Re: Tips on reaching the F Chord
Originally Posted by
Mark Gunter
This is where you'll be headed, jmcturnan. Any competent musician will consider things like those in choosing a fingering for any chord. So the point is, again, there is more than one way to play an F chord. As an admitted early beginner (and we've all been there at one point), I'd say at this point all you need think about is learning the most comfortable shapes to play a song you like.
From another thread:
Choosing which voicing of a chord to use:
When choosing which form to use for a chord, one must mitigate several factors.
1. First is, the color or the character of voice. How does the chord sound in this particular piece? You want the voice that complements the best what you wish to say with the music.
2. The second is, what chords come before or after this chord? You want to be able to flow from one form into another as easily and smoothly as possible. Also, you may want the bass note in the chord to proceed upward or downward from the previous chord for musical effect. Or the top note, etc. to do the same. So, context.
3. Third, and least important overall, is how much difficulty do you have in fingering the chord to get a clean sound? Now this must of course be considered, and unfortunately, in the beginning it can be the #1 criterion for a student. But it should not be a long abiding criterion in any musician's career as a whole. It is well to remember that no chord at all is ever comfortable for a student to learn and use smoothly and cleanly. For that reason, it is always wise to learn variations -- new ways of playing chords -- and practice them in songs until they become second nature. In that way, the first two, more important musical criteria, can guide the musician in their choices.
Good stuff, Mark. I've been working on voicings for several tunes I'm working on and have been contemplating opening a thread on it. Even though the OP is asking about the F chord, this helps greatly with creating the right sound for any piece.
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