Posted by Delta Dan on January 15, 2004, 11:39 am, in reply to "The country blues F chord"
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Hi Chuck
I guess I'm about the same stage as you. I can play all the stuff on Ari's BBF video now but equally have trouble with the full F chord. Woody Mann gave some useful advice, don't try to hook the thumb right over, simply use a fold of skin by pulling the soft pad of the thumb against the fret board. It does work. I also find that with most songs you can actually use a partial chord ie you don't ususally need to fret and play all of the strings and this makes life much easier. One of the most difficult tunes that I have encounterd is Freight Train, which requires fretting of the entire chord. It is very difficult to get all of the notes clear, in fact I find most difficulty in not fouling the first and second strings. I don't think the neck of the guitar really makes much difference, I play a number of different instruments and the chord is just about as difficult on all of them!Hope all this helps. You and me are just going to have to keep on trying!
Dan
--Previous Message--
: I've been playing guitar for awhile, to the
: point that I guess I would be considered
: intermediate level. With a lot of practice,
: I can put together a reasonable version of
: something like "Untrue Blues" as
: taught by Ari on his video. However, even
: after all this time I still have a lot of
: trouble playing (cleanly)songs that require
: the version of the F chord where your thumb
: comes over the top to play the bass. The
: main guitar I use is similar to the one Ari
: uses in the Blind Boy Fuller video. I'm
: despairing that my fingers are just not long
: enough to ever really play it right. Does
: anyone know anything that might help?
: Also, a quick question for Ari if you're
: listening. I imagine that you have, at one
: time or another, tabbed out many more songs
: than what appear on your videos. Is it
: possible to purchase photocopies of tabs for
: specific songs from you? I know your ears are
: better than mine. Specific songs I'm
: interested in at the moment are Aint it a
: Crying Shame by Blind Boy Fuller and Devil
: Got my Woman by Skip James. Thanks.
:
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