string.
And of course, pluck each string in the chord and ensure the chord is ringing clearly.
As I said, barre chords are difficult. You should not expect to get good at them too quickly.
Practice a lot, you'll be able to perform the F major barre chord soon.
