guitars

I remember learning to play this stupid chord for a couple of months. How I used to look up my favorite songs and pray there was no F in there! It really was just a matter of practice until they became natural and now, they're probably the chord shape I play the most since they're movable!

I'll echo the advice from some others in this thread.

1. Getting your thumb in the right position to support your index finger takes a lot of the stress and fatigue off your hand
2. rolling that index finger a bit more to the side lets you use the straighter and bonier part of the finger so it's easier to keep the pressure applied to where you need it (which is really only 3 strings)

Good luck! Eventually when it clicks you won't even think about it anymore ☺️

If your nut is a bit high, try putting a capo on the first fret and play everything the same, but a key lower.

Also advice from Marty Schwartz is to stop avoiding songs with F. Just play them with a poor F. They will start to clear up. F is hard to practice on its own because you use too much pressure at first and it tires your hand out quickly.

I wish I knew at the time that a good amount of pressure should come from pulling back at the shoulder of the fretting arm, bracing the guitar body with your strumming arm chicken wing. You can practice this by fretting the F without your thumb on the back.

Also, you could try to play the A barre chord at the 5th fret with the same shape as the F barre on the first fret. Will help build some strength