How to Play F Chord Guitar

The dreaded F chord is one of the hardest guitar chords for beginner guitar players. It appears in many guitar songs but can be quite tough to play.

That’s why we felt it deserved an article of its own. We’ll take you through how to play F step by step and show you different ways of playing it.

How to Play the F Chord on Guitar

Here is how you play the F chord in full. You need to use all four fingers:

• Put the side of finger one across all strings on the first fret – this is called a barre and it will hold down strings 1,2 and 6 for this chord. Chords that use this are called barre chords.
• Next, put your middle finger on string 3, second fret
• Put finger 3 on string 5, fret 3
• Finger 4 goes on string four fret three 
• Strum all six strings

As you can see, this takes quite a lot of hand strength and it can be difficult for beginners.

Here are the reasons why it’s tough:

• The barre: Playing barre chords is really hard for beginners. It takes a lot of practice.
• Big frets: F is one of the hardest barre chords to play – even if you aren’t a beginner. Because F is played at the bottom of the neck, the frets are bigger and so you have to stretch your fingers more to play it. 
• String tension: The barre for F is played right by the nut (the bit where the strings connect to the guitar and the fretboard ends). This makes the string tension high and it’s difficult to hold them down – especially with just one finger.

What are the F Major Chord Notes?

In this article we mainly focus on the F major chord – but we’ll also explain other versions of the F chord at the end.

Major chords consist of notes from the major scale:

• The root note
• The 3rd note
• The 5th note

For F that’s F, A and C. 

The Mini Barre Version of F Major chord

Luckily there is a much easier way to play F!

It involves playing four of the same notes version of the F major chord mentioned above. But we’re not going to play the full barre chord. 

In this version, the barre only covers two strings which makes it MUCH easier to play. 

• Use your index finger to form a barre across the first fret on strings 1 and 2.
• Put your second finger on string 3, fret 3
• Put finger 3 on string four fret 4
• Strum strings 4,3, 2 and 1

The best thing about this chord is that it is still a full chord. And there’s an even easier way to play it…

The Easiest Way to Play the F Chord on Guitar

You don’t actually have to play the F chord using a small barre as shown above. You can just use strings 2,3 and 4. 

That’s because the note you were playing on string 1, first fret, is actually an F. And you are already playing an F on string 4, fret 3. 

The only downside to this is you’ll have to avoid playing the open 1st string. If you do this then you’ll actually be playing an F major 7, which won’t sound right. 

The way to do this is to rest finger one against string one slightly (while still holding down string 2). This will mute the open note. 

Other Places to Play F

Of course, you don’t just have to play F around the first fret. There are several other options, although most of them are harder to play. 

Let’s take a look at them.

F Guitar Power chord

Power chords are sometimes known as 5th chords – that’s because they just use the root note and the 5th note in the scale.

For F major that’s an F and a C. 

Power chords are usually played from the 6th and 5th strings. Most people usually play it one of two ways:

F power chord on string 6

• Put your first finger on string 6, fret 1
• Put your 3rd finger on string 5, fret 3
• Rest your third finger against string 4 to make sure you don’t accidentally play it
• Strum strings 5 and 6

F power chord on string 5

• Put your first finger on string 5, fret 8 
• Put your third finger on string 4, fret 10
• Rest your third finger against string 4 so you don’t accidentally play it 
• Play strings 4 and 5

A-shape F Chord

The next few chords are named after an open chord shape that is played further up the neck – this creates a different chord.

This F uses the same chord shape as an open A.

This is played from the same root note as the F power chord on string 5. The difference is that your third finger forms a barre across strings 4,3 and 2.

This might be quite difficult for beginners. Another way to play it is to simply put finger 4 on string 3, fret 10 and mute string 2.

D-shape F Chord

This is where things begin to get even more difficult. You need to stretch your fingers across four frets.

• Put finger one on string 4, fret 3
• Put finger three on string 3, fret 5
• Put finger four on string 2, fret 6
• Strum strings 4,3 and 2

C-shape F Chord

This is very hard. It involves using a barre and placing all three other fingers in other places. It uses the shape of a C major open chord, played further up the neck.

• Put finger one across strings 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 on fret 5. Try and use this finger to mute string 6 too
• Put your middle finger on string 2, fret 6
• Put finger 3 on string 4, fret 7
• Put finger 4 on string 5, fret 8

Popular F Chord Guitar Variations

So far, this article has only explained how to play F major. 

But there are lots of other versions of the F chord on guitar that provide a different tonality.

For example, while F major has a happy sound, F minor sounds sad. F7 on the other hand, sounds slightly dissonant.

How to Play F Minor

F minor can be played the same as the chords above, but the A note needs to be a G#.

Unfortunately, F minor is harder to play than F major!

The two most common ways to play F minor are:

F minor fret one

• Create a barre across strings 1,2 and 3 on fret 1 using your index finger
• Put finger 3 on string 4, fret 3

For the D shape version you’ll need to add the G# on string 1 using finger 4.

F minor fret eight

• Use your index finger to create a barre across strings 5,4,3 and 2 on fret 8
• Put finger 3 on string 4, fret 10
• Put finger 4 on string 3, fret 10
• Put your middle finger on string 2, fret 9

F minor cheat’s version 

Luckily, there’s an easy way that beginners can use to play F minor. It’s useful if you struggle with the versions above.

Simply put fingers 1,2 and 3 on fret one, strings 3,2 and 1. 

Or you can make a barre across the three strings using finger one.

F7 guitar chord

F7 has a slightly tense sound, which makes it good to put before the final chord in a progression. Your ear expects it to be resolved with a major chord.  

• Create a barre across fret 8 using your index finger
• Put finger 3 on string 4, fret 10
• Put finger 4 on string 2, fret 10

Fsus2 guitar chord

Fsus2 sounds complicated. But it’s just a case of turning the A note into a G. 

The easiest way to do this by playing the A-shape version of F but only putting your fingers on fret 10 on strings 3 and 4. 

String 2 is covered by the finger one barre on fret 8.

Fsus2 is a nice rich chord, with an ‘open’ sound.

Popular Guitar Songs That Use the F Chord

There are literally thousands of songs and guitar riffs that use the F chord.

Here are just a few examples that are relatively to play.

• Rolling in the Deep – Adele
• Hey Ho – The Lumineers
• Sound of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel 
• House of the Rising Sun – The Animals 
• Californication – The Red Hot Chilli Peppers
• Ironic- Alanis Morrissette

Expand Your Chord Knowledge With Guitarist 101!

Have you found this deep dive on the F chord guitar useful? If so, why not check out some of our other guitar chord lessons?

You can check out our article on best beginner guitar chords. Or if you want to learn some others then check out some more guitar chords here. 

We have guides on other beginner chords including: G major, C major, B chord and even B7 chord.

If you want something more complicated then check out our deep dive on the B7 chord for guitar or open D tuning chords.