Easy Songs To Help You Learn the F Chord

JUST UPDATED WITH NEW SONGS!

The F chord is a tough one for beginner students to get comfortable with, but don’t let that stop your progress! Use these easy songs to help you learn how to play this chord.

The F Chord is a great chord to learn once you’ve learned some of the easier open chords like G, C, D, E, A, Am, A7, B7, D7 .. and I’m sure I’ve missed some. If those don’t sound familiar. Start with some of my earlier posts like Easy Songs for Guitar using Chords G, C and D7, Learn Chords D & A7, or Learn to play Alternating Bass.

Notice that to play the F chord, you’ll need to use your 1st finger to play the 1st fret on both the second and first strings.

Although the F chord is a barre chord, I teach it to my beginning guitar students because it's used all of the time with other open chords. The 4 string version is a great way to get used to barring, or laying your finger across more than one string. — 4 string F chord

To begin teaching the F chord, I start with an exercise. This helps my students get used to the feel of using their first finger to play more than one string. To play this exercise, you start by using your 1st finger to play two strings. You then play two strings, then open strings. From there, you start moving your 1st finger up the fretboard, strumming as you go. You start to slowly incorporate the 2nd and 3rd fingers as well. This exercise is available as a PDF file for subscribers on my PDF page.

After a week working on this exercise, I start into some songs. These songs are listed in order of easiest to hardest.

First Song

My Girl – The Temptations

My Girl starts with a fun tab riff using the C major pentatonic scale and then moving over to the F major pentatonic scale. From there, I use a syncopated strum pattern that is fun to play when you have 1 chord per measure. I also use this song to teach the Dm chord.

My Girl - by The Temptations. My Girl starts with a fun tab riff using the C major pentatonic scale and then moving over to the F major pentatonic scale. From there, I use a syncopated strum pattern that is fun to play when you have 1 chord per measure. I also use this song to teach the Dm chord. — My Girl

Second Song

You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away – The Beatles

This song also teaches chords with added bass notes along with suspended and add9 chords. There will be more posts on those subjects in the future. By now, most of my students are getting more familiar with the F chord, but still need practice. This is why I will usually teach this song. That way they are learning more about other chords while still getting practice with the F chord.

This song is in 6/8 time and I have included two different strum patterns in the PDF file that is available to subscribers. The second pattern is much easier to play than the first.

You've Got To Hide Your Love Away - by The Beatles. This song only uses 4 chords and is a great way to learn how to play the F chord. It is a relatively simple strum pattern as well. #learnguitar #guitarlessons

Third Song

Learning To Fly – Tom Petty

This song also uses the Gsus4 chord. Notice that this chord only sounds good if you mute the 1st string. The Gsus4 chord is easy to switch to from the C, F and Am chords.

A Gsus4 is also know as the G suspended chord. The "sus" stands for suspended. When suspending a chord, you are often replacing the 3rd degree of the chord with the 4th degree. There are many ways to play this chord, but this is the easiest fingering. This chord is used to play "Learning to Fly" by Tom Petty. #learnguitar — Gsus4 Chord

There are two strum pattern versions of this song, along with two fingerings for the Gsus4 chord. I have found that many of my students struggle with the harder version, so I made an easier one for them.

Learning To Fly by Tom Petty. This song is a great way to learn the F chord. It only uses 4 chords and repeats the same chords over and over. The F chord is one of the last chords I teach my beginning guitar students before moving onto barre chords. #learnguitar #guitarlessons

Fourth Song

Mr. Jones – Counting Crows

This song also uses basically just 4 chords and repeats them over and over. The dead strum just before the chord change actually makes it easier to make the chord switch.

Mr. Jones - by the Counting Crows. This song is a great way to learn the F chord. You only play 5 chords in this song and the pattern repeats itself over and over. The F chord is one of the last chords I teach beginning guitar students before moving onto barre chords #learnguitar #guitarlessons

Don’t Stop There!

Once you get comfortable with the F chord, be sure to check out my next lesson called “Barre Chords For Beginners”. In this lesson, you’ll learn three songs to help you barre three strings with your first finger.