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Chords - key of F

by David OToole

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  • Key of F

    The key of F is not used too often for guitar in the strumming style at least because it has a lot of barre chords and not a lot of ringing open string ones. It can be a difficult key for beginners if barre chords aren't well known. Here's the group in ascending order:

    F _ Gm _ Am _ Bb _ C _ Dmin _ Em7b5 _ F

    Here's the progression used in the vid:

    F_ Bb_ C_ Dm_ Gm_ Am_ Em7b5 _ F

    1 3 2 4 5 6 7 8

    See video 2 if you need a hand with barre chords - the guitarist's nightmare and deservedly so :).

    Tip: If you need to play a song in F but don't want too many barre chord sounds, you can play in F with a Capo and use open strings.

    Place the Capo on fret 1 and use the E family shapes. Sometimes it might be necessary to stay in the key of F if the vocals (or vocalist) demands it :).

    A Wah-Wah with some delay is used for effect here, and each chord is strummed just once. The Wah I use myself (and recommend) is the Jim Dunlop Standard Wah. It's a pretty good little moveable box :).

    Persist with the barre chords if you have a problem with them. They are not mastered overnight.

    Don't 4get to check out video 2 if you need a few tips on learning and playing them.

    p.s. Any Thin Lizzy fans out there might recognise the first 4 chords we use here as the same progression used in their classic track 'Southbound'. Not the same chords (Southbound is in a different key), but the same chord interval sequence.

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